Texas Longhorns holds off a late charge by the Iowa State Cyclones

Coming into today’s game against the Iowa State Cyclones, the Texas Longhorns were on many people projections of being on the outside looking in for a NCAA tournament bid.  The Longhorns picked the right time of the year to beat their first ranked opponent.

Iowa State came into the game ranked 25^th in the Associated Press college basketball poll.  Texas defeated the Cyclones 71-65 in the second round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament.  The Longhorns is not a very deep team and with the loss of the fifth year senior Alexis Wangmene the Texas freshmen would have to have productive minutes.

The Texas freshmen combined for 37 points and 21 rebounds.  The Longhorns have made the NCAA tournament for the last 13 consecutive years.  Freshman point guard Myck Kabongo said, “We do not want to be remembered as the Texas team that broke the NCAA streak.”

First team All-Big 12 First Team player Royce White of Iowa State said, “My performance was not good enough, especially when you think about the first five minutes is the most important and I came out and turned it over.”

Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg said, “It’s disappointing to go out in the first round down here especially with all the fans we had in attendance.  I thought the key to the game was a nine minute stretch in the second half.  They outscored us by 19 points in that stretch and that’s the ballgame.”

In the second half the Cyclones went on a 9-2 run to take a 40-29 advantage with 17:13 left in the game.  The younger Longhorns did not get discouraged.  They battled their way back to take the lead after Kabongo made a basket and was fouled to make it 45-44 with 13:23 left.

The Horns pushed their lead to as many as 8 points, 55-47 with 9:33 remaining.  The Cyclones did not quit and fought their way back to tie the game at 59 on a Chris Babb free throw with 4:39 left.

With the score at 65 with 52 seconds left,  J’Covan Brown took the game into his own hands.  He drove the ball to the basket and was fouled by Scott Christopherson.  Brown made the free throw to give Texas a three point lead 68-65.

Chris Allen made an unforced turnover with 9 seconds left to end any hopes of the Cyclones.

Texas head Coach Rick Barnes said, “I told my guys after the game that I’ve coached  a lot of basketball games and we’ve had a lot of different teams, but I’m not sure we’re  any more proud of the effort these guys gave tonight.”

Texas plays the second seed Missouri Tigers in the late game on Friday.  The estimate tipoff for the game is at 9 pm central 30 minutes after the Kansas and Baylor game.

Box Score

The Missouri Tigers routs the Oklahoma State Cowboys

The Missouri Tigers have plans on the leaving the Big 12 this year with a bang and not whimper.  The Tigers jumped all over the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  In the first 12 minutes of the game the Cowboys only had three offensive baskets in the game.

While the Tigers offense was oppressing the Cowboys, their offense was lighting up the building.  Kim English went off for 21 first half points and the rest of the Tigers followed him.

The Tigers made 21 of 38 shots in the half for a 55 percent shooting average.  Phil Pressey had five steals to push the pace for the Tigers.  Matt Pressey and Marcus Denmon each had 7 points each.

The Cowboys only shot 36 percent from the floor while making only 9 of 25 shot attempts.  Keiton Page made the very first shot of the game on a three point attempt and that would be the only bright spot in the half for the Cowboys.

The Tigers went on a 23-3 capped off by a layup by Michael Dixon with 10:49 left in the half.  At one point in the first half the English had more made baskets than the entire Cowboys team. English had 4 baskets and the Cowboys only had three with 8:40 left in the half. 

At halftime the Cowboys only had three players who had scored at least on point.  The Tigers went into the locker room with a commanding 49-24 advantage.

In the second half the Tigers continue to put the pedal to the medal and push and extend their lead.  At three times in the second half the Tigers pushed their lead to 29 points.  The last time was at the 10:17 mark with the score 74-48.

The Cowboys cut the lead down to 15 with 5:52 left, but Missouri coach Frank Haith put his starters back in and the Tigers went on a 6-0 run to make the score 83-62 with 3:54 to go.   The Cowboys did not make another push and the Tigers defeated the Cowboys by a score of 88-70.

English finished the game with 27 points two points shy of his career high.  Paul Pressey finished the game with 12 assists that ties his career high and he also had five steals in the game.  When asked why they did not try to get new career highs in the game each said, “That is not our focus.  We were stuck in the process on executing each possession.

Haith said, “I thought we played very well tonight.  I thought our defense at the start of the ball game was outstanding.  I thought our intensity level was very good.

Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford said, “I think fatigue was a little bit of a factor.  We used up a lot of energy last night.  Not to make an excuse.  I think Missouri played up on that.”

The Tigers moves on to play the winner of the Texas Longhorns and the Iowa State Cyclones on Friday in the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

Box Score

Kansas cruises to a win over Texas A & M

The Kansas Jayhawks like playing in the Big 12 Conference tournament.  They like to think of it as a home away from home.  The Jayhawks have been very success in this tournament.  Coming into today’s game against the Texas A&M Aggies is 16-1over the last six years.

Today was not any different.  The Aggies stayed with the Jayhawks for the first 12 minutes of the game.  With 8:37 left in the half the Aggies had a 21-17 lead.  The Jayhawks went on a 13-0 run with Elijah Johnson scored 8 of the 13 points. 

Johnson connected on two three pointers in less than a minute.  Khris Middleton finally ended the run by the Jayhawks with 4:00 left to make it 30-23.  Johnson went 4 of 4 from three point range and gave the Jayhawks the separation from Aggies.

Kansas took a 12 point lead into the locker at 40-28.  The Jayhawks shot a sizzling 56 percent from the floor going 13-23 in field goals and 5-8 from behind the arc. 

The second half belonged to Kansas.  The Jayhawks shot better in the second half.  The Jayhawks shot 66.7 percent from the field.  Kansas was very aggressive making more free throws than the Aggies attempted.  The Jayhawks made 19 free throws, while the Aggies only attempted 17 for the game.

Kansas had 4 of it’ starters had double digit points.  Johnson lead the way with 26 points Thomas Robinson, candidate for best player in the country, finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Middleton was the Aggies lone offensive bright spots.  Middleton was the only Aggie in double digit points with 24 points.  David Loubeau picked up two early fouls and the Jayhawks were able to exploit his absence.

Aggies head coach Billy Kennedy said, “You have to give all the credit to Kansas.  They demand so much help with Thomas Robinson and Jeff Withey that we left some guys open on the perimeter.”  Kennedy continued, “I am proud of my guys for competing, especially in the first half.  I thought we did some good things.”

Kansas coach Bill Self said, “It was a good win.  I don’t know if we played great, but we shot great.”   The Jayhawks made 10 of 15 three point shots on the day.  When asked if his team had an abnormal great shooting night Self said, “Well, don’t call it abnormal.  Today we got a lot of open looks from the defense.”

Box Score

The Baylor Bears contains the Kansas State Wildcats

In the first game of the second day of action in the Baylor Bears took on the Kansas State Wildcats.  The Bears wanted to avoid an early out exit from the Big 12 tournament that they experienced last year.

Thanks to the inspired play of sophomore forward Perry Jones III the Bears didn’t have to experience the feeling of leaving early this year.  The Bears defeat the Wildcats 82-74.  To move on to play the winner of the winner of the Kansas/ Texas A&M winner.

Perry Jones the III played against the Wildcats as if he was a man on a mission.  Jones III went 8 for 8 for his field goal attempts in the first half.  Jones III scored 20 points made a three point attempt and converted on 4-6 from the free throw line. 

This energy was enough to guide the Bears to a 45-36 halftime lead.  Jones was not the only Bear to have a great half of basketball, Brady Hesllip went 4-7 from the field including two three pointers. 

Jordan Henriquez of the Wildcats had have points to try to keep his team within range of the Bears.  With 6:43 left in the half and the score tied at 27, the Bears went on a 19-8 run triggered by Heslip and Jones with 13 points to close out the half.

The second half of the game belonged to A. J. Walton of the Bears.  Walton scored 10 of his 11 points in the second half.  Each basket came at a critical time in the game, because they stopped any runs that the Wildcats tried to put together. 

Jones finished the game with a career high 31 points for the game.  Walton had a career high in steals with four in the game.  Heslip finished the game with 15 points.  Jones said, “My teammates encourage me to shoot shots I don’t normally take. They told me to do it like I did in practice.”

Baylor head coach Scott Drew said, “I’m pleased with the way our guys played today.  I though we took much better care of the basketball.”

Kansas State head coach Frank Martin said, “They’re (Baylor) a final four contending team, and they were real good. Our offense was not the problem today.  It was our defense.”  

The Wildcats were led by Jordan Henriquez with 22 points.  Henriquez made 9 of 13 shots and had the game high rebounds with.  Rodney MaGruder despite scoring 14 points could never get on track.

The Wildcats will wait until selection Sunday to see where they will be playing next week.  The Bears are looking to improve their NCAA seeding.

Box score