The Big 12 Quarterfinals concluded on Thursday with a couple of huge wins and a pair of blowouts. The blowouts being: Kansas beating Texas Tech an embarrassing, 91- 63 and Kansas State beating Texas, 66-49.
The other two games were closer, Oklahoma State beating Baylor, 74-72 and Oklahoma losing to Iowa State 73-66.
Oklahoma/Iowa State game notes:
This one is the only one I got to watch the entire game of, for obvious reasons. The Sooners lead most of the game and completely dominated the first half. A late second half meltdown resulted in a 12-point run by the Cyclones and the Sooners were unable to recover. The Cyclones are the best scoring team in the Big 12 right now, which came as a surprise to most everyone.
Iowa State improved to 8-15 all-time in the Big 12 Championship and 4-9 in first-round games, while Oklahoma fell to 20-14 in Big 12 Championship history and 4-3 in first-round contests. OU still holds a slight edge at 12-11 when the two teams meet up in Kansas City.
The victory marked ISU’s first in the Big 12 Championship since a first-round win over Baylor on March 10, 2005, when the Cyclones were also a No. 5 seed.
Kansas/Texas Tech game notes:
Kansas improved to 33-8 all-time in the Big 12 Championship and 15-2 in quarterfinal games, while Texas Tech fell to 13-17 in Big 12 Championship history and 4-6 in quarterfinal contests.
KU’s 91 points are the most in a Big 12 Championship game since Colorado scored 91 in a double overtime win against Baylor in 2008. The 28-point margin of victory is the largest in a championship game since March 10, 2006, when Texas A&M defeated Colorado, 86-53.
Kansas State/Texas game notes:
K-State improved to 10-16 all-time in the Big 12 Championship and 4-8 in quarterfinal games, while Texas fell to 22-17 in Big 12 Championship history and 12-4 in quarterfinal contests.
K-State advances to play the winner of tonight’s Baylor-Oklahoma State match-up in Friday’s semifinals. During the regular season, the Wildcats split with Oklahoma State and swept Baylor.
UT and K-State have now split their only two meetings in the Big 12 Championship with both games coming in the quarterfinal round. They last met in 2009, a Texas win of 61-58 in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma State/Baylor game notes:
The Bears were wearing those highlighter uniforms that make your eyes bleed.
Oklahoma State improved to 22-14 all-time in the Big 12 Championship and 7-10 in quarterfinal games, while Baylor fell to 11-16 in Big 12 Championship history and 4-4 in quarterfinal contests. It was the first meeting between the two squads since the 1999 Big 12 Championship. OSU also won that contest, 83-57.
After being held to seven points in the first half, BU’s Pierre Jackson poured in 24 in the second period to tie his season high and the Baylor Big 12 Championship record. It was the 21st recorded 30-plus point game in Championship history. Jackson also set Baylor’s Big 12 Championship free throw percentage record at 92.8 percent (13-of-14) and the Sprint Center record for free throws made.
The semi-finals are scheduled for Friday and will feature Iowa State facing Kansas at 6:30 CST and Oklahoma State facing Kansas State at 9:00 CST.
My prediction? A state of Kansas showdown for the Finals.
