Jayhawks, Longhorns only unbeaten teams in Big 12 play

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _Don't talk to Bob Knight about any miracle turnaround at Texas Tech. <br><br>The chief architect of the rebuilding project in West Texas doesn't believe in miracles. Not

Monday, January 21st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _Don't talk to Bob Knight about any miracle turnaround at Texas Tech.

The chief architect of the rebuilding project in West Texas doesn't believe in miracles. Not even after Tech shot 62 percent from the field and dispatched No. 6 Oklahoma State 94-70 Saturday night.

``I mean, this has not been a miracle,'' Knight said. ``Nobody's walked across the Brazos (River) and waved a wand at us.''

Andre Emmett scored 32 points and Andy Ellis added 26 on 11-of-15 shooting, completing a bad week for the Cowboys and coach Eddie Sutton.

Elsewhere around the Big 12, No. 4 Kansas got a combined 36 points and 19 rebounds from Drew Gooden and Nick Collison and beat No. 5 Oklahoma 74-67; James Thomas had 15 points to lead Texas past Nebraska 77-66, keeping Texas and Kansas the only unbeaten teams in league play; Texas A&M got 15 points from Keith Bean and slipped past Baylor 63-60.

Also, Kansas State finally got a conference win by beating Iowa State 63-52, and No. 21 Missouri downed Colorado 92-77.

No Big 12 team had a worse week than the Cowboys (15-3, 2-3), who are certain to plunge in the rankings. On Tuesday night, Kansas beat them 97-61, the most lopsided loss in Eddie Sutton's 12 years as coach.

``The first half against the Jayhawks the other night and the last 12 or 13 minutes of this game are about as difficult periods that I've had in 42 years of coaching,'' Sutton said. ``I don't know what happened to us those last 12 or 13 minutes.''

Tech (14-3, 3-2 Big 12) blew open a 52-52 tie in the final 13 minutes.

``We just really quit playing, which disappoints me,'' Sutton said. ``We've had too many great teams that have played at Oklahoma State for our ballclub to go out and play like they did those last 12 or 13 minutes.''

Oklahoma (14-2, 3-1) saw its 13-game winning streak halted and its all-time record in Allen Fieldhouse drop to 7-38.

``I hate to say this about an athletic event, but it was almost like a war out there,'' said coach Roy Williams of Kansas (15-2, 4-0). ``It was very physical but never dirty.''

Quannas White and Ebi Ere each had 17 points for Oklahoma.

At Austin, Fredie Williams' steal and layup with 4:55 to play put Texas ahead to stay and started a 17-5 run to close the game for the Longhorns (13-4, 4-0).

``I knew they were counting on me to bring a spark on defense,'' said Williams, who finished with 10 points, four assists and three steals.

``Our offense wasn't clicking tonight, so we won it with defense.''

Nebraska (8-8, 1-4) hit a school-record 15 3-pointers, including three in a row in the second half that put the Huskers ahead 41-31. Cary Cochran went 5-of-8 from 3-point range and totaled 19 points.

Missouri (14-4, 4-1) was almost as hot, hitting 11 of its first 13 shots against Colorado (10-5, 1-3).

We shot well but that wasn't the story,'' said Missouri coach Quin Snyder. ``That's an oversimplification of the story. We played well. And because we played well, we shot well. There's a difference.''

Kareem Rush, who seems to have gone out of his slump, scored 29 points and Arthur Johnson had 20.

At Manhattan, Kansas State (7-8, 1-3) was in command from start to finish.

``During the season, we've been playing 25 to 30 minutes of good basketball,'' said Kansas State forward Matt Siebrandt. ``But then we'll have those 10 or 15 minutes when we're lackadaisical and let down. Tonight, it was probably 39 minutes of good basketball.''

The Wildcats forced 19 turnovers and held Iowa State (9-10, 1-4) to 15-of-43 from the floor. Larry Reid, one of four Wildcats in double figures, had 18 points. Tyray Pearson had 15 for the Cyclones.