Sooner or Later, Longhorns Will Make Them Notice Punch

Basketball player Joey Wright of the University of Texas didn’t know what hit him in the opening moments of a 103-84 loss to Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., last weekend.

Wright says he took a blow to the mouth, but thought it was merely the result of an inadvertent elbow. But a tape of the game shows Oklahoma’s Terry Evans punching Wright. Officials didn’t see the punch, either.

“If I knew what happened, we would have cleared the benches,” Wright said. “I never saw the punch until I looked at the tape. But I felt it. I thought he slipped in an elbow, but it was an outright punch in the mouth.”

Asked if there is any action that could be taken, Jamie Ciampaglio, a Texas assistant coach, said, “Not until next year.”

The Sooners the Longhorns will play in Austin, Tex., next season.

“If it was the NBA, the tape would be reviewed and the player would be fined and suspended,” Texas Coach Tom Penders said. “Here, there is no one to send it to.”

Trivia time: Whose interception on the last play of the game Jan. 18, 1976, ensured the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 21-17 Super Bowl victory over the Dallas Cowboys?

Nothing to prove: The Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan, on plans for a pay-per-view one-on-one game against the Lakers’ Magic Johnson, an idea the NBA has vetoed: “Who cares who can beat another player one on one? Magic’s been known as an all-around player his whole career. I’ve been labeled a little bit as a one-on-one player and I’m trying to shed that label as much as possible.

“I think a lot of fans would love to see it mainly because of the status we carry in the NBA. But I don’t know if that’s a fair match. Me against Dominique (Wilkins) would probably be more fair. But I’m not trying to start anything else, now.”

Add NBA: The Celtics’ Kevin McHale, denying that he is the source of unattributed criticism of teammate Larry Bird, told the Boston Herald: “Harmony, scharmony. I’m not a symphony director. Life is too short to say anything negative about anyone. I’ve never been a person to say anything negative about a teammate or anyone else.”

Lethal weapon: Dale Brown, basketball coach at Louisiana State, and Kentucky counterpart Rick Pitino nearly came to blows during Saturday night’s game at Baton Rouge, La. Pitino said a couple of days later that he was not concerned about squaring off with Brown--”unless he wanted to fight me with his mouth.”

Add LSU: Vanderbilt’s first-year coach, Eddie Fogler, on the LSU lineup that includes 7-footers Shaquille O’Neal and Stanley Roberts and high-scoring point guard Chris Jackson: “They have three (NBA draft) lottery picks. Do you know any other team in the country that has three lottery picks? I don’t know if there’s another team in America that has two.”

Trivia answer: Glen Edwards.

Quotebook: John McEnroe on why many other tennis stars are skipping the once-prestigious Australian Open: “It’s silly. You’re playing in, like, your first tournament of the year, and already it’s a Grand Slam.”