The first round of Big 12 men’s basketball action featured some of the best shooting in the country and two of the most dramatic games of the day.
Eight games were on five different networks on Friday and Saturday, which caused a lot of channel-hopping. But, with games on CBS, TNT, Fox and NBC, that allowed those networks to bring some of their best broadcast crews to those games. It gave the weekend a big-game feel, even if there wasn’t a “marquee” game on the slate.
Big 12 Basketball Opening Weekend Results
Iowa State 80, West Virginia 59 (Friday)
Texas Tech 102, Oklahoma State 80
BYU 83, Kansas State 73
TCU 69, Baylor 63
UCF 81, Kansas 75
Houston 67, Cincinnati 60
Arizona 97, Utah 78
Colorado 95, Arizona State 89
Arizona, Texas Tech and Iowa State were dominant in each of their openers. We had two games with dramatics within about 30 minutes of each other. And Colorado did something that doesn’t make sense.
Here are four thoughts on the openers.
Kansas Must Hate Going to Orlando
For the second time in three years, UCF beat a ranked Kansas team in Orlando and stormed the court. Both wins happened within the first week of the Big 12 season. Maybe it’s just January in Orlando? It usually agrees with people that come in from the cold?
The Knights were a team I wrote about on Friday in my NCAA Tournament prediction piece. I wrote that the Knights are set up to make March Madness and need to finish .500 or better in league play to have 20 wins before the Big 12 Tournament. This was a huge step in that direction.
The Knights won it late with a huge 3-pointer from Jordan Burks in the corner and then an and-one from Riley Kugel in the final minute to keep it a two-possession game. Look at the numbers and it was essentially an even game, except for UCF winning points in the paint (38-30) and bench points (18-5). Kugel had 19 points, Burks had 14 points and Themus Fulks added 16.
Darryn Peterson returned from injury for Kansas and scored 26 points in 23 minutes. But he missed the final 10 minutes of the game. Coach Bill Self said after the game that Peterson was on a minutes restriction. Melvin Council Jr. scored 20 points, but all 20 were in the second half. Tre White added 14.
Kansas isn’t going to be able to win games if it’s just going to be Peterson, Council, White and Flory Bidunga (eight points, nine rebounds), pouring it in. The rest of the team scored seven points. That’s not going to work long-term. Kohl Rosario had no points. The depth this team is supposed to have didn’t pull through.
It’s a huge win for UCF. But, then again, it was a huge win two years ago and the Knights didn’t make the NCAA Tournament. UCF needs to follow this up with another win. The Knights didn’t two years ago. In fact, they went 3-8 in their next 11 games and that essentially ended their NCAA hopes. UCF has Oklahoma State, Cincinnati and Kansas State in the next three games.
If UCF wants to prove this is a different team, then it needs to go 2-1 in the next three games.
Top Big 12 Performers
Iowa State had two of them on Friday. First, forward Joshua Jefferson — who is playing his way into the first round of the NBA Draft — had his first career triple-double with a beautifully balanced game — 10 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, three steals and two blocks.
Meanwhile, Milan Momcilovic had his second eight 3-pointer game THIS SEASON as he scored 26 points. Among qualifying players only Incarnate Word’s Harrison Reede has a better percentage from the arc (54.9%) than Momcilovic (53.76%). Don’t worry Milan. I’ll sic my SFA Lumberjacks on them and take care of that.
Texas Tech’s JT Toppin had another double-double — 23 points and 14 rebounds. That was AFTER he had four points in the first 20 minutes. Unreal.
BYU’s AJ Dybansta dropped 24 points on Kansas State in the Octagon of Doom. Keba Keita may have been more important, though, with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Kansas State’s P.J. Haggerty dropped in 24 in a loss. Houston’s Milos Uzan scored 16 second-half points to help rescue the Cougars on the road against Cincinnati.
Tobe Awaka had a double-double for Arizona (18 points, 11 rebounds) as all five Wildcat starters were in double figures.
This league is filled with talent. But everyone knows that.
“We’re Not Some Crappy Group”
That was Cincinnati coach Wes Miller to the media after the Bearcats lost to Houston, 67-60. And, you know what? He’s right.
The Bearcats nearly delivered a knockout blow to Houston on the road in the opener. At times the Bearcats were up by double digits. Baba Miller was a huge problem for Houston’s defense at times, as he finished 11 points and eight rebounds. The Bearcats are back to having the athletic length they had two years ago that gave Big 12 teams fits.
Cincinnati has not looked like a good team on paper this season. With Big 12 representing a fresh start — and the return of Jizzle James to the point — the Bearcats look revitalized and could be a bigger problem than Big 12 teams are expecting.
Houston had problems the first half. Their top two guards, Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan, weren’t scoring. While forward Joseph Tugler appears to be rounding back into form after losing weight after having his wisdom teeth removed, Sharp’s recent struggles have been hard to shake. He shot 0-for-9 on Saturday. Fortunately, Uzan bounced back from a two-point first half to finish with 18 points for the game. Talented freshman Kingston Flemings led with 19 points.
I was asked during a radio hit earlier this week if I was worried about Houston. I said I’m not. I’m still not. This is a different team than the one they’ve fielded the last two years. Much of this team is young. Many of them sat behind last year’s group. This year’s freshmen are learning on the job. This is an immensely talented team that no one is going to want to play in March. As a nod to that, coach Kelvin Sampson played 10 on Saturday.
Uzan stepped up in the second half. That leadership and experience mattered. Houston went on a 7-0 run to win the game. You know who scored the last two points? Sharp. These Cougars will get in moving in the right direction.
As for the Bearcats, Saturday was a hard lesson. They let a big chance slip away because they turned the ball over four times and failed to score a point in the final 3:52. Who is going to step up in those key moments? Cincinnati needs to figure that out. Miller is right. This is not a “crappy” group. But this is a group that needs to bounce back fast.
Nnadi’s Debut
Strangely, the most anticipated player on Saturday was Baylor’s James Nnadi.
Baylor signed him during the Christmas break after he was selected No. 31 in the 2023 NBA draft, traded to another team and played overseas with FC Barcelona. Apparently, the rules allow this, as absurd as that sounds. It’s something the NCAA must correct this upcoming offseason, if the administrative body has any credibility left to leverage. I personally don’t believe anyone drafted by an NBA team should be allowed to play college basketball, whether he signs a contract or not. That’s a bridge too far for me.
Starting at home probably would have been more comfortable for Nnadi. But, the Bears were in Fort Worth. Woof.
He finished with five points and four rebounds in 16 minutes. Baylor added him because it could and because Nnadi is seven feet tall and the Bears need that right now. We’ll see how much of an impact he has as the season continues.
Mike Buddie is TCU’s athletic director. His last stop was Army West Point. This is the kind of stuff the service academies don’t have to worry about.
