The Big 12 Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament continued on Friday with the semifinal round games at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Friday’s Semifinal Schedule:
Game 13: No. 1 Houston 74, No. 4 BYU 54
Game 14: No. 3 Arizona 86, No. 2 Texas Tech 80
Saturday’s Championship Game
Game 15: No. 1 Houston vs. No. 3 Houston, 5 p.m. CT
Here are three takeaways from the latest day of men’s basketball action.
ELITE D FROM JOJO
To some, the coaches’ selection of Houston forward Joseph “JoJo” Tugler was a bit of a surprise. I mean, who thinks of a rotational forward as a league’s defensive player of the year?
Without J’Wan Roberts in the pivot, Tugler had to start. He’s not an offensive standout. But, in more than 20 minutes of game time, he showed why the coaches gave him so much respect.
I thought that with Roberts out that might open up room inside for Fousseyni Traore and Keba Keita to work on offense for BYU. They might have had better luck with Roberts. Keita had 14 points and Traore only had four. I think at least three of Keita’s baskets came off back-side dunks.
The duo just couldn’t get much done, especially in the first half when Tugler set the tone with physical play as he either blocked or altered just about every shot taken in his vicinity.
Tugler, a sophomore, had two blocks, three steals and five rebounds. He made just one field goal. As I noted, he’s not out there for offense. In that area, he’ll need to develop rapidly this offseason with Roberts heading to the pros.
But he gave everyone a glimpse of what he can do defensively. Along with the shot-blocking, he runs the floor well, understands defensive spacing and knows when to follow the ball and when to stay with his man.
If the eye test doesn’t get you, perhaps the advanced analytics will. EvanMiya.com keeps up with individual analytics. In its DBPR, or Defensive Bayesian Performance Rating, he is the most valuable defensive player, relative to his team, in the country.
Get it now? If his offense catches up to his defense next season, he’ll be legitimately hard to deal with.
THE BUSINESS OF MARCH
Iowa State’s T.J. Otzelberger had to make the decision not to play Tamin Lipsey in the quarterfinals. Houston’s Kelvin Sampson had to make the decision not to play forward J’wan Roberts in the semifinals.
Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland had to make the same choice with guards Darrion Williams and Chance McMillian. About 20 minutes before gametime, he opted to sit both.
McCasland made the same choice as Otz and Sampson — he prioritized next week and the NCAA Tournament over pushing to win the Big 12 Tournament. Not that none of them want to win this event. But, in the big picture, you’ll take the national title over the Big 12 title any day.
Otz gambled and lost, but narrowly. Sampson gambled and won. McCasland gambled and lost, but like Otz, narrowly.
I would say none of them had much to gain in seeding. Houston was No. 1 in ESPN’s Bracketology, Texas Tech was No. 2 and Iowa State was No. 3. At worse, they lose a seed line. But there isn’t much room to move up.
So, all three made the business decision. And it was the right one, even if it robbed us of full-strength teams here in Kansas City.
THE DIFFERENT VIBE
So, with no Kansas, Kansas State or Iowa State in the semifinals, perhaps for the first time in the history of the Big 12 Tournament, it was, let’s say, a bit more spacious in T-Mobile Center on Friday night when Houston opened the session against BYU.
This is not to says fans of those teams didn’t show up. Many did. They love basketball. But with four teams vying to win their first Big 12 Tournament title — and three of them having been in the league for two seasons or less — the energy was clearly different.
I’m sure you were curious about attendance. So, let’s review the last five tournaments not influenced by COVID-19, dating back to 2018 and look at the Friday night session paid attendance numbers:
For 2018: 18,223
For 2019: 19,066
For 2022: 16,557
For 2023: 19,135
For 2024: 19,153
Those are robust numbers. So, how did the Big 12 do on Friday night, per the official box score from the Tech-Arizona game?
For 2025: 13,946
A step back? Sure. But, as I wrote on Thursday, this doesn’t necessarily represent a changing of the guard in the conference long-term.
But for the “move the tournament” crowd, it was still a great night of basketball in Kansas City.
2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship Schedule
(all times central)
First Round Results
Game 1: No. 13 Cincinnati 87, No. 12 Oklahoma State 66
Game 2: No. 16 Colorado 69, No. 9 TCU 67
Game 3: No. 10 Kansas State 71, No. 15 Arizona State 66
Game 4: No. 14 UCF 82, No. 11 Utah 70
Wednesday’s Second Round Schedule
Game 5: No. 5 Iowa State 76, No. 13 Cincinnati 56
Game 6: No. 16 Colorado 67, No. 8 West Virginia 60
Game 7: No. 7 Baylor 70, No. 10 Kansas State 56
Game 8: No. 6 Kansas 98, No. 14 UCF 94 (OT)
Thursday’s Quarterfinal Schedule
Game 9: No. 4 BYU 96, No. 5 Iowa State 92
Game 10: No. 1 Houston 77, No. 16 Colorado 68
Game 11: No. 2 Texas Tech 76, No. 7 Baylor 74
Game 12: No. 3 Arizona 88, No. 6 Kansas 77
Friday’s Semifinal Schedule
Game 13: No. 1 Houston 74, No. 4 BYU 54
Game 14: No. 3 Arizona 86, No. 2 Texas Tech 80
Saturday’s Championship Game
Game 15: No. 1 Houston vs. No. 3 Houston, 5 p.m. CT
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
