After upset of Kansas, Iowa State has letdown against OU

<br>In its first outing since last weekend's 68-61 upset of then No. 15 Kansas before an enthusiastic home crowd, Iowa State cooled down on the road and took a 75-48 drubbing from 22nd-ranked Oklahoma

Friday, February 6th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

In its first outing since last weekend's 68-61 upset of then No. 15 Kansas before an enthusiastic home crowd, Iowa State cooled down on the road and took a 75-48 drubbing from 22nd-ranked Oklahoma Wednesday night.

The Cyclones struggled all night at Norman, committing 19 turnovers and making only 34 percent of their shots, compared to just 10 turnovers and 41 percent shooting against Kansas.

Oklahoma, the worst-shooting team in the Big 12, won its fourth straight behind 17 points from De'Angelo Alexander, who was 5-for-7 from 3-point range, and 16 from freshman Lawrence McKenzie.

``I tell you what, they weren't the worst shooting team in the Big 12 tonight,'' Iowa State coach Wayne Morgan said. ``Our defense could have played better, but at the same time, those kids made some deep 3-point shots.''

In other Big 12 games Wednesday, No. 11 Texas hit 11 shots from beyond the arc in beating Colorado 75-63, and Jeremiah Massey scored a career high 24 points in leading Kansas State over Nebraska 78-61.

Offensively-challenged Oklahoma got its most lopsided victory in almost two months, and for a defensive-minded coach such as Kelvin Sampson, few wins could be more satisfying.

``You can tell that we were due for this,'' Sampson said. ``We've made a lot of progress. We're turning into a team and a team is hard to beat.''

Freshman guard Drew Lavender, the team's leading scorer this season, battled a fever and failed to score, trying only two shots and getting three assists.

McKenzie, also a guard, hit a couple of 3s on back-to-back possessions early in the second half to spark a 21-5 run, turning the game into a rout for the Sooners (14-4, 4-3 Big 12).

Oklahoma has finally climbed over .500 in conference play since losing four straight, the last defeat a 67-47 setback at Texas Tech.

``Not very many teams can lose four games and turn around and win four games in a row,'' Sampson said. ``That's what makes me so proud of our team _ our toughness.''

Iowa State (13-5, 4-3) got off to a rough start and never was able to recover against the hot-shooting Sooners, who hit 12 of 25 3-pointers.

The Cyclones didn't score a point in the final 6:14 of the first half, with Oklahoma finishing on a 13-2 run en route to a 31-17 lead at the break.

Oklahoma broke the game open early in the second with a barrage of 3-pointers, the first by McKenzie. Then Alexander hit a 3-pointer, Jason Detrick scored on a dunk and Brandon Foust nailed a 3 to give the Sooners a 60-36 lead with 9:36 left.

Curtis Stinson led Iowa State with 13 points.

No. 11 Texas 76, Colorado 63

Sydmill Harris and Kenton Paulino each scored 13 points in the Texas victory at Austin. The Longhorns (15-3, 6-1 Big 12) won their first game back in the Frank Erwin Center since their 25-game home winning streak was snapped in a Jan. 24 loss to Oklahoma State.

A key role player in last season's Final Four run, Harris had seen his playing time drop dramatically through the course of this season. He had not scored in eight of the 10 previous games but went 4-of-5 from the floor and hit his only two free throws against Colorado (12-7, 4-4).

Brandon Mouton added 11 points and a team high seven rebounds for Texas, which used its outside shooting to neutralize the defensive presence of Colorado's 7-foot center David Harrison.

Harrison scored 18 points to lead the Buffaloes, who outrebounded Texas 38-31 but committed 18 turnovers which the Longhorns converted into 19 points.

Texas shot 56 percent in the first half and was on the verge of seizing control as the Longhorns built a 38-26 lead on Royal Ivey's 3 pointer with 2:39 left.

But three straight turnovers led to 9-0 Colorado run to end the half. Michel Morandais had seven points in the run, including a long 3-pointer, and Marcus Hall jammed in a fast-break dunk off a turnover as the Buffalos pulled to 38-35.

Texas quickly stretched the lead back to 10 in the second when P.J. Tucker hit a layup in traffic and Harris hit the first of his three 3-pointers in the half to make it 57-47.

Kansas State 78, Nebraska 61

Kansas State hit 63 percent of its shots in beating Nebraska, their best shooting performance since they shot 61 percent against Texas-Pan American almost two years ago.

``It's hard to explain how we could shoot 60 percent from the floor,'' coach Jim Wooldridge said. ``We'll take it and move on. We had a little more balance and a lot more pop.''

The Wildcats (10-8, 2-5 Big 12) also played stingy zone defense, holding the Huskers to 32 percent from the floor, to snap a three game conference losing streak.

``It came down to our defense,'' guard Jarrett Hart said. ``We got a lot of energy off of our defense.''

Hart and Tim Ellis added 16 points each for Kansas State.

Nebraska (11-7, 1-6) trimmed an eight-point Kansas State lead to three with 15:55 to go in the game. Then the Huskers went cold, not getting another field goal for almost 11 minutes.

Massey scored 10 points during a 17-4 run that put the Wildcats up 61-44 with 6:36 remaining.

Kansas State made eight straight buckets, but turnovers helped Nebraska trim the lead to nine with 3:38 to go.

Massey answered with two free throws, and the Huskers never got closer.