Three Takeaways From Saturday in Big 12 Men’s Basketball

Posted on January 22, 2022

The Big 12 men played all five games slated this weekend and here are our three takeaways from the results of Saturday’s games.

Saturday’s Results

No. 18 Texas Tech 78, West Virginia 65

No. 23 Texas 56, Oklahoma State 51

No. 5 Baylor 65, Oklahoma 51

No. 7 Kansas 78, Kansas State 75

TCU 59, No. 15 Iowa State 44

Takeaways

Bad News (for everyone else): Terrence Shannon Jr. is Back

I made the point in my Iowa State-Texas Tech game thoughts from Tuesday that it was not time to judge Shannon’s return from injury after just two games because he was playing his way back into shape.

Well, that was fast.

Shannon ended up with 23 points against West Virginia on Saturday, and he led all scorers. Shannon combined for six points in his first two games back from injury. So moving to 23 points against a hefty Mountaineers defense was a quantum leap.

So, Shannon has momentum. And the Red Raiders have won four of their last five as they head into Monday’s huge game with Kansas in Lawrence. Perfect timing.

You Hold Mike Miles to Five Points And …

The Iowa State defense is great. We can all agree on that. And if you’re going to slow down TCU, then you have to slow down Mike Miles, their talented sophomore guard. Well, mission accomplished. The Cyclones held him to five points.

But, Iowa State lost, right? Yep. Why?

Aside from Iowa State’s own offensive struggles (we’ll look at those on Monday in my Five Thoughts piece), Damion Baugh picked up the slack for the Horned Frogs, scoring 23 points.

That’s not an anomaly. That’s a trend. To be fair, that was his best game as a Horned Frog. But he has scored in double figures in three of his five Big 12 games. He’s now averaging nearly nine points per game.

He never got to score like this at Memphis. And he’s emerging as one of Miles’s running buddies at the right time.

Texas Trough

Texas won today, but, geez. The Longhorns beat Oklahoma State by five and for a good portion of the second half no one could even clear 40 points. Yes, like all Big 12 teams, they’re both great on defense. But Texas shot 36.7 percent from the floor. Texas’ team field-goal percentage is 45.8 percent this season. That clip has dropped to 42.8 percent in Big 12 play. It’s not much, and one would expect everyone’s shooting percentage to drop a bit in this conference due to the defense.

But Texas had long streaks without baskets. It’s not the first time that’s happened lately, either. Texas is now 1-2 in its last three games. Imagine if the Longhorns had shot a bit worse on Saturday? In fact, Texas committed 20 turnovers and Oklahoma State turned those into 21 points. What salvaged the game for Texas was a 14-of-18 clip from the free-throw line, including late free throws from Courtney Ramey and Marcus Carr.

Texas has TCU on the road next. Texas just lost to Iowa State and TCU just beat Iowa State so … it’s no gimme. Not that any game is in this league.

And One More

Here’s what happens when you don’t do your research on where your ticket is when you go to your favorite team’s road game.

https://twitter.com/KStateMBB/status/1484989296364900356?s=20

Also

See below for our links to our pieces on today’s games between Baylor and Oklahoma, and Kansas and Kansas State.

Next Week’s Games (all times central)

Monday: No. 18 Texas Tech at No. 7 Kansas, 8 p.m., ESPN

Tuesday: Kansas State at No. 5 Baylor, 7 p.m., Big 12/ESPN+

Tuesday: No. 23 Texas at TCU, 8 p.m., ESPNU

Wednesday: No. 15 Iowa State at Oklahoma State, 7 p.m., Big 12/ESPN+

Wednesday: Oklahoma at West Virginia, 7 p.m., ESPN2

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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