The Big 12 men’s basketball teams began the seventh round of league action on Tuesday, with five games played around the country.
Tuesday’s game results included:
Texas Tech 81, Cincinnati 71
No. 3 Iowa State 108, UCF 83
Arizona State 65, No. 23 West Virginia 57
Arizona 92, Oklahoma State 78
BYU 83, Colorado 67
Wednesday’s games will include Utah at No. 7 Houston, No. 12 Kansas at TCU and Kansas State at Baylor.
The Big 12’s eighth round of league action begins on Saturday.
Here are five takeaways from the latest day of men’s basketball action.
Related: Three Takeaways From Texas Tech’s 81-71 Win Over Cincinnati
Best Game
Most of the games on Tuesday followed the same pattern — close at the half and one team pulled away in the second half. So, we didn’t get a dramatic ending out of any of these games.
But BYU’s start to the second half against BYU was incredible. At halftime, the Cougars were up by two points, 38-36. Six minutes into the second half, BYU had gone on a 23-2 run as Egor Demin’s dunk gave the Cougars a 61-38 lead.
Arizona State was up by just one point at halftime and was able to keep West Virginia at bay. Texas Tech was up on Cincinnati by four at the half and won by 10. Arizona had a four-point lead at the break before beating Oklahoma State by double-digits.
Some nights that’s how it goes. They can’t all be Houston-UCF like on Saturday.
But BYU did have this from Egor Demin.
Related: Big 12 Basketball Power Rankings: A Brand New No. 1 and No. 2
Best Performances
Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson came off the bench to give the Red Raiders 18 points, including four 3-pointers. He’s now hit double-figures in three of his last four games.
Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson scored 30 points with seven rebounds, five assists and four steals as the Cyclones bounced back from their loss to West Virginia.
Arizona State’s Jayden Quaintance put up 15 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots in the Sun Devils’ huge road win over the Mountaineers.
Arizona guard Caleb Love dropped 27 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals on Oklahoma State as coach Tommy Love won his 100th game at Arizona.
BYU’s Richie Saunders had another big game for the Cougars, as he finished with 25 points.
Most-Needed Win
Arizona State absolutely needed that win over West Virginia. Here’s how much. The Sun Devils hadn’t won a true road game in nearly a year, dating back to last February against Utah when both were in the Pac-12.
In the present, the Sun Devils just fell off the bubble in ESPN’s Bracketology and they had lost four straight league games.
The defense only forced six West Virginia turnovers, but it did hold the Mountaineers to 31% shooting from the field and just 13.8% from the 3-point line.
Arizona State had a balanced effort. Four Sun Devils were in double figures. ASU did it without star guard Joson Sanon. A win over a ranked team helps their case when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. But, the work isn’t done, especially with Iowa State up next this weekend in the desert.
Worst Loss
Cincinnati is right on the bubble. Winning a game against Texas Tech would have made a difference. Keegan Nickoson of Bearcat Journal reported that Bearcats center Aziz Bandaogo woke up on Tuesday and couldn’t walk. He did play, but he only had seven points and three rebounds, forcing coach Wes Miller to tweak his rotations.
That’s bad timing for the Bearcats, who won two straight going into the game and had a raucous home environment to try and subdue the Red Raiders.
A win over Texas Tech would have qualified as a Quad 1 win for the Bearcats, something the Bearcats don’t have yet (0-4). That’s a category the tournament committee is going to want to see some victories in come selection time.
I think the Bearcats are an NCAA Tournament team. But they need to win a few games to reinforce that belief.
Bracketology Update
Here is the latest Bracketology update from ESPN:
No. 1: Iowa State
No. 2 Kansas (moved up a seed line)
No. 4: Houston
No. 6 Arizona
No. 8 Baylor (dropped a seed line)
No. 6 West Virginia (moved up a seed line)
No. 8 Texas Tech (moved up a seed line)
No. 11 UCF (First Four)
UCF is one of the last four teams in the field. Cincinnati is the first team out of the field. Arizona State fell off the bubble.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
