Bobby Knight must wait to make history

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ It took Bob Knight 36-plus years to get to 799. Waiting four more days for No. 800 won't hurt him. <br><br>Besides, getting upset 64-59 by up-and-coming Texas A&M (11-6, 3-3

Sunday, February 2nd 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ It took Bob Knight 36-plus years to get to 799. Waiting four more days for No. 800 won't hurt him.

Besides, getting upset 64-59 by up-and-coming Texas A&M (11-6, 3-3 Big 12) on Saturday night only means the Texas Tech head coach will reach his special milestone before the home folks. The Red Raiders (12-5, 2-4), one win away from making their coach just the fourth man to get 800 wins, will host Nebraska (9-11, 1-6) on Wednesday night.

Besides, what's another one or two milestones in a Big 12 season already packed with notable wins? Already this year, Kansas coach Roy Williams has become the fourth-fastest man to get 400 wins; Texas coach Rick Barnes has won his 300th overall and his 100th with the Longhorns, and Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson has collected No. 200 with the Sooners.

Not to be outdone, Texas' Jody Conradt became just the second women's coach to reach 800 wins.

It's no wonder Knight has insisted on not making a big deal of the milestone he'll be heavily favored to hit on Wednesday night. The 62-year-old Knight, who has a career record of 799-303 in 37 seasons, saw his team fall behind 25-9 in the first 12 minutes.

Elsewhere in the Big 12 on Saturday, No. 3 Texas (14-3, 5-1 Big 12) earned Eddie Sutton's respect and beat Sutton's ninth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys 78-65, snapping their nation-longest 15-game winning streak.

Royal Ivey and T.J. Ford each had 17 points for the Longhorns, who had four players in double figures.

``They're the best team in our league,'' Sutton said. ``Certainly the best we've played this year and the best Texas team we've played, going back to our Arkansas days. Not that I didn't think we could beat them. The first three minutes of the second half they blew out on us, and we were trying to play catch-up the rest of the night.''

The Cowboys (17-2, 6-1) were led by Victor Williams' 22 points.

Also on Saturday, No. 12 Kansas (15-5, 5-1), perhaps looking ahead to Monday night's game against archrival Missouri, played raggedly but still had enough to beat Nebraska 81-51; No. 25 Missouri, playing shorthanded, got by Colorado 73-70; No. 6 Oklahoma (15-3, 6-1) squeezed past Kansas State 91-89 in overtime, and Iowa State (12-6, 2-5) got 26 points from Jake Sullivan and beat Baylor (9-8, 0-6) 74-70.

The Jayhawks looked like they were glad to get a respite from the likes of Texas and Arizona, top teams they'd been playing.

``We need to be more enthused (against Missouri) or it'll be a long night,'' said Williams. ``Human nature is that they're going to read and see that Nebraska is 1-5.''

Ebi Ere scored 25 points, including a couple of key free throws and offensive rebounds down the stretch and in overtime. Kansas State's Tim Ellis hit a 3-pointer at the end of regulation to tie it 8-all.

But Kansas State coach Jim Wooldridge was not necessarily discouraged. The Wildcats (11-8, 2-4) do seem to be making strides in his third season.

``That game could have been lost in both halves. Yet, we played with enough poise and enough courage and enough toughness to give ourselves an opportunity to win against a top-flight team,'' Wooldridge said. ``I was pleased with that.''

Poise and courage were also on display at Missouri (13-4, 4-2). Ricky Clemons hit a shot from almost half-court at the buzzer of the first half and wound up with 23 points to help send the Tigers into Monday night's game at Kansas with renewed confidence.

Colorado (12-7, 2-4) tried a 3-pointer at the end of regulation, but Michel Morandas' shot rimmed out.

``I thought it was going to go in,'' Morandais said. ``They got one at the half but I can't get one in the second half.''