Four Thoughts on Big 12 Men’s Basketball for Feb. 25

Posted on February 25, 2023

NCAA Basketball: Texas Tech at Texas Christian

The Big 12 had five games on Saturday as we enter the final stretch of men’s play. Here are four thoughts on the night.

One Desperate Team Won, Another Lost

Oklahoma (14-15, 4-12) bolstered its faint chances of sneaking into the NCAA Tournament with a road victory over Iowa State (17-11, 8-8), 61-50. It’s a Quad 1 road win for the Sooners, who are truly desperate to be, at the least, .500 going into the Big 12 Tournament.

Funny thing is, Iowa State was up big early and lost the lead, thanks to 31 percent shooting. The Cyclones forced Oklahoma in 18 turnovers (ISU only had five). But OU owned the glass (39-27) and bench points (25-14). This truly came down to Iowa State’s offense short-circuiting. Again.

Jacob Groves had 16 off the bench for the Sooners. Grant Sherfield only scored 10. But all eight Sooners scored and the team shot 46.3. percent.

Gabe Kalscheur had 12 points and Tamin Lipsey had 10 for Iowa State. Aljaz Kunc went scoreless in 26 minutes and Jaren Holmes only had eight points.

Meahwhile, there was drama in Lubbock as TCU (19-11, 8-8) beat Texas Tech (16-13, 5-11), 83-82, after Ja’Kobe Coles made two free throws with four seconds left to lift the Horned Frogs to their first win in Lubbock since 2015.

Coles had 15 points for the Horned Frogs, who shot 48 percent and survived an 18-5 run late by the Red Raiders which put Texas Tech ahead, 80-79, with less than two minutes. TCU’s Mike Miles (24 points), and Texas Tech’s De’Vion Harmon (18 points) traded baskets before Coles’ free throws.

TCU had a nine-point halftime lead thanks to Miles. But the Red Raiders chipped away at it. Emanuel Miller had 14 points and 12 rebounds, filling in for Eddie Lampkin Jr., who is still out. Xavier Cork, who started in Lampkin’s position, had 10 points.

Jaylon Tyson scored 12 points and gave Tech its final lead. Kevin Obanor had 17 points and nine rebounds, while Fardaws Aimaq 19 points and six rebounds.

ESPN noted that a Red Raiders loss would damage Tech’s NCAA Tournament chances by 10 percent. They let one slip through their fingers, that’s for sure.

The Baylor Assist and A Wildcat Rally

The Baylor Bears (21-8, 10-6) were own 18-4 to start the game, but then went on a 25-9 to take the lead at halftime and never looked back, giving the Bears an 81-72 win over Texas (22-7, 11-5).

The favor was Baylor beating Texas, which was tied for the Big 12 lead with Kansas.

Baylor lost guard Keyonte George to an injury in the first half. But all that seemed to do was coincide with Baylor’s incredible run, which buried the Longhorns. Jalen Bridges had 17 points, while Dale Bonner had 13 points, Adam Flagler had 14 points and Langston Love had 11 points. Other players stepped up. So did Flo Thamba, with 12 points and 12 rebounds on a day in which Baylor honored him for playing in more Bears games than any player in school history.

For Texas, it was all Dylan Disu, and that was a bad thing. He had an exceptional game with 24 points. But no one else stepped up for Texas until late and it was down double digits. Tyrese Hunter had 13 points, Timmy Allen had 12 points, Sir’Jabari Rice had 12 points and Marcus Carr had 11 points. But it wasn’t nearly enough.

Meanwhile, Kansas State (22-7, 10-6) came from behind for the third straight game to beat Oklahoma State (16-13, 7-9), 73-68, the Wildcats’ first road win since Jan. 7.

This was a game the Cowboys needed and they had their chances throughout to take control. But they shot 41 percent from the floor and just couldn’t hit the shots down the stretch. Kalib Boone had 18 points, while Caleb Asberry had 13 points, John-Michael Wright had 12 points and Bryce Thompson had 11 points. Where the Cowboys fit into Bracketology now is anyone’s guess.

Markquis Nowell came up big when it mattered most, scoring 22 points (9-of-10 from the free-throw line), while Keyontae Johnson had 17 points and Desi Sills added 10 points. KSU remains tied for third in the league with Baylor. But, K-State would have the No. 3 seed due to its sweep of the Bears. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

Kansas holds on for key victory over West Virginia

The Jayhawks avoided an upset that would have been extremely costly for their regular season Big 12 Championship hopes, and the Mountaineers missed out on a major chance to perhaps pull themselves off the bubble. Kansas held on for a 76-74 victory Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Coupled with that aforementioned Texas loss, now the Jayhawks are one game up on the Longhorns in conference race with two games remaining. One of those two, of course, is a matchup between the two in Austin, so a Kansas victory would salt it all away.

The Jayhawks are now there thanks to one final defensive stop, as they created a turnover on West Virginia’s last possession. That’s after forward Jalen Wilson split a pair of free throws in the final 30 seconds.

They built an eight-point lead midway through the second half and, as it turns out, were able to hold onto it to the finish line. But they would certainly have to fight for it following an identical two-point lead at halftime of 35-33.

All five starters finished in double figures, as Kansas won with its bench scoring only three points. Guard Dajuan Harris Jr. led all of them with 17. Guards Grady Dick and Kevin McCullar and forwards K.J. Adams and Wilson joined him with 16, 16, 13 and 11, respectively.

Four Mountaineers finished in double figures. Guard Erik Stevenson led those with a game-high 23. He was joined by forward Tre Mitchell, guard Kedrian Johnson and forward Emmitt Matthews Jr., with 20, 15 and 13, respectively.

The Jayhawks outshot the Mountaineers 54.9% to 45.9%. The ‘Eers won the rebounding battle, however, 34-26.