Big 12 Men’s Basketball Saturday Rundown: Conference Season Begins for All Teams

Iowa State, Kansas State get the upsets; Kansas and Texas hold on for wins; TCU defeats Tech.

Saturday brought the first day of conference play for all ten men’s basketball teams in the Big 12. All five ranked teams in the league faced a non-ranked team this week. Two of those ranked teams, Baylor and West Virginia, suffered losses. Two of those ranked teams, Kansas and Texas, won by three combined points. TCU came from behind to beat Texas Tech.

Here is a recap of Saturday’s Big 12 games:

#18 TCU (12-1, 1-0) vs. Texas Tech (10-3, 0-1)

TCU wins 67-61

The win at the Schollmaier would be just the first big win of the day for fans of TCU. The game against Tech ended a couple of hours before the Fiesta Bowl, allowing fans time to watch both, whether they were in person in Fort Worth and watching the football game on TV or watching basketball on a big screen outside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona at the TCU Alumni Association/Frog Club tailgate.

Read our article here for a complete recap of the win over Tech to open the conference basketball season.

Next up: TCU travels to Waco to play Baylor on Wednesday, January 4, at 8 p.m. Texas Tech hosts Kansas on Tuesday, January 3, at 8 p.m.

Iowa State (10-2, 1-0) vs. #12 Baylor (10-3, 0-1)

Iowa State wins 77-62

Iowa State’s Gabe Kalscheur led the team with 23 points, including five 3-pointers. The Cyclones had to come from behind to pull off the win, having been down by nine points in the first half. They chipped away at that and took a 34-31 lead at the half. The win was the first for Iowa Stay after six straight losses to Baylor. In addition to Kalscheur, Caleb Grill had 18 points, and Jaren Holmes added ten points for ISU. Baylor had three players in double digits – Adam Flagler (20), Keyonte George (16), and Jalen Bridges (12).

Next up: Baylor hosts TCU on Wednesday, January 4, in Waco at 8 p.m. Iowa State travels to Norman to take on Oklahoma on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

#4 Kansas (12-1, 1-0) vs. Oklahoma State (8-5, 0-1)

Kansas wins 69-67

Kansas had a comfortable 15-point lead at halftime, but Oklahoma State chipped away through the first part of the second half, taking a two-point lead on a 3-pointer by Jalen Wilson with 10:59 to play. The next ten minutes were a back-and-forth affair with several lead changes. OSU’s Bryce Thompson tied the game at 67-67 with 15 seconds remaining. Kansas KJ Adams got a layup with six seconds left for the winning basket. Thompson led all scorers for OSU with 23 points. John-Michael Wright added 19. Wilson (20) and Adams (14) were the leading scorers for the Jayhawks.

Next up: Oklahoma State hosts West Virginia on Monday, January 2 at 6 p.m. Kansas travels to Lubbock to play Texas Tech on Tuesday, January 3 at 8 p.m.

Oklahoma (9-4, 0-1) vs. #6 Texas (12-1, 1-0)

Texas wins 70-69

Another close game occurred in Norman, as the No. 6 Longhorns faced a tough challenge. The Sooners had a slight four-point lead at the half. Texas shot a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the second half to bring it within one point but would not tie the game until 13:21 left. After that, there were multiple ties and lead changes. Marcus Carr gave the Longhorns a lead of 64-62 with 0:49 remaining, which ended up being the go-ahead points that Oklahoma could not overcome. Carr and Timmy Allen each had 13 points. Dylan Disu added ten more. Oklahoma had three players in double-digits – Grant Sherfield (22), Jacob Groves (17), and Jalen Hill (14).

Next up: Texas hosts Kansas State on Tuesday, January 2, at 8 p.m. Oklahoma hosts Iowa State at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, January 4.

Kansas State (12-1, 1-0) vs. #24 West Virginia (10-3, 0-1)

Kansas State wins 82-76 OT

This was a story of two halves. West Virginia had a 32-21 lead at the half. However, in the second half, Kansas State outscored WVU 45-34. KSU had a 3-point lead with 0:13 to play. West Virginia’s Kedrian Johnson made a 23-foot three-pointer as time expired, sending the game to overtime. KSU’s Keyontae Johnson scored a free throw 19 seconds into the overtime period, and the Wildcats would never relinquish the lead for the remainder of the game. Four starters for KSU scored in double digits – Markquis Nowell (23), Johnson (18), Abayomi Iyiola (14), and Nae’qwan Tomlin (11). For West Virginia, Tre Mitchell had 16 points, Emmitt Matthews Jr added 12, while Mohamed Wague came off the bench and scored ten more.

Next up: West Virginia travels to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State on Monday, January 2 at 6 p.m. Kansas State travels to Austin to play Texas on Tuesday, January 3 at 8 p.m.

---

Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the Killer Frogs message board community today!

Follow KillerFrogs on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest TCU news! Follow KillerFrogs on Facebook and Instagram as well. Download the KillerFrogs app on Google Play or in the Apple App Store.