Missouri’s Rush Is Sidelined for Season

Kareem Rush of Missouri, the Big 12’s leading scorer, will miss the rest of the season after tearing ligaments in his left thumb in Monday night’s loss at Oklahoma State. Rush, a sophomore averaging 21.9 points and the brother of former UCLA player JaRon Rush, was injured in a fall with 1:50 to go in the 69-66 loss. He played the remainder of the game, but an exam Tuesday showed the damage.

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All three planes carrying Oklahoma State players, coaches and staff arrived safely Tuesday evening in Lincoln, Neb., on the Cowboys’ first trip since the Jan. 27 crash that killed two players and eight other members of the traveling party.

The team left Stillwater, Okla., late in the afternoon aboard three corporate jets. The original plan was to take two jets and a Beechcraft King Air--the kind of plane that crashed late last month while returning from Colorado--but Coach Eddie Sutton said a friend of the program came forward Tuesday and provided a third jet.

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The Kentucky Court of Appeals in Frankfort, Ky., refused to overturn a judge’s order that allowed 6-foot-11 Muhammed Lasege, a native of Nigeria, to play for Louisville. . . . Utah Coach Rick Majerus, who previously said he would miss the rest of the season and return to coach the 2001-2002 team, is planning to lead the Utes on a European tour in May. . . . Connecticut sophomore shooting guard Marcus Cox was suspended from the team for unspecified reasons.