The Big 12 men’s basketball teams started the 15th round of league action on Monday, with four teams in action.
Monday’s game results included:
Utah 74, Kansas State 69
No. 19 Arizona 74, Baylor 67
The Big 12’s 15th round of league action continues on Tuesday with the following games:
Colorado at No. 8 Iowa State, 7 p.m. CT, ESPN+
No. 9 Texas Tech at TCU, 7 p.m. CT, ESPN+
No. 5 Houston at Arizona State, 8 p.m. CT, ESPN2
No. 23 Kansas at BYU, 8 p.m. CT, ESPN
Here are three takeaways from the latest day of men’s basketball action.
THE RISE OF HENRI
The continued improvement of forward Henri Veesaar has been a consistent theme for the Arizona Wildcats the past couple of months.
The injury to 7-2 center Motiejus Krivas in December put the Wildcats on the defensive inside. Where would their interior play come from? Veesaar, thanks to an injury last year, was a rather unknown quantity.
Well, he made his first start of the season against Baylor on Monday, scoring 13 points to go along with five rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
Starting him was a two-fold decision for coach Tommy Lloyd. First, he’s earned it with his play since January. Second, with Baylor down to a small lineup, starting Veesaar alongside another forward, Tobe Awaka (14 points, 12 rebounds) made plenty of sense. The fact that Veesaar is 7-foot doesn’t hurt.
At times, the pair were dominant inside. Baylor had few answers for it, even as forward Norchad Omier had a double-double — 15 points and 13 rebounds.
But this being a Big 12 game, Arizona’s double-digit lead wasn’t safe. Freshman VJ Edgecome had his own dominant night — 24 points. Down the stretch he was basically unguardable. The Bears ran out of time to send it to overtime.
Arizona played a balanced game. Four players in double figures. The Wildcats had 20 assists on 48% shooting. Their token press gave the Bears trouble when they used it (which wasn’t often).
Baylor can’t win games if Robert Wright III doesn’t score. He had no points on Monday, though he had four assists. But he’s capable of getting double digits every game. While Baylor needs big games from Edgecombe, with so little depth Wright must be there every night.
All of the Bears have to be there every night. There just wasn’t enough on Monday.
UTAH’S MASSIVE 48 HOURS
Did any Big 12 team have a better 48 hours than the Utah Utes?
On Saturday night, they hosted the Kansas Jayhawks for the first time and won, 74-67.
On Monday night, the Utes hosted Kansas State and might have burst the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament bubble with a 74-69 win.
Utah won this game against type. The Utes love to shoot the 3-pointer and they usually make plenty. They made three on Monday. Kansas State had 11. Gabe Madsen, their leading scorer, only had 13 points. It was Ezra Ausar who had the big game, scoring 21 points for Utah.
Kansas State will point out the free-throw disparity and it was there. Kansas State was 6-for-10. Utah was 23-for-30. Still, the Wildcats had a chance to send it to overtime, but Brendan Hausen needed a sixth 3-pointer to fall, and it didn’t.
Kansas State was also outrebounded, 51-28. That’s not going to work.
Metrically, Utah isn’t an NCAA Tournament team. The Utes were ranked No. 72 in NCAA NET going into the game and have a 1-9 record in Quad 1 games. Yes, Utah was one spot ahead of K-State, but the Wildcats were 4-6 in Quad 1 games.
Make it 4-7. Utah’s win over Kansas turned Monday’s game into a Quad 1 chance for K-State, just as Saturday’s game with BYU was a Quad 1 chance. The Wildcats fumbled both games.
How much does it matter? Well, let’s ask Joe Lunardi.
K-State’s Max Jones knows it, too.
So, that’s an 0-2 road trip. The bubble may have just burst.
Utah will get a bid in the NIT or that new College Basketball Crown tournament that Fox is putting on in Las Vegas leading up to the Final Four.
I wouldn’t want to play the Utes. They’re turning into a dangerous outfit.
BAYLOR AN NBA SCOUTING DREAM
With Arizona in town on Monday, Baylor credentialed 35 NBA scouts for the game. Sure, many of them were there to see Arizona’s Caleb Love and for good reason. But they were also there to scout Baylor star freshman VJ Edgecombe.
It is widely expected that Edgecombe will be a one-and-done player. He was an elite, five-star prospect who committed to play at Baylor last year and may end up being the league’s freshman of the year.
During the broadcast, ESPN made the point that Edgecombe, who is likely a lottery pick, would be the Bears’ latest first-round pick. In fact, Fran Fraschilla said that Baylor has had at least one Top 19 pick in the NBA Draft each of the last four seasons.
Really? Well…
2024: Ja’Kobe Walter, No. 19
2023: Keyonte George, No. 16
2022: Jeremy Sochan, No. 9
2021: Davion Mitchell, No. 9
Not only would Edgecombe make it five years in a row, but he would be the fourth straight one-and-done Bear.
If you had told me when Scott Drew took that job more than 20 years ago that he would turn Baylor into a program that would attract one-and-done players on a yearly basis, I would have called you a liar.
It’s just another reason for Drew to never leave Waco.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
