Big 12 Basketball Recap (February 23- March 1)

What a crazy week in Big 12 basketball. The week started with Kansas losing to K-State and the threat of not winning an eleventh straight title was real. Then Iowa State lost to Baylor and K-State and KU is in control of its own destiny again. In fact, they could be guaranteed a share before they even play West Virginia on Tuesday. Nuts. Anyway, here are the recaps and as always, the games involving Kansas aren’t covered.

West Virginia 71, Texas 64

West Virginia got hammered by Texas in the first encounter between these two teams, and despite the fact that these teams split the season, these are two teams (programs?) that are headed in opposite directions. Bob Huggins is doing his best coaching since his Cincinnati days and Rick Barnes is hearing it from Longhorns fans. A team with as much talent as Texas really has no business being a bubble team, much less an NIT team.

TCU 71, Texas Tech 64

Kenrich Williams scored 10 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in TCU’s win over Texas Tech. Kyan Anderson added his usual 17 points and you can see the Horned Frogs starting to mature under head coach Trent Johnson.

Baylor 79, Iowa State 70

Baylor drained seven straight three-point baskets to run out winners in Ames, Iowa for the first time in their last 13 attempts. Taurean Prince scored 20 off the bench for the Bears and Kenny Chery, Lester Medford, Rico Gathers, and Royce O’Neale all scored in double figures as well. Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg had this to say after the contest: "We missed shots out there where we could have (eaten) a sandwich and shot the ball. We were absolutely wide open, and it affected us. It affected us on the other end.” Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

Oklahoma 67, TCU 60

This game was close until the very end. Buddy Hield scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as OU held off a feisty Horned Frogs squad. Oklahoma has the hardest of the schedules of any team left as they must go to Ames and then host the Jayhawks. We’ll see what they’re made of in the next few games.

Kansas State 70, Iowa State 69

The Wildcats went on a 22-9 scoring run to end the game and in the process, they practically knocked Iowa State out of the chase for the Big 12 title. I guess the best question is if K-State can beat Texas on Saturday, what will they need to do to get into the NCAA tournament? They’d be 9-9 in conference and have wins over KU, Iowa State, two against Oklahoma, and a potential win over Texas. They’d have to win at least win one game in the Big 12 tournament to secure a .500 record.

Texas Tech 63, Oklahoma State 62

Oklahoma State’s chances at the NCAA tournament took a major hit against lowly Texas Tech. Devaughntah Williams made a three with ten seconds to go to give Texas Tech the win. Travis Ford has to be on the hot seat.

Baylor 78, West Virginia 66

Juwan Staten didn’t play in this one due to a knee injury and West Virginia couldn’t really make up the difference. Gary Brown was injured before the first media timeout and never returned for West Virginia and Baylor had no problems after that.

Win of the Week: Baylor over Iowa State

Lots of choices here, but I’m going with Baylor’s win at the “Magic” because some people probably expected Kansas State to take down in-state rival Kansas. After all, it was the Wildcats’ Super Bowl. No one really expected Baylor to travel up to Ames and beat Iowa State and end the Cyclones’ run of 21 straight home wins. Scott Drew > Hilton Magic….at least this one time.

Team of the Week: Kansas State

Wins over Kansas and Iowa State will get you this honor each and every time you do it.

Player of the Week: Perry Ellis, Kansas

Perry has 24 points and nine rebounds in the loss to KSU and 28 points and 13 boards in the win against Texas. This column’s POTW award has never been given to a player whose team lost a game that week, but Ellis is the exception. What a week for the junior from Wichita.

WTF of the Week: Iowa State

They are two and two in their last four games but I don’t think anyone expected the order in which they happened.

Updated Big XII Standings:

Kansas, 12-4, 23-6

Oklahoma, 11-5, 20-8

Baylor, 10-6, 22-7

West Virginia, 10-6, 22-7

Iowa State, 10-6, 20-8

K-State, 8-9, 15-15

Oklahoma State, 7-9, 17-11

Texas, 6-10, 17-12

TCU, 4-12, 17-12

Texas Tech, 3-14, 13-17

Upcoming Big XII Schedule:

Monday, March 2

Oklahoma at Iowa State

Baylor at Texas

Tuesday, March 3

West Virginia at Kansas

Wednesday, March 4

TCU at Oklahoma State

Friday, March 6

Texas Tech at Baylor

Saturday, March 7

Kansas State at Texas

Oklahoma State at West Virginia

Kansas at Oklahoma

Iowa State at TCU