Big 12 Basketball Week 10: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Week 10 is officially in the books as the Big 12 Conference continued both the men’s and women’s basketball seasons for 2023-24.
It was an insane week, even by Big 12 standards Top 5 teams lost, traditional powers fell on the women’s side and the men’s AP Top 25 looks like Swiss cheese.
Here are the good, bad, and ugly from Week 10 in Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball.
The Good
Texas Tech’s Surprise Start
Texas Tech is 3-0 in Big 12 play under first-year coach Grant McCasland. That includes a Top 25 road win over Texas. How have the Red Raiders done it?
It’s interesting. If you look at the Red Raiders’ stats for the season, the team only leads the Big 12 in one category — free-throw shooting percentage. That’s 77.9 percent. That’s laudable. But look across the rest of the categories and the Red Raiders are, well, pretty average, as least in this conference.
That changes when you flip to conference-only. Second in points per game (76.0). Fifth in points allowed (66.3). Tied for second in margin of victory (9.7). Tops in turnover margin (6.33) and second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.55).
But, sometimes the explanation is simple. Texas Tech is shooting the ball better in conference play so far. The Red Raiders are shooting nearly 50% from the floor, up from 46.4% for the full season. Tech’s field-goal percentage through three league games leads the conference.
Tech is off to a hot start. Guard Pop Isaacs (18.3) is a Top 6 scorer in the conference. But the rise of Warren Washington (14.0) is a great supplement, while the transfer of former West Virginia guard Joe Toussaint (13.3) have given the Red Raiders three clear offensive options.
Isaacs and Toussaint are Big 12 experienced and that has certainly helped McCasland, who knows the league well as an assistant coach at Baylor under Scott Drew.
If there’s an area of concern it’s rebounding. While Darrion Williams averages 6.3 per game, as a team the Red Raiders are at the bottom in combined team rebounding after three league games with 29.9 per game. For the season, Tech is next-to-last (36.1).
There’s the area that could be problematic for the Red Raiders as this season goes on. Houston looms on Tuesday. The Cougars are third in the category. So watch the paint on Wednesday. That matchup could be a big one.
Right now, the Red Raiders look like a team that could be playing in the NCAA Tournament come mid-March.
Iowa State’s Youth Movement
You lose a G.O.A.T. (Ashley Joens), you lose a high-scoring guard (Lexi Donarski) and you lose a game-changing center (Stephanie Soares). That’s a lot to lose after one season.
But that was Iowa State’s lot after last season. Throw in Emily Ryan’s injury, which kept her out until mid-December, and it was a recipe for a huge step back for the Cyclones.
Well, maybe not. Yes, the Cyclones had a rough November and early December. But, now the Cyclones have won their first five Big 12 women’s games and co-lead the conference with Kansas State.
How? Coach Bill Fennelly invested in his youngsters. He brought in one of the best recruiting classes in school history and they’ve responded with incredible play since league action started.
Two freshmen, forward Audi Crooks (16.7 points, 6.5 rebounds) and forward Addy Brown (14.6 points, 9.3 rebounds, 89 assists) have led the way. Another freshman, Kelsey Joens, has given them a boost off the bench. Combine that with returning vet Nyamer Diew (8.3 points, 4.0 rebounds) and a transfer vet in Hannah Belanger (9.4 points, 40% from 3-point) and the Cyclones have won 11 straight games.
As for Ryan, she’s not in the starting lineup. At first, it was about her not being in game shape. Now, it’s about chemistry. Fennelly clearly likes what he has in the starting five and Ryan seems to have no issue coming off the bench. It’s actually perfect. Ryan gives them veteran gravitas late in games and Fennelly keeps the chemistry his team has built intact.
Can Iowa State sustain this? I’m not sure. But it is a lot of fun to watch right now.
Bye, Bye, Bye
The Big 12 Conference is one of the toughest in the country. Perhaps the toughest. The Big 12’s social media account was happy to tout that entering this weekend’s games.
It also took a bit of a shot at the Pac-12. Look at the asterisk.
Now, even with Oklahoma and Texas preparing to leave, that number would only drop to 12. Why? Because with their loss to West Virginia, Texas dropped out of the Top 50.
Scoring Experience
When Baylor played Kansas on Wednesday it was a battle of two of the nation’s four teams that have some of the most experienced scorers in the country.
With the transfer portal, you may start seeing this more. By the way, Kansas won the game.
Count To Two
At this point, it’s hard to find something that Kansas hasn’t done in college basketball. But, on Saturday against Oklahoma, the Jayhawks managed to do something they had never done before.
Any coach would lose their mind over that stat, and rightly so.
Scott Drew, Foodie
Here’s 45 seconds of Baylor coach Scott Drew saying nice things about Cincinnati, including its cuisine, back at Big 12 Media Days in October.
I swear this man does his research. He could do 10 minutes on KenPom every preseason, if needed.
Oh, by the way, Baylor just got a commitment from five-star recruit VJ Edgecombe. This is what Baylor is now. There isn’t a five-star player the Bears can’t compete for. And he’ll be the second-highest recruit Baylor has ever gotten.
The Bad
The ‘New Big 12’
Like most, I was curious how the new Big 12 teams would fare this season. Through three rounds, the four teams combined are 4-8.
I did not think that UCF would have the signature win, which is the Knights’ home upset of Kansas. I did not think Houston would be 1-2 by this point (I figured 2-1 was the floor). Cincinnati’s and BYU’s wins are over the new Big 12, but Cincinnati has been oh so close — four points combined against Texas and Baylor.
I think it’s clear that these four teams are good fits for the conference. All four are playing quality basketball. Houston is the best of the lot but the Cougars got their dose of being on the road in the Big 12 last week and lost both games. Houston will bounce back. I’m confident of that.
In the short term, they’re going to take their lumps. But I’m betting by the time we get to Kansas City they each have a signature win like UCF does and that they’ll see the boost in both recruiting and the transfer portal. UCF has already experienced it with the transfer of Mikey Williams, who can’t play until next season.
A couple of seasons from now, I can see one of these teams finishing the season in the Top 4 in the conference. They’ve clearly taken care to lay the foundation to get ready for this.
But, as we all know, “Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth.” And BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Houston have been punched in the mouth.
That happens to everyone in the Big 12. The key is short-term memory. They’ll learn. And they’ll get better because of it.
A Fine Time
UCF sure enjoyed that win over Kansas on Wednesday. If you watched the game you that was one of the best court-stormings you’ll ever see.
But, the Knights have to pay the price. The going rate is $25,000 these days. That’s the fine the Big 12 levied for “… UCF event management policy” not providing “for the protection of the visiting team and game officials to safely exit the court.”
Basically UCF was unable to get a rope line in place by the bench to separate the fans from the Kansas players. If you watch my video from the TCU court storming on Saturday against Houston, you’ll see the rope line they put up, which will likely keep them from getting fined.
UCF supporters are on the case. Rock ’Em Socks, which, well, makes socks, posted on social media that it will cover the fine if they sell 2,500 pair of their “Fear the Fronds” socks.
A Power Punch
I was at the Houston-TCU game on Saturday. What a great game. But I didn’t see this on the way out.
No word on whether that was celebration or frustration.
The Ugly
The Top 25 Takes a Hit
I mean, this is ugly unless you love chaos.
But, hey — who doesn’t love a little chaos? By the way, this was BEFORE No. 10 Illinois lost to Maryland.
West Virginia Signals For Help
The Mountaineers won their first Big 12 game on Saturday and beat ranked Texas to do it. Before the game they signed Aden Tagaloa-Nelson to help them the rest of the season.
He should be familiar to WVU fans. He played football for the Mountaineers at safety. Back in high school in Kentucky he played basketball at Woodford County High.
At this point, if you’re WVU, you do what you have to do, right? But, getting Jesse Edwards back would be a much better solution.
But, in the balance, signing football players to fill out your basketball roster in January doesn’t look great.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
