Sutton vs. Sutton Showdown

Maybe Sean Sutton really believed he would be doing his younger brother Scott a favor. Or, maybe when ESPN officials called pitching the idea of the two Sutton brothers’ teams meeting in the All-College Classic in Oklahoma City, Sean Sutton thought it would be a good time to play Scott’s team during a rebuilding season. Whatever his reason, the OSU head coach is probably reconsidering it now.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys of Sean Sutton, 5-5, and the Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles of Scott Sutton, 6-4, will meet in a nationally televised game (ESPN2) at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. (Central time).

It will be the first time that Sean and Scott have coached against each other as head coaches ... and it probably won’t happen again anytime soon. Sean Sutton, who agreed to the game after visiting with his brother at the matchup, has nothing to gain and everything to lose when the teams take the floor. OSU, of the Big 12 Conference, is favored to defeat Oral Roberts, of the Summit League, and it will be a huge disappointment if the Cowboys do not defeat the Golden Eagles.

It will be the first meeting between the two schools in more than 10 years – since OSU’s 73-66 victory on Dec. 2, 1997 – and the Cowboys hold a 15-4 edge in the series. The Cowboys have won 10 of the last 11 games with the lone loss being a 71-60 defeat on Jan. 29, 1997 in Tulsa.

The 39-year-old Sean Sutton and his 37-year-old brother Scott were both members of their respective staffs when the two schools met in the last five games of the series (four of which have been won by OSU). The two brothers were actually members of the Oklahoma State program on two occasions. Sean was the starting point guard for the Cowboys during the 1991-92 season as a senior, and Scott was a redshirt. Sean was then an assistant coach for his dad, Eddie Sutton, during the 1993-94 season, while Scott was the team’s starting point guard.

“ORU has another outstanding team and they are playing a lot better than they did early,” Sean Sutton said.” They went over to Fayetteville and played Arkansas really close, and actually led them midway through the second half. I think Scott is really pleased with how well they’ve developed knowing they lost Caleb Green and Ken Tutt from a year ago. It will be another tough game, and I’m sure both teams will be ready to play.”

The Golden Eagles lost 66-56 to fourth-ranked Texas in Austin on Tuesday night. But they were actually tied 33-33 with the Longhorns at halftime.

Thursday night’s game will be ORU’s third contest against a Big 12 opponent this season after losing to Texas and 14th-ranked Texas A&M (67-53) on Nov. 13.