Big 12 Men’s Basketball Midweek Rundown: Houston Wins Showdown with Iowa State

BYU beats Baylor by seven; Texas Tech holds on to beat TCU by one; and Oklahoma State gets a road win in Cincinnati.

It was one of the most anticipated matchups of the season so far – the re-match between Iowa State and Houston. Both teams came into Monday’s game at the top of the Big 12 standings at 9-3. Iowa State won the first game in Ames in early January. This time, the game was in Houston, and the No. 2 Cougars were able to hold off the Cyclones. Iowa State kept it close, but Houston never trailed in this game and came away with a 73-65 win.

© Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Of the six Big 12 games played between Monday and Wednesday this week, five of them were won by single digits. The only one that was not was a 10-point win, with West Virginia beating UCF 77-67 in Morgantown.

Kansas State traveled to Austin on Monday night. The Cats came into the game having only won one game in their last seven games and desperately needed to get back on track. They came close, but Texas was able to come away with a 6-point win, 62-56.

On Tuesday, besides the West Virginia win, there were two close games between good teams. In Provo, it was a ranked-versus-ranked matchup, with No. 25 BYU coming away with a 7-point win over No. 11 Baylor.

In Lubbock, it was TCU, who is not ranked in the AP Top 25 but is No. 25 in the Coaches Poll, versus No. 23 Texas Tech. The Horned Frogs had a 10-point lead with seven minutes to play, but Lubbock is a tough, tough place to play. The crowd was electric, and that played to the Red Raiders’ advantage. TCU lost a heartbreaker, 82-81.

Road wins in the Big 12 are tough. There haven’t been many of them all season. In this week’s midweek games, only ONE road team got the win. And you probably didn’t have this one on your Big 12 Bingo card – Oklahoma State traveled to the Queen City and got their fourth conference win of the season. Cincinnati had an opportunity at the end, but a missed free throw secured the win for the Pokes. OSU won 80-76.

The conference’s NET ranking of 46.6 is the lowest of all leagues. The next lowest are the Big Ten at 60.3 and the SEC at 68.6

The Big 12 is the only conference with 10 of the top 45 and 12 of the top 77 teams in the NET rankings: 1. Houston, 8. Iowa State, 11. BYU, 14. Baylor, 17. Kansas, 28. Texas Tech, 37. TCU, 39. Texas, 40. Oklahoma, 45. Cincinnati, 72. UCF and 77. K-State.

Big 12 Men’s Basketball – February 19-21 Results

#2 Houston (23-3, 10-3) vs. #6 Iowa State (20-6, 9-4)

Houston wins 73-64

Game leaders:

• Jamal Shead (UH) 26 points each; Keshon Gilbert (ISU) 17 points
• Ja’vier Francis (UH) 7 rebounds; Tre King (ISU) 8 rebounds
• Jamal Shead (UH) 6 assists; Keshon Gilbert (ISU) 5 assists

Texas (17-9, 6-7) vs. Kansas State (15-11, 5-8)

Texas wins 62-56

Game leaders:

• Dylan Disu (UT) 20 points each; Arthur Kaluma (KSU) 17 points
• Dillon Mitchell (UT) 10 rebounds; Arthur Kaluma (KSU) 7 rebounds
• Max Abmas (UT) 5 assists; Tylor Perry (KSU) 4 assists

West Virginia (9-17, 4-9) vs. UCF (13-12, 4-9)

West Virginia wins 77-67

Game leaders:

• Raequan Battle (WVU) 24 points each; Darius Johnson (UCF) 29 points
• Jesse Edwards (WVU) 10 rebounds; Arthur Kaluma (UCF) 9 rebounds
• Kerr Kriisa (WVU) 7 assists; CJ Walker (UCF) 4 assists

#25 BYU (19-7, 7-6) vs. #11 Baylor (19-7, 8-5)

BYU wins 78-71

Game leaders:

• Jaxson Robinson (BYU) 16 points each; Jalen Bridges (BU) 15 points
• Spencer Johnson (BYU) 9 rebounds; Jalen Bridges (BU) 8 rebounds
• Aly Khalifa (BYU) 7 assists; Rayj Dennis (BU) 8 assists

#23 Texas Tech (19-7, 8-5) vs. TCU (18-8, 7-6)

Texas Tech wins 82-81

Game leaders:

• Pop Isaacs (TTU) 19 points each; Avery Anderson III and Emanuel Miller (TCU) 15 points
• Darrion Williams (TTU) 7 rebounds; Emanuel Miller (TCU) 12 rebounds
• Joe Toussaint (TTU) 7 assists; Avery Anderson III (TCU) 4 assists

Cincinnati (16-10, 5-8) vs. Oklahoma State (12-14, 4-9)

Oklahoma State wins 80-76

Game leaders:

• Javon Small (OSU) 19 points each; Simas Lukosius (UC) 17 points
• Quion Williams (OSU) 8 rebounds; Dan Skillings Jr. (UC) 10 rebounds
• Quion Williams (OSU) 8 assists; Simas Lukosius (UC) 4 assists

Midweek Byes

• #9 Kansas (20-6, 8-5)
• Oklahoma (18-8, 6-7)

Upcoming Big 12 Men’s Basketball Games:

(All times listed are Central Time)

Saturday, February 24

• #11 Baylor vs. #2 Houston - 11 a.m.
• #6 Iowa State vs. West Virginia - 1 p.m.
• Kansas State vs. #25 BYU - 1 p.m.
• TCU vs. Cincinnati - 2 p.m.
• UCF vs. #23 Texas Tech - 3 p.m.
• Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma - 3 p.m.
• #9 Kansas vs. Texas - 5 p.m.

Big 12 Men’s Basketball Standings

Big 12 Standings	Conference	Overall
Houston	10-3	23-3
Iowa State	9-4	20-6
Kansas	8-5	20-6
Baylor	8-5	19-7
Texas Tech	8-5	19-7
BYU	7-6	19-7
TCU	7-6	18-8
Oklahoma	6-7	18-8
Texas	6-7	17-9
Cincinnati	5-8	16-10
Kansas State	5-8	15-11
UCF	4-9	13-12
Oklahoma State	4-9	12-14
West Virginia	4-9	9-17

Big 12 Men’s Basketball Power Rankings: TCU Jumps Up Two Spots

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