Missouri Ties For Ford, Gulley
Ford Returns To Mizzou
By John Helsley
jhelsley@opubco.com
Travis Ford admits he wonders what kind of reception he’ll receive in Columbia today, the former-former Tiger that he is.
Ford, you see, is two times removed from Mizzou. He played there for one fantastic season in 1989-90, serving as a backup in a backcourt that featured Anthony Peeler, before transferring to Kentucky. Ford was named to the UPI Big Eight All-Freshman team with the Tigers, after averaging 6.4 points and 3.5 assists a game.
When NCAA investigators started sniffing around the program, with probation appearing likely, Ford left for Kentucky.
Saturday, Ford returns to Mizzou.
“First time back,” Ford said this week. “Eight years ago had dinner and no one knew.”
They’ll know today.
“Will they just kill me?” Ford wondered. “I’m preparing for the worst.”
His time at Mizzou, however, was grand.
The Tigers went undefeated at home that season and were ranked No. 1 for a while. They flamed out in the NCAA Tournament, as Norm Stewart’s squads were apt to do, but the experience was special for Ford.
There student paper even held a contest, seeking nicknames for Ford. Among the entries: Hot Rod , Turbo, Maverick, Scooter, Sparky, Ford Dog or Napoleon.
“We had a great year,” Ford said. “That’s the first thing. I loved it. I loved going to school there. I loved playing for Norm Stewart. I loved it.
“Great teammates, guys I still talk to today. Anthony Peeler and Doug Smith. One of the most memorable years. I loved it there. But they got into trouble and that was the main reason I left.”
Cowboys point guard Fred Gulley could have played at Mizzou.
Might have played at Mizzou, based on a strong relationship with Tigers coach Mike Anderson, forged when both were back in Fayetteville, Ark., where Anderson served as Nolan Richardson’s top assistant at the U of A.
“Every weekend, I spent at their house,” Gulley said. Me and their daughter (Yvonne) played on the same basketball team growing up. Actually, probably about third through fifth grade. She was our starting point guard and we both played point guard. She’s at Texas now playing.”
Gulley said the Andersons were almost family.
“Really close,” he said.
Not so close, however, that Anderson could persuade Gulley to Columbia, although he tried. A scholarship was there for Gulley, but the former Arkansas prep star preferred Stillwater.
“It was a real tough situation,” Gulley said. “They offered me. I went up there
for a couple of visits and stuff. Oklahoma State was just the right place for me.
“It was probably one of the toughest things I have done, but (Anderson) called and wished me good luck and congratulated me.”
Gulley expects a call or two before tip time, too.
“It’s going to be great,” Gulley said. “It’s going to be real great. It’s a good
rivalry. He will probably give me a call or I will probably talk to someone in the Anderson family before the game. It’s going to be good.
“I spent a lot of time there at recruiting time. It’s just going to be good
to go in there and try to get a win.”
OSU-A&M: Afterthoughts
By John Helsley
jhelsley@opubco.com
The Cowboys answered a major question Wednesday night: How would they handle the aftermath of their big win at K-State.
Asked and answered. In fine fashion.
OSU’s 73-69 win was solid, especially considering the Cowboys were without starting point guard Ray Penn again.
A&M actually played one of its best offensive games of the season, uncharacteristically firing in 3-pointers. And OSU weathered the blows and came out with a home win — a mandatory home win — that revealed another positive development.
Backup point guard Fred Gulley, splitting time with Keiton Page in replacing Penn, played his best game yet. It was reminiscent of Saturday, when Nick Sidorakis emerged with a breakout game.
“(Gulley) made plays tonight,” said Cowboys coach Travis Ford. “His offense came by making plays, not by him trying to create something himself. That’s not his game. He got it by a back-door layup. He got it off a tip-in. he made free throws. That’s what he needs to do. And he can do that, because he’s athletic and he’s long. We need some of that out of him. That’s a huge bonus when we can get a few points out of him, because our team struggles at times to score.
“Just as Nick did last game, I thought Fred did this game. When you’re trying to just survive and piece minute-by-minute together, the way we’re doing, you’ve to have guys step up that may not normally be scoring a lot of points or playing a lot of minutes. You’ve got to have that.”
For Gulley, who scored a career-high eight points, it was an opportunity to shake some recent struggles and show some of the stuff that made him a two-time Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year.
“I really feel like this is something I can build upon,” Gulley said. “I feel like myself out there and how I’m used to playing. It just felt good and hopefully I can build on it.”
So does Ford.
The Cowboys’ next test takes them to Mizzou, where the Tigers bring the pressure for 40 minutes. Penn’s status remains iffy. And even if he is able to play, Gulley will be needed.
“The more I play, the more confidence I’ll get,” Gulley said. “I know Missouri likes to do a lot of pressure, but if we handle it right we can use the pressure against them and turn that into a lot of easy offense.
“(Wednesday) was just a good startup. We’re going to keep working to where we feel good against Missouri and can handle their pressure.”
Chat with John Helsley at 11 a.m.
Cox, Robinson impressive at Senior Bowl
Perrish Cox. NFL first rounder?
by Brandon Chatmon
bchatmon@opubco.com
Zac Robinson and Perrish Cox are down at the Senior Bowl going through what is essentially the biggest job interviews of their lives.
Cox has made and excellent impression early with several analysts including ESPN’s Todd McShay and SI.com’s Tony Pauline lauding Cox for his play.
In this video, NFL Network’s Mike Mayock calls Cox a potential 1st round pick.
And Mayock had this to say about Zac Robinson: “Looked way better to me than I saw on tape this year. Better footwork, better delivery.”
Al.com, which is covering the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., writes that Robinson has been impressive in practices thus far.
OSU-A&M: Quick Glance
By John Helsley
jhelsley@opubco.com
Travis Ford remained remarkably cool following his team’s breakthrough road win at Kansas State.
Yeah, he was pleased. And proud of his team for its gutsy win in Manhattan.
But the Cowboys coach was hardly bubbling over with joy, too aware of the potential pitfalls lined up along the Big 12 schedule. And he shared with us his message to the team, one he himself was following in the media scrum afterward.
“‘We can’t get too high, can’t get too low,’” Ford said he told his crew. “‘But you beat a really good team on the road today. Feel good – for about an hour. Then forget about it. Every night’s going to be a war in this league.’”
On to tonight, where Texas A&M visits Gallagher-Iba Arena to open a six-day stretch that figures to reveal much about these Cowboys.
OSU is tied with A&M and Missouri for fourth place in the Big 12, all at 3-2. The Cowboys face A&M tonight and visit Missouri Saturday, followed by a Big Monday showdown in Stillwater with second-place Texas.
Of the three, A&M is a mandatory win. Anything more is a bonus, but the Cowboys must hold their home floor tonight.
A&M could just as easily be 1-4 in the league, having survived its last two home games against Oklahoma and Colorado. The Aggies have lost senior guard Derrick Roland for the year to a broken leg and are more reliant on Donald Sloan than ever.
Still, the Ags are dangerous, athletic and long and streaky enough to jump on anybody at any time. They get after it on defense, holding foes to 39.8 shooting from the floor — 31.3 from 3-point range — and rank third in the conference in turnover margin at +3.0.
Once upon a time, the Cowboys owned South teams like A&M and Baylor and Texas Tech.
Now, each has elevated its stature. Of the six teams in the South, only OSU hasn’t been ranked this season.
So nothing can be taken for granted.
The Cowboys can take another step forward with a win tonight. Or they can take a huge step back, essentially surrendering the benefits from taking Manhattan.
“You have always got to defend your homecourt in conference games,” said junior guard Nick Sidorakis. “On any given night any team can win. Our conference is that kind of conference. It’s a really tough conference. Times have changed.”
A quick look at Houston’s offense
Here’s are some clips of Houston’s games last season. It will give you a good feel for what Dana Holgorsen does offensively including his use of running backs out of the backfield and Case Keenum using his legs to make some plays:
Houston vs. Rice
Houston vs. So. Miss:
Houston vs. Tulsa
-BC-
Poke-ing Around: Penn and other items
Penn's injury could linger.
By John Helsley
jhelsley@opubco.com
Ray Penn remains questionable — “day-to-day” according to Travis Ford — as Oklahoma State approaches Wednesday night’ s home game against Texas A&M.
Get used to it, Cowboys fans, as the freshman point guard’s status may not differ much the rest of the season, as Ford and the OSU trainers don’t want a sore knee to transition into something much worse.
Penn was on crutches again Monday (as a precaution and to relieve weight on the knee), when he did not practice.
Ford said the decision to play or rest Penn will be multi-layered.
“It’s up to (Penn),” Ford said. “Up to the trainers. Speaking with the trainers and everybody, this is a situation we’re going to have to monitor. It’s unfortunate he’s not going to get to practice as much as we’d like. We’ll try to save him for games as much as possible. And that’s never a good scenario, especially for a freshman. If he was an older player, you’d feel a little better about it. But freshmen need as much practice time as possible.
“Hopefully, he can continue to heal and still be able to play a little bit and practice a little bit.
“It’s kind of been a strange deal, the whole thing, where it’s at. It’s not real, real bad, but it’s a thing that can get worse. So it’s a very fine line you have to walk. A very fine line.”
Playing the bulk of the minutes at the point in place of Penn, Keiton Page didn’t produce a great stat line, yet managed the offense, which was pleasing to Ford.
“He did good. What I liked about Keiton, I thought he did a great job of getting leadership out of the point guard spot. We saw many clips where he’s pointing and directing and he’s trying to get guys in the right direction, while they double-teamed him a lot and beat him up pretty good. He got hit in the eye with the ball one time. He got slapped in the eye one time. All accidental.
“He did a great job of being put in a position he hasn’t been put in, in a long time. He played point guard a lot last year. He backed up Byron, so it was totally foreign to him. But he hadn’t played any this year.
“So for being thrown in that situation, I thought he did an excellent job of leading our basketball team and getting in offense, in a very difficult situation.”
In that situation, Ford was able to overlook the stats — 1-of-8 shooting, four turnovers to three assists — for the intangibles Page provided in an emergency role.
“I’m a big stat guy,” Ford said. “I study stats every which way you can study them – us, our opponents, everybody. But they don’t always tell the whole story.
“They don’t tell the way he kept our team organized all the time. We’re going to have to continue to get that, because we don’t know what we’re going to get with Ray.”
Nick Sidorakis was more than good in a pinch, too, at Kansas State, providing points, hustle plays and more off the bench, in his first extended duty since returning from a preseason knee injury.
“I felt good,” Sidorakis said. “I think I made more positive plays than negative plays, which the coaches thrive on. They are always talking about making more positives than negatives. I feel like I did all right. I felt good. I felt comfortable out there.”
Sidorakis talked about a touching phone conversation he had with his father, who couldn’t be at the game, but congratulated Nick and told him how proud he was of his son, and for battling through the adversity of the injury and the bench time.
“That was pretty special,” Sidorakis said of the call.
Afterthoughts: OSU-Kansas State
By John Helsley
jhelsley@opubco.com
Folks, I enjoy my job. Enjoy what I do. Consider myself blessed to be paid to go to games.
And yet, a lot of days/nights, because I’ve spent a lot of days and nights going to games, the thrill is gone.
Bad games. Bad opponents. Uninspiring performances. Travel. Weather. Long drives home in the wee hours.
Yeah, I know it sounds like whining. Probably is. And when I start feeling sorry for myself, I remind myself that I once was an accountant (no offense, bean counters, it just wasn’t for me).
Well, I want you to know, Saturday at Kansas State was FUN.
Great opponent. Great atmosphere. Great drama.
Great game.
As I wrote in the paper, everything seemed to be stacked against the Cowboys.
Everything but one key factor: Guts.
The Cowboys showed a toughness against the Wildcats that should serve them well through the remainder of Big 12 play. They kept taking shots, from the loss of point guard Ray Penn to foul trouble and strong rallies from a really good K-State team.
And the Pokes came through with some blows of their own.
A week ago in this space, I said I was souring on OSU’s chances to make the NCAA Tournament.
I stand corrected.
These Cowboys — Saturday’s Cowboys — can win games. At home. On the road, in places like Columbia and Ames and College Station and who knows where else, if they can win at Bramlage Coliseum.
Now, it’s never going to be easy. The Cowboys have limitations. But they also have maybe the Big 12′s most valuable player in James Anderson.
And if they also have toughness, they’ve got a chance.
Breaking News: Penn Out Today
By John Helsley
jhelsley@opubco.com
MANHATTAN — Cowboys point guard Ray Penn will not play today, due to soreness in his left leg.
Penn is in street clothes.
Fellow freshman Fred Gulley will start at the point, with Keiton Page and Reger Dowell likely to see time there as well.
Details on Penn’s injury are so far sketchy. It has been described as pain between the knee and the shin, to which I responded: “What is between the knee and the shin?”
Will have more details later.
The initial word is that the injury is not serious, but with three games coming up in the next eight days, coaches chose to rest Penn. They may have to pick their spots to rest him the rest of the way, as well.
Gulley made three starts earlier in the season. He’s averaging 15 minutes per game in Big 12 play.
This will be a tough environment for his first Big 12 start, as the Wildcats are riding a Bramlage Coliseum-record, 14-game winning streak and coming off a Monday upset of top-ranked Texas.
Chat with John Helsley at 11:30 a.m.
