Le'Bryan Nash provides heroics, then asks 'who is hugging me?'
Published: 2/8/2012 10:49 AM
Last Modified: 2/8/2012 3:51 PM
Le'Bryan Nash. K.T. KING/For the Tulsa World
So, let’s get some of it on the web.
--Freshman Le’Bryan Nash rejected Chris Allen’s shot at the buzzer to preserve a 69-67 OSU victory. As the ball soared safely out of bounds, Nash’s momentum carried him toward a student section on the baseline. Almost immediately, someone invaded his space.
Said Nash, “I looked down (and said) ‘who is hugging me?’ I was in the student section, so I was thinking it was a student. I looked down and it was Keiton (Page). I’m like, yeah. He was excited. He’s a senior and he wants to win. He’s a team captain, so whenever everybody is doing something good, he encourages them to do better.”
Travis Ford said he can’t say enough about Page’s leadership this season. “(It’s) extremely impressive and invaluable, the things he’s doing in timeouts and on the court, that maybe some people don’t see," the OSU coach said. "It’s unbelievable. He’s going through one of the best stretches of leadership I’ve ever had.”
--Nash hit a go-ahead shot with 4.7 seconds remaining, but he seemed to take more pride in the fact that he clinched the victory with a defensive play.
“It felt good because I think coach thinks I am the weakest link on defense,” Nash said. “I (can) go back to the locker room and say ‘what now?’ I made a good defensive play. It was good to rub it in his face. It was good to get the win. That’s what I wanted the most was to get the win.”
When the “weakest link” thing was repeated to Ford, the coach said. “I’m sure he thinks that, as much as we’re yelling his name on defense.... But he’s come a long way. If he continues with the mindset of ‘hey, I’ve got to get better,’ then he can get to the point where he’s a really good defender because he’s got a great feel for the game. When you have a good feel, you can read angles and do some things. And I think he did that with the timing of the blocked shot.”
--Nash hit his first game-winning shot as a collegian, but he said he hit a lot of game-winners in high school, including a last-second halfcourt shot in a playoff victory.
“That was probably my best memory I had in high school,” Nash said. “I live for the moment. I take shots like that all the time. I wasn’t fazed or nothing.”
--The Cyclones, who haven’t won in Stillwater since 1988, are probably wondering if they will ever win in Gallagher-Iba Arena. One year ago, they gave up a six-point lead in last minute of regulation and lost at OSU in overtime.
The Cowboys have lost significant manpower since that game (Jean-Paul Olukemi and Marshall Moses played big against Iowa State last season). And the Cyclones have added enough Division I transfers to be significantly better this season. And the result in Stillwater was still business as usual.
--Surely no one will be foolish enough to leave Iowa State forward Royce White off their first-team All-Big 12 ballot. White, a “point forward” who collected 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists against the Cowboys, entered the game as the only player in the nation who leads his team in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals.
White is a sophomore transfer from Minnesota. He signed a letter of intent to play for Tubby Smith, but off-the-court issues sent him from Minneapolis to Ames.
--The magic number for OSU, at least defensively, was 70. Iowa State is 14-1 this season when scoring 70 or more points.
The Cyclones got a prayer answered -- Scott Christopherson cashed a long, buzzer-beating 3-point bank shot -- to score 71 in a victory over the Cowboys in Ames.
The Cyclones were held to 67 points in Stillwater and 22 were courtesy of Allen, whose six 3-pointers were two shy of the most ever by an opponent against the Cowboys.
-By Jimmie Tramel.
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
