Nebraska Upsets Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton had no difficulty assessing his fourth-ranked Cowboys’ performance in a 74-67 loss to Nebraska on Tuesday night at Lincoln, Neb.

“I told the squad this ranks as one of the 10 worst performances of any team I’ve had that’s any good,” Sutton said. “It was just a bad game, and it came at a bad time.”

Not only did the loss drop the Cowboys into a tie with No. 8 Kansas atop the Big 12 standings, it could damage their hopes of a No. 1 seeding in the NCAA tournament. Oklahoma State is at Kansas on Sunday.

Joe McCray scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half and Aleks Maric added a career-high 15 to lead Nebraska to its first win over a top-five opponent since a 98-91 victory over No. 3 Missouri in the 1994 Big Eight tournament.

“We needed a great, great effort to have a chance to win,” Nebraska Coach Barry Collier said. “Our guys believed they could do that, and four or five minutes at a time we came at them.”

Oklahoma State, which averaged 82 points in winning its last six games by an average of 15, was held under 70 points for only the fourth time this season.

The Cowboys, 20-4 overall and 10-3 in the Big 12, turned in a sloppy effort that saw them commit 19 turnovers and go eight straight possessions without scoring to start the second half.

The Huskers (12-12, 5-8) used a 12-0 run from a 32-32 halftime tie to break the game open and the Cowboys never got closer than the final margin.

No. 2 North Carolina 81, North Carolina State 71 -- Melvin Scott replaced the ill Rashad McCants in the starting lineup and scored 12 points to lead the Tar Heels at Raleigh, N.C.

Raymond Felton had 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds for the Tar Heels (23-3, 11-2), who extended their lead in the Atlantic Coast Conference to a full game over No. 6 Wake Forest.

McCants didn’t even make the 25-mile trip because of an intestinal disorder.

Julius Hodge had 20 points for the Wolfpack (15-11, 5-8), who had won two straight.

Louisiana State 61, No. 16 Alabama 59 -- Ross Neltner’s tip-in at the buzzer gave LSU the victory at Baton Rouge and denied Alabama the chance to clinch the SEC West.

The loss ended a four-game winning streak for Alabama (21-5, 10-3).

The Tigers (16-9, 9-4) improved to 13-1 at home this season.