Top Five Takeaways From Wednesday’s Big 12 Basketball Games
Here are five thoughts on the Big 12 Conference men’s and women’s basketball games on Wednesday, as there were five games played around the conference.
So what happened? Iowa State remained undefeated at Hilton Coliseum this season. Meanwhile, the Big 12 women’s race changed again as Oklahoma took over second place by itself in the standings — with a little help from Kansas.
Here are five thoughts on the night.
Hilton Magic is (Still) Undefeated
The only men’s game of the night was a good old-fashioned Big 12 “rock fight,” in the words of Fran Fraschilla.
It was a rugged game. There were 47 total fouls, two players fouled out, two others came close and Kansas State coach Jerome Tang received an ill-timed technical foul late in the second half.
Iowa State got the win, though, 78-67, because they got hot from the field in the final four minutes of the game. At one point they were on a 13-1 run with one minute left and possessing a double-digit lead. Part of that lead was built on the two free throws from Tang’s technical foul.
Milam Momcilovic led the Cyclones with 19 points, Curtis Jones had 18 points and Keshon Gilbert had 15 points. Gilbert had a double-double with 13 rebounds, and he helped fuel the Cyclones’ plus-13 edge on the boards.
Arthur Kaluma had 16 for Kansas State, which included a long 3-pointer that briefly silenced Hilton Coliseum in a way in which I’ve never heard. Cam Carter had 12 points, but he was in foul trouble throughout the game and the Wildcats were assuredly better on offense when he was on the floor.
The game, at times, was a disjointed mess. At one point Tang was clearly upset with the goings-on behind his bench and he and coach T.J. Otzelberger came face-to-face when Tang entered Otz’s coaching box in an attempt to talk with him. Otz wasn’t happy with that, but the two exchanged words after the game, which looked mostly like Tang explaining what happened.
Iowa State improved to 4-2 in conference while handing Kansas State its second Big 12 loss, which means that Texas Tech, for the moment, leads the league by itself — and second place is a four-way tie (five if you count Baylor, which is one-half game back of the quartet at 3-2 because it hasn’t played this week).
The rematch is in Manhattan on March 9, the regular-season finale for both teams, if you’re into that sort of thing. Meanwhile, Kansas State is flying to Houston to take on the Cougars on Saturday.
Oh, and in the category of “If I have to see it, you have to see it…”
Women’s Roundup
The big game of the night was between Oklahoma and No. 10 Texas and the Sooners got the job done on the road, winning 91-87.
For the Sooners it was their third win over a AP Top 10 team under third-year coach Jennie Baranczyk and they did it their way — offense. Five Sooners, all starters, were in double figures, led by Skylar Vann’s 19 points.
It’s rare that Texas’ defense doesn’t cause chaos, but OU only had nine turnovers on Wednesday. Freshman sensation Madison Booker dropped in 29 points and Shay Holle added 22 points, but it just wasn’t enough.
Texas head coach Vic Schaefer isn’t letting that defensive effort go, either.
With that win, Oklahoma moved into second place in the Big 12 after Kansas handed Iowa State its second league loss, 60-58, as the Jayhawks scored six of the final nine points of the game. S’Mya Nichols led the Jayhawks with 16 points as she continues to put together an All-Big 12 Freshman season. Audi Crooks had a fantastic game, dropping in 25 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
By the way, someone’s gonna need to clean this floor in the Moody Center.
Texas Tech landed a 66-48 win over Houston behind 52 percent shooting and a 24-point night from Jordyn Merritt. Houston’s Laila Blair led the Cougars with 17 points.
In Cincinnati, Malea Williams’ breakaway layup with 2.8 seconds left gave the Bearcats a 58-56 win over Oklahoma State. Williams only had six points, but her layup was the clincher. The Bearcats won their second Big 12 game and the Cowgirls fell to .500 in league action.
Kansas Uniforms On Fire
I’m not going to put a fire emoji in a subhead. But Kansas routinely does a great job with alternate uniforms. This is what the Kansas women wore for Wednesday’s game.
I would love to see those more often.
Did UCF Take a Hit?
The UCF Knights claimed another home win after beating West Virginia on Tuesday. But was this the cost?
There was no update as of late Wednesday night. Let’s hope Allen is able to bound back and play on Saturday. If not, look for more Antwaan Jones, who had 13 points against the Mountaineers and took much of the time vacated by Allen.
Not In The Mood To Cheer
This isn’t recommended behavior before an ejection.
WVU’s RaeQuan Battle was ejected shortly after this. He only scored five points in WVU’s loss to UCF.
I think we can all agree it’s not the best idea to take anyone’s pom poms?
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
