Sooners, Cowboys begin Big 12 play Saturday

Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, it's time for the Oklahoma and Oklahoma State men's basketball teams to get down to serious business -- the Big 12 season. Both teams begin conference

Friday, January 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Now that the preliminaries are out of the way, it's time for the Oklahoma and Oklahoma State men's basketball teams to get down to serious business -- the Big 12 season. Both teams begin conference play at home Saturday, with No. 16 Oklahoma State playing host to Texas Tech and No. 20 Oklahoma playing Texas A&M.

"The season really starts on Saturday," said OSU guard Doug Gottlieb. Oklahoma State and Oklahoma have tripped only once so far. The Cowboys (11-1) lost to LSU in New Orleans last week, and Oklahoma(12-1) lost to then-No. 4 Cincinnati on Dec. 22 in Norman. "When you get into conference play, the intensity level picks up, the focus is better," said OU coach Kelvin Sampson, whose team had to hang on to beat Lamar 67-63 in its last non conference tuneup Monday night. "Our focus is on getting better now, we're continuing to improve."

Sampson doesn't place too much weight on the Sooners' sub par showing against Lamar. He noted that Michigan State lost to Wright State just before beginning Big 10 play, Missouri recently lost to Winthrop and Texas A&M (4-7) lost at home to Centenary on Wednesday night. Eduardo Najera has been every bit as good as expected in the non conference season, leading Oklahoma in scoring and rebounding. Sampson said he would like to see J.R. Raymond, who is averaging 15.8 points per game per game, become more steady putting the ball in the basket. "Raymond 's got to get more consistent at the point," Sampson said. "He's trying to distinguish between playing the point and scoring. He can really score. He's our second-best scorer, and we don't need him leading us in assists every night."

Oklahoma State finished off the non league season Wednesday night with a 125-65 victory over NAIA opponent Langston. Five players scored in double figures and three had double-doubles, including Gottlieb who scored 18 points to go along with 11 assists. Gottlieb leads the nation with 10.7 assists per game, but his reluctance to shoot and inability to score have been a problem. That was particularly true against LSU. "I know my role on this team, but if they're not going to guard me, I have to make shots and I can make them if I keep working on them and taking them with confidence," he said. The Cowboys have gotten solid contributions throughout the lineup. Desmond Mason is second in the Big 12 with 19.8 points per game, Brian Montonati has had five double-doubles and Glendon Alexander has provided scoring punch off the bench, scoring just under 14 points per game.

Texas Tech is 8-2 after a 20-point victory over Prairie View A&M on Monday. The Red Raiders are led by post man Andy Ellis, who averages 18.7 points and nine rebounds. "They're a lot better than I think people projected them to be," OSU coach Eddie Sutton said. "They're not very deep, but they're very athletic."