With quite a few Big 12 teams on or around the bubble, every single game will be intense. Here is a preview of the 2020 Big 12 Tournament.
Beginning the season back in November, the calendar has finally turned and it is the best time of the year in college basketball. The regular season is over and we get to experience the madness that is conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament.
Nothing is different in the Big 12 this season as it was a balanced year, with only two teams finishing above .500 in conference play. Here is how the final standings turned out:
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 8, 2020
With quite a few Big 12 teams on or around the bubble going into the tournament, every single game will be an intense one, with teams fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives.
Here is a preview of the 2020 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament:
The Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament will begin on Wednesday evening for the men. The latest Vegas odds on who will get the automatic bid.
The Phillips 66 Big 12 men’s basketball tournament officially tips off on Wednesday evening at 6:00 pm CST with the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Iowa State Cyclones in the first round. That game will be followed with the Kansas State Wildcats and Texas Christian Horned Frogs. Each winner will move on to the quarterfinals to take on Kansas and Baylor.
The winner of the tournament will earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Here is how BetMGM see it shaking out. No shock on who Vegas has the top team heading into the Big 12 tournament that will conclude on Saturday March 14th at 5:00 PM CST. The game will air on ESPN.
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The Texas Longhorns secured the third seed with a victory over Oklahoma State, will play West Virginia in the Big 12 tournament.
With the Longhorns’ 63-52 win over Oklahoma State, Texas locked up the third seed for the upcoming Big 12 Tournament. The women will head to Kansas City, Missouri for their first game of the tourney. The bottom four teams will match up with the winners moving on to the quarterfinals.
Oklahoma State and Oklahoma will open up the tournament with the winner playing number one ranked Baylor. The second game of the opening round features Texas Tech and Kansas, the winner moves on to play Texas Christian.
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 8, 2020
As for the Longhorns, they will play the sixth-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers on Friday. The game is slated to start at 7 pm CST and it will be aired on Fox Sports Network. These two teams split their season series with each team winning their matchup at home. The winner of this matchup will move on to play TCU/Texas Tech-Kansas winner.
The Texas Longhorns women’s basketball team sent their seniors out on a high note with a season finale victory at the Frank Erwin Center.
It was senior day at the Frank Erwin Center as the women’s basketball team. They were attempting to do what the men’s team failed to do, close out the season at home with a win. The women’s team would be bidding fairwell to seniors Sug Sutton, Lashann Higgs, Jada Underwood and Joyner Holmes.
The Texas Longhorns had a ceremony prior to the game where they retired the jersey of Texas’ legend Clarissa Davis who led the Longhorns to a National Championship in 1986. With the retirement, Holmes will be the last player to wear 24. Holmes wore the number due to Kobe Bryant being her favorite player.
It was a back and forth game for most of the first half of the game, the Longhorns took a 32-27 lead into the break. Down the stretch of the game it was Charli Collier and Sutton putting the team on their back as they built a double digit lead deep in the fourth quarter. Collier recorded her 16th double-double of the season. She is top 20 in that category in the NCAA.
A blowout loss at home against a team not expected to be in the March Madness festivities has really hurt Texas’ chances of a bid.
The Texas Longhorns were one of the hottest teams in the Big 12 over a five-game stretch where they defeated two top 25 teams. The streak also included three-straight victories by 10+ points over opponents who have been projected to make the NCAA Tournament. The NET ratings of the those three were West Virginia (17), Texas Tech (22) and Oklahoma (44).
The NET ranking explained: The NCAA Evaluation Tool, which will be known as the NET, relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.
This tool replaced the RPI in the NCAA Tournament selection process.
The Longhorns current ranking is 68, after dropping from 57 on the heels of a 81-59 loss to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys jumped from 71 to 61 following the game. Prior to this loss, Texas was listed as the last four in on most Bracketology projections. However now the Longhorns find themselves between a rock and a hard place.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi updated his Bracketology with the loss to the Cowboys, putting Texas on the bubble as one of the last four in. In terms of the bubble watch, the Longhorns are listed under the work to do category.
Shaka Smart’s team rose to a No. 11 seed in the mock brackets on the strength of five straight wins. What happens now that Texas has lost by 22 at home to Oklahoma State? What happens is that the Longhorns are going to be very nervous. A NET ranking that was in the high 50s could dip into the perilous 60s in the wake of a Quad 2 loss, and UT will start preparing its talking points accordingly. They’re good talking points — the road wins at Purdue, Texas Tech and Oklahoma — and they would be strengthened with a good performance at the Big 12 tournament.
The game against Texas Tech is now a must-win for Shaka Smart and company. A one and done performance in the conference tournament could very well be the nail in the coffin for both a tournament berth and the future of Smart in Texas.
The brackets are set for the Big 12 Tournament that begins on Wednesday. Texas Tech and Texas will meet on Thursday.
With the college basketball regular season officially in the rearview mirror, the Big 12 conference turns its attention to the tournament. In the first round of the tournament, Oklahoma State will meet Iowa State. The winner of the that matchup will face Kansas. Texas Christian will face Kansas State, the winner will take on Baylor in the quarterfinals.
Following the loss to Oklahoma State, Texas fell from third to the fourth seed in the standings. In the matchup of the four-five seeds in the quarterfinals, the Longhorns drew the assignment of Texas Tech. The two teams split their season series with each team winning on the road.
With the Texas Longhorns losing to the OSU Cowboys, the Longhorns need a strong showing in the conference tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament. They currently sit with a 53 percent chance to get in according to ESPN Bracketology. Shaka Smart will need at least one victory over Chris Beard and the Red Raiders to help his case. Not just to get into the tourney but also for the sake of his job.
Needing a win to essentially lock up their NCAA Tournament chances with a win, the Texas Longhorns fell to Oklahoma State 81-59.
The Texas Longhorns started the day with an opportunity to claim sole possession of the third seed in the upcoming Big 12 Tournament. The Texas Tech Red Raiders were tied with Texas before falling to Kansas 66-62. The Longhorns scored their first bucket of the afternoon with 18:48 to go in the first half. Royce Hamm Jr added a free throw but couldn’t score again until 12:32 to go when Courtney Ramey hit a jump shot, Texas trailed at that point 20-5.
The first half was not kind to Texas as they shot just 25 percent from the field including 2-15 from beyond the arc. When Texas’ outside shooting is cold, this team struggles to score. On the other side, Oklahoma State couldn’t miss with 60.7 percent shooting which included a blistering 54.5 percent from three. A big reason Texas trailed 43-21 at the break. Kai Jones was the leading scorer with eight points and five rebounds. The Pokes were led by Thomas Dziagwa with 14 off the bench.
The second half began in the same light as the first half did, with OSU going on a run to keep Texas at bay. While Texas continued to struggle shooting the ball, the Cowboys continued their hot shooting. Dziagwa was lethal from behind the arc.
The game was really decided in the first half with the Longhorns inability to really have an answer all game despite Kai Jones career-high 20 points. The Longhorns will now likely need a strong showing in the Big 12 tournament to punch their postseason ticket.
Texas percentage of making the NCAA Tournament is 89% with a win to 53% with a loss per ESPN.
Final numbers today in Austin. Horns were 5-for-29 from 3-pt range. Shot 35.2% overall. OSU's McGriff and Dziagwa both get 19. Kai Jones had career-high 20. pic.twitter.com/MESOAVZ2B4
Coming off a loss to Baylor, UT now has the season finale against Oklahoma St. Here is how you can watch, listen, and stream the game.
Coming off a loss to No. 2 Baylor on Thursday night, Texas now turns their attention to the regular-season finale against Oklahoma State. Currently in third place in the Big 12, the Longhorns will lock up their seeding in the conference tournament with a win.
The first game between these two teams this season. came in Stillwater that resulted in a Texas win. Oklahoma State only shot 25% from behind the line and the Longhorns will be looking to do more of the same on Sunday.
Here is how you can watch, listen, and stream Texas women’s basketball face Oklahoma State:
Game information:
Date: 3/8/2020
Location: Frank Erwin Center Austin, Texas
Watch: Longhorn Network
Listen: TexasSports.com/audio —Austin 104.9FM, 99.3FM, 98.5FM, 1260AM; Dallas 1080AM; El Paso 600AM; Houston 790AM; San Antonio 1200AM — Spanish: Austin 105.3FM; Dallas 990AM, 99.9FM
In the aftermath of the Longhorns’ last-second victory over Oklahoma, Texas has jumped into the NCAA tournament conversation.
In the aftermath of the Longhorns’ last-second win over the Sooners, Texas has suddenly found themselves in the conversation of the NCAA Tournament. Following the game ESPN’s Joe Lunardi proclaimed that Texas was in among the final four in.
USA Today Sports’ has now released their latest bracketology. The Texas Longhorns come in as the number 11 seed in the West Region in the latest report from Shelby Mast and Scott Gleeson. Texas gives the Big 12 six teams that would be going dancing. Despite the fact that Texas is ahead of West Virginia and Oklahoma in the standings, the Longhorns have the lowest seed of any of the Big 12 teams.
Of course Selection Sunday is all that matters in terms of who will officially be invited to the dance, the Longhorns have one game remaining against Oklahoma State prior to the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, MO.
Right now Texas is the third seed along with Texas Tech, who will host Kansas on Saturday. Should Texas and Kansas win their games, the Longhorns would be in sole possession of the third seed and would play Oklahoma in the quarterfinals as everything stands at this point.
Thanks to Matt Coleman’s heroic three-point shot, UT pulled out a 52-51 win against arch-rival Oklahoma. UT has now won five straight games.
Going into Tuesday night, Texas was riding a four-game winning streak and were just on the edge of being projected into the NCAA Tournament. Traveling to Norman to face arch-rival Oklahoma gave the Longhorns a chance to jump into the field with a win.
Thanks to Matt Coleman’s heroic three-point shot with 0.4 seconds left, Texas pulled out a 52-51 win, extending the winning streak to five games. Coleman was the only Longhorn in double figures, having 21 points on 9-15 shooting, including 3-5 from behind the line.
Matt. Coleman. Onions and sharpies and #ThisIsMarch and all of it.
Outside of Coleman, the rest of the Texas team struggled offensively, with Andrew Jones being second in scoring. As a whole, the Longhorns shot 28.6% from behind the arc. Only six assists were recorded by Shaka Smart’s team, their lowest total since the Feb 3 matchup against Kansas.
Defensively, Texas was amazing, holding Oklahoma to its lowest total of the season. The Sooners really struggle from deep, going 2-20 from three-point land. Guards Austin Reaves and De’Vion Harmon were the only two Oklahoma players to see the ball go through the hoop from behind the arc.
As he has been all season, Kristian Doolittle was the one bright spot for the Sooners. The senior forward recorded his ninth double-double of the season, scoring 20 points while securing 10 rebounds.
Texas’ free throw numbers continued to struggle, as they only attempted two all night. Only because of an Austin Reaves flagrant one foul did the Longhorns get to the free-throw line, with both shots being hit by Andrew Jones.
Catching fire in the past five games, the Longhorns now have the opportunity to finish third in the Big 12, the highest under Shaka Smart. If Texas takes care of business at home against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech loses to Kansas in Lubbock, the Longhorns will go into the Big 12 tournament with the three seed.
Texas will face the Cowboys on Saturday at 3 p.m. CST on ESPN2.
