Red Raider Basketball:
Lots to talk about here, but not enough time for me to personally to get to it all. LAJ's Jeff Walker has his game article, but its the quotes from Pat Knight in the game article that are of the most interest. Pat Knight had this to say after the game:
"I hope they're not using putting a kid in the hospital with reconstructive facial surgery that puts him out for the season as motivation," Knight said. "I'm hoping (Longar) is just motivated because it's a Big 12 game against Texas Tech.
"On one hand, you got a two-game suspension. The other hand, you've got reconstructive facial surgery and out for the season. You guys do what you want with that. I hope he was just motivated because it was a Big 12 game. I thought their inside guys played well. They attacked us inside very well, with Longar and (Nate) Carter and I thought they did a great job on the boards, too."
I thought that before the game, OU felt like that Longar was robbed of two games this year, and most OU fans probably blame Bob Knight. Personally, I don't think that Bob Knight's bemoaning led to Longar's suspension, had the shoe been on the other foot, had Longar's jaw been broken in two, Capel probably would have done the same thing and Rizvic would have been suspended. So now we've got a huge group of OU fans who feel like they've been jobbed by Bob Knight and they feel like they need redemption for it. I think that Pat Knight could have worded his feelilngs on the matter a little differently or with a little more explanation, but I get the feeling that Pat doesn't want you to forget that despite the obvious feeling that OU needed to avenge Bob Knight, this game shouldn't have been about that. Both Pat and Bob Knight have both felt that Longar's suspension wasn't long enough (and in retrospect, neither do I), but once again, if you're an OU fan, would you expect a coach not to protect your player?
Pat then had this to say about the frontcourt:
"All season long it's been front line by committee," Knight said. "We don't know night in and night out what we're going to get from these guys. So, if one guy's not playing well we run another guy in. If he's not playing well we go with the third one and that's what's been really tough."
DMN's Brian Davis (I think Tim MacMahon is assisting with Superbowl coverage) has his game article. So now you ask, how can you prove that OU was more motivated than a normal game, well, I don't know that I can, but Brian provides this little bit of information in his article:
I wish we had a direct quote, but Brian is certainly implying that Longar was motivated by his orbital-bone-fracturing-incident. Better yet, head coach Jeff Capel had this to say after the game, hinting at his team's possible motivation:
Capel could have just said that he was motivated because he felt like his team needed a win, but there was more to this than just a win. Capel felt like he was wronged too and that Knight had a lot to do with that. Once again, if he were to take himself out of this situation, he knows that he would have done the same thing that the Knight's did.
Great, now I've got to go to church angry.
FWST's John Miller has his game article and this quote from Pat and note about the offense:
"We just didn't have an answer inside," Pat Knight said. "It was just no contest."
Texas Tech got almost all of its offensive production from guards Jarrius Jackson and Martin Zeno, who combined for 51 points. Jackson tied a season-high with 31.
No other Red Raider had more than three points.
"We've got to have more guys score and be involved offensively," Pat Knight said. "You're not going to win a lot of games when you have that."
Red Raider Baseball:
The Red Raiders won their first game of the season, 4-3, over the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks.
Rightfielder Roger Kieschnick went 3-5 (two singels and a double) and new third baseman, Doug Thennis had a game-winning single in the bottom of the 11th. The Red Raider bullpen also pitched 5 scoreless innings to help secure the victory.
Go read LAJ's George Watson's game article for a much better recap of the game.