KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Day Two of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship featured four matchups:
Iowa State vs. Kansas State (11:30 a.m.)
In the first of Thursday’s games, Iowa State beat Kansas State 91-85.
“Couldn’t be more proud of these guys for how we handled some pretty tough situations out there,” Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg said.
Cyclones forward Melvim Ejim scored a game-high 24 points in the win. Prior to the game, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby awarded Big 12 Player of the Year to Ejim.
The matchup was a battle between the Big 12’s top scoring offense against the Big 12’s top scoring defense. For most of the second half, both teams were trying to pull ahead.
Iowa State hit six of its eight three-pointers in the first half. They shot 50 percent for the game.
The Cyclones also won the rebounding battle 38-29.
Wildcats guard Marcus Foster scored 21 points for Kansas State. The freshman hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half to bring KSU’s deficit to three.
Foster battled foul trouble for most of the second half. He was held scoreless in the half until the 3:43 mark.
ISU’s Dustin Hogue added 19 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
“With a couple of our key guys out, I decided to try to be more aggressive because we didn’t have the playmakers usually in the game and I started hitting some shots,” Hogue said.
Iowa State will face Kansas Friday afternoon in the semifinals.
Kansas vs. Oklahoma State (2:00 p.m.)
Thursday afternoon, the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks managed to beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys in overtime 77-70.
“It was an unbelievable game,” KU head coach Bill Self said. “Two teams competing hard, and certainly I think the first day of the most competitive league in America hasn’t disappointed so far.”
Big 12 Freshman of the Year Andrew Wiggins scored a game-high 30 points, which is tied for the most in a single Big 12 Championship game in school history. He also grabbed eight rebounds on the afternoon.
“Always play hard, run the floor, defend your man and [Self] just made me a better player,” Wiggins said.
Jayhawks guard Wayne Selden Jr. added 14 of his own in the win.
The Cowboys pulled off a 7-0 run in 28 seconds to tie the game up but couldn’t get in the win in extra minutes. They were coming off a 80-62 win over Texas Tech Wednesday night.
Despite missing center Joel Embiid, Kansas dominated the boards from the start. They won the glass 46-30.
“I thought our defensive rebounding was excellent,” Self said.
OSU guard Marcus Smart was held in check in the first half. He finished with only 14 points on the afternoon.
With the loss, the Cowboys have 10 losses by six points or less or in overtime this season, which ties the school record previously set in 1968.
Kansas will face Iowa State Friday afternoon in the semifinals.
Oklahoma vs. Baylor (6:00 p.m.)
In the third matchup of the day, the No. 7 seed Baylor Bears beat second-seeded Oklahoma 78-73 despite a late collapse.
Forward Isaiah Austin scored a team-high 18 points in the quarterfinal win.
The Bears jumped out to a 13-3 lead early against the Sooners behind five points from guard Kenny Chery. The native of Montreal finished with 12 points and seven assists.
“We had 16, 16 assists today, and that’s pretty good,” Chery said. “And that’s the type of team we are. That’s playing Baylor basketball.”
Baylor forward Cory Jefferson added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Bears.
Within three minutes of the second half, Baylor was up 52-31. They drained seven shots from behind the arc in the game.
Oklahoma managed to ride a 13-0 run midway through the second half but the massive deficit was too big to overcome.
With 4:43 minutes remaining, OU trailed 67-59 behind 14-second half points from forward Cameron Clark.
The Sooners cut Baylor’s lead to three with 1:30 left after a three-pointer from guard Buddy Hield. The Bahamas native scored 15 in the loss.
The Bears held off Oklahoma’s rally though and won 78-73. Baylor had five score 12 or more points in the win.
With the upset, they’ll face Texas tomorrow night.
Texas vs. West Virginia (8:30 p.m.)
In the final game of the quarterfinal round, the Texas Longhorns stomped West Virginia 66-49.
West Virginia shot 30 percent from the field and went 6-for-20 from behind the arc in the loss.
The Longhorns took advantage of the Mountaineers missing their first eight shots en route to a 12-0 lead early. Texas forward Jonathan Holmes scored seven points during that stretch.
“I think we had some momentum coming into the weekend, looking forward to all these games,” Holmes said. “I think it went like this and can definitely carry over into some good momentum heading into tomorrow night and the rest of this week, and the NCAA tournament next week.”
Holmes finished with a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds.
UT guard Javan Felix had eight points by the 15-minute mark with the Longhorns up 15-2. He scored 16 in the win.
“Lately we’ve been coming out second‑guessing ourselves and not being aggressive,” Felix said. “We just wanted to get back to being aggressive and attacking from the very beginning.”
With 16:15 remaining in the game, Texas held a 46-19 lead. The Longhorns beat West Virginia by at least 11 points in each of their three matchups this season.
Like the rest of his team, Mountaineers guard Juwan Staten struggled all night. The junior scored only four points and went 1-for-11 from the field.
Texas will face Baylor Friday night at 8:30 p.m. in the semifinal round.
Google Glass Update – 10:06 a.m.
After sending an e-mail to Rob Carolla, the director of communications for the Big 12 Conference, TCU 360 has been notified that it can once again use the Google Glass in media designated areas. Photos and videos will once again be uploaded throughout the week using the device.
Stay tuned for more coverage from the event in Kansas City, Miss. Updates for each game will be posted along with quotes from the postgame press conferences, photos, videos and more.
