The Big 12 Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament opened with four games in first-round action at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
The first-round results included:
Game 1: No. 13 UCF 81, No. 12 BYU 69
Game 2: No. 9 Colorado 66, No. 16 Houston 58
Game 3: No. 15 Arizona State 82, No. 10 Cincinnati 75
Game 4: No. 14 Texas Tech 57, No. 11 Kansas 53
Thursday’s second-round games will include:
Game 5: No. 5 K-State vs. No. 13 UCF, 11 a.m. CT, ESPN+
Game 6: No. 8 Arizona vs. No. 9 Colorado, 1:30 p.m. CT, ESPN+
Game 7 – No. 7 Iowa State vs. No. 15 Arizona State, 5:30 p.m. CT, ESPN+
Game 8 – No. 6 Utah vs. No. 14 Texas Tech, 8 p.m. CT, ESPN+
Here are three takeaways from the latest day of women’s basketball action.
AN UPSETTING START
Last year’s Big 12 women’s tournament basically went chalk. There were two upsets by seed — No. 9 TCU defeating No. 8 Oklahoma State and No. 4 Iowa State beating No. 1 Oklahoma.
We had three upsets by seed in Wednesday’s first round.
No. 13 UCF pulled off a mild upset over No. 12 BYU behind a terrific game from guard Kaitlin Peterson, who has averaged 20 points each of the last two seasons. The win sent BYU home and will probably keep the Cougars out of any sort of postseason for the first time since Amber Whiting took over.
Then, No. 15 Arizona State beat No. 10 Cincinnati. Jalyn Brown and Tyi Skinner went off for the Sun Devils, as they combined for 53 points in the victory. ASU can put up the points, that’s for sure. Cincinnati was without forward Jillian Hayes for part of the game, but she still finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. It was Reagan Jackson who brought the offense, leading the Bearcats with 24 points.
Finally, No. 14 Texas Tech took down No. 10 Kansas. The Jayhawks lost their leading scorer, S’Mya Nichols, to an injury during the game. So, the Jayhawks didn’t have her down the stretch.
Still, this was the most dramatic game of the day as it came down to the final minute, with Kansas fighting to try and cut Texas Tech’s lead.
But the Lady Raiders hung on because they kept getting Bailey Maupin to the free throw line and she kept making free throws. The last four she made were critical. They turned a one-possession game into a two-possession game and kept the game out of Kansas’ reach.
COLORADO’S CASE
The Colorado Buffaloes beat the Houston Cougars, even with 33 turnovers. But the Buffs still don’t appear on ESPN’s NCAA Tournament bubble.
The case is interesting. The Buffs are now 19-11, ranked No. 57 in NCAA NET (just one spot behind Thursday’s opponent, Arizona, by the way). Colorado is 2-7 in Quad 1 games and just 1-1 in Quad 2 games.
What hurts the Buffs? A 3-9 road record and three combined Quad 3 and Quad 4 losses.
I’m not sure how much a win over Arizona helps. But it would keep Colorado — and its bubble case — alive for one more day. This time of year, that’s all you can ask for.
THE COURT
The Big 12 debuted its “Undefeated” court for the women’s tournament. I was bouncing back and forth between women’s games and men’s game on Wednesday. I switched from the ASU-Cincinnati game to the Colorado-Texas Tech men’s game and that’s when it hit me.
That’s when you notice just how jarring this court is. The photos in the unveil were from a distance, so it didn’t really hit me what all those XII patterns on the floor would do to the home viewer. It’s a lot to take in. Based on what I saw on TV on Wednesday, I’m not a fan.
I don’t get to Kansas City until next Wednesday, so I’ll reserve full judgment until I see it in person. But the social media feedback I saw on Wednesday was, generally, not great.
There’s nothing wrong with a good, clean basketball court. Sometimes that’s forgotten.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
