Here are five thoughts on the Big 12 Conference men’s basketball conference games that were played on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025.
The Big 12 men’s basketball teams moved into the fifth round of league action on Tuesday, with eight teams in action across the country. The remaining eight will play on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s game results included:
Texas Tech 61, Kansas State 57
BYU 85, Oklahoma State 69
UCF 95, Arizona State 85
The Big 12’s sixth round of league action begins on Saturday.
Here are five takeaways from the latest day of men’s basketball action.
Best Game
Well, it was supposed to be the late game between Arizona and Baylor and we’ll get to that.
Instead, it turned out to be Texas Tech at Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum, as the two teams played a nip-and-tuck affair. The Red Raiders’ Elijah Fisher took over the game in the second half.
Fisher gave Texas Tech the lead with more than five minutes to play on a layup and then both teams had a massive scoring drought down the stretch until a layup by Chance McMillan was able to give Texas Tech some buffer.
Give the Kansas State defense credit for holding Texas Tech more than 20 points below its scoring average, but the Red Raiders still shot 50% for the game. This ended up being a missed opportunity for the Wildcats. They lost because they shot 36% for the game. Otherwise, Kansas State did what it needed to do to win.
Best Performances
Texas Tech needed all it could get out of guard Elijah Hawkins. He scored 14 points, dished out nine assists and had five rebounds.
BYU’s Egor Demin is rounding back into shape. He only had 10 points, but he also had eight assists, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
I wrote in the Baylor-Arizona preview that the Wildcats needs players like forward Henri Veesaar to keep stepping up, and he did. He finished with 19 points and seven rebounds.
But UCF’s Keyshawn Hall was “the man” on Tuesday. He had 40 points, made four 3-pointers, was perfect at the free-throw line (10-of-10) with seven rebounds and six assists.
Most-Needed Win
UCF outlasted Arizona State and that’s a big road with for the Knights. The Sun Devils remain on the NCAA Tournament bubble and the Knights are trying to get on there. To me, it was a 50/50 game — two pretty evenly-matched teams that both needed the victory.
Arizona State wasn’t flat after the Baylor loss. UCF wasn’t kicking itself after falling to Arizona. The Sun Devils and the Knights played a great game. Keyshawn Hall carried UCF to a win.
UCF has 12 wins right now and it finished with 17 last season. One of those wins came in the Big 12 Tournament. What I’m curious about is if the Knights can get to 17 or 18 before Kansas City? Wins like this help enhance their credentials.
Worst Loss
Yeah, it has to be Baylor. The score looks closer than it really was. That was just bad, short-handed or not. Baylor was down two key players in Langston Love and Jalen Celestine. The first half was awful. Arizona had plenty to do with that, and the Wildcats have now won seven straight games and should be ranked next week.
Baylor gutted out an overtime win over Arizona State. But a team playing like Arizona right now presents no margin for error. The Bears made way too many mistakes and Norchad Omier got into foul trouble early. Baylor never recovered.
Bracketology Update
Before the games started on Saturday, I checked out ESPN’s Bracketology. They’re doing twice-a-week updates sand Friday was their most recent update:
Iowa State: No. 1
Kansas: No. 2 (moved up one seed line)
Houston: No. 3 (moved up one seed line)
Baylor: No. 6 (moved up one seed line)
West Virginia: No. 7
Arizona: No. 7 (moved up three seed lines).
Texas Tech: No. 9 (moved up one seed line)
Cincinnati dropped out of the field and is now on the bubble as one of the next four teams out. Even after its loss to Baylor, Arizona State remained one of the first four teams out.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
