TEAM W L LAST WEEK THIS WEEK Missouri 8 2 W at UT, 67-66; W vs. KU, 74-71 Mon at OU; Sat vs. BU Kansas 8 2 W vs. OU, 84-62; L at Miz, 74-71 Wed at BU; Sat vs. OSU Baylor 8 2 W at A&M, 63-60; W at OSU, 64-60 Wed vs. KU; Sat at Miz Iowa State 7 3 W vs. KSU, 72-70; W at OU, 77-70 Tue at OSU; Sat vs. A&M Kansas State 5 5 L at ISU, 72-70; W vs. A&M, 64-53 Tue vs. Tech; Sat at UT Texas 4 6 L vs. Miz, 67-66; W vs. Tech, 75-57 Mon at A&M; Sat vs. KSU Oklahoma State 4 6 W at Tech, 80-63; L vs. BU, 64-60 Tue vs. ISU; Sat at KU Texas A&M 3 7 L vs. BU, 63-60; L at KSU, 64-53 Mon vs. UT; Sat at ISU Oklahoma 3 7 L at KU, 84-62; L vs. ISU, 77-70 Mon vs. Miz; Sat at Tech Texas Tech 0 10 L vs. OSU, 80-63; L at UT, 74-57 Tue at KSU; Sat vs. OU

The big picture

The Iowa State Cyclones continued to keep themselves in the running for an improbable conference title, taking care of Kansas State at home before knocking off OU on the road. The home victory against Kansas State came after the ‘Clones had trailed by as much as 14 early in the second half. Royce White hit the game-winner at the last second after pump-faking Rodney McGruder out of his shoes, giving the sophomore the most important two points of his 22 that night. Saturday’s win was equally impressive, as Iowa State used a barrage of threes to make up for the fact that White only took — and made — one shot. Now just one game out of first place, the Cyclones have to avoid stumbling on the road against lesser foes if they want to keep their hopes of a miracle title intact.

One team that Iowa State could catch over the next week is Baylor. The Bears have a tough week ahead, as they host Kansas on Wednesday before traveling to Missouri on Saturday. Those two teams are the only ones to have knocked off Baylor so far this season, and the Bears looked rather vulnerable over the last week. As has been the case all season, Baylor made things interesting against both A&M and Oklahoma State, but emerged victorious in both road tests. The Bears defeated the Aggies and Cowboys by a combined seven points, pushing their record in two-possession games to 7-1 on the year.

At the bottom of the standings, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech all went 0-for-2 on the week, increasing the odds that they will all be playing on the first day of the Big 12 Championship. The Red Raiders are now eight games away from the dreaded 0-for-conference mark, something that hasn’t happened in the Big 12 since Melvin Watkins and the Aggies went 0-16 in the 2003-04 season, followed by a first-round exit in the conference tournament. Tech still has home games remaining against both A&M and Oklahoma, which provide the team’s best chances to avoid history. “Best” is a relative term in this case, as Ken Pomeroy still only gives the Red Raiders less than a 30% chance to win each game.

Mid-week games

Missouri at Oklahoma; Monday, 6 P.M. CT (ESPNU)
The Tigers are coming off of an emotionally-charged victory over hated rival Kansas on Saturday, and have another big home game against Baylor coming up this Saturday. If there were ever a game that Missouri might get caught overlooking, this would be it. Unfortunately, Lon Kruger and the Sooners are far too good for anyone to take a night off when facing them. Oklahoma hung tough with Kansas in the first half of both of their meetings this season, and kept things close with Baylor until late in the game. If the Tigers aren’t ready from the opening tip, they could go 0-2 in their visits to the state of Oklahoma this season.

Fortunately for Missouri, star Marcus Denmon seems to have broken out of his slump. After shooting 11-for-43 (25.6%) from the field against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Texas, the senior guard carried the Tigers to victory in the final minutes against Kansas. Denmon shot 62.5% from the floor en route to a 29-point performance, his second-best scoring output of the season, eclipsed only by a 31-point game in an early December win over Northwestern State.

Texas at Texas A&M; Monday, 8 P.M. CT (ESPN)
The LRT preview of the Texas/Texas A&M game will be available later today.

Iowa State at Oklahoma State; Tuesday, 6 P.M. CT (ESPN2)
The Cyclones of Transfer U, led by Fred Hoiberg, have made quite an impression in Big 12 play. After early-season losses to Drake and Northern Iowa, the Cyclones seemed destined for another season near the cellar of the conference. Instead, all of the new faces in the red and gold have finally gelled, and Iowa State is now firmly situated on the right side of the bubble discussion. Iowa State is 4-1 at home in conference play, with their only road losses coming against Texas and Kansas. If the Cyclones can continue to take care of business on the road in games like this one, their home-court advantage will keep them right in the mix with the Jayhawks, Bears, and Tigers at the top of the standings.

Of course, the Cowboys have looked quite intimidating at home lately. The Pokes notched a big upset over Missouri nearly two weeks ago, and had Baylor in danger on Saturday. The emergence of Markel Brown coupled with Le’Bryan Nash finally living up to the hype has made Oklahoma State a scary team to face, even with their depth concerns. The Cyclones aren’t built to take advantage of OSU’s thin frontcourt, so this one will likely be a dogfight until the final buzzer. Brown and Nash have combined to average 32.8 points over the team’s last four games. If they can keep up that kind of output down the stretch, OSU is going to be a tough out in every single game.

Texas Tech at Kansas State; Tuesday, 7 P.M. CT (ESPN Full Court/ESPN3.com)
Texas Tech could not have come to town at a better time for Frank Martin and the Wildcats. K-State has dropped two of its last three games, with road trips to Texas, Baylor, and Missouri coming over the next two weeks, sandwiched around a home date against Kansas. The Wildcats have slipped from the top four in the league standings to sole possession of fifth, two games behind the Cyclones and just one ahead of the Longhorns and Cowboys. Kansas State has a strong profile to make its case for the NCAAs, but a dive-bomb over the final few weeks of the season could make things dicey. A dominating win on Tuesday night against an overmatched Texas Tech squad should do wonders for rebuilding the confidence of the KSU players before they face a very tough stretch of the schedule.

Kansas at Baylor; Wednesday, 6 P.M. CT (ESPN)
The first of two huge games for Baylor and the Big 12 comes on Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center in Waco. Last year, these two teams met with just as much fanfare in a Big Monday showdown in Waco. Kansas quickly put any questions of league supremacy to rest with an 85-65 blowout win, perhaps the turning point in a season that quickly went downhill for Baylor.

This year, the situation was similar, although the location had changed. Baylor came into Allen Fieldhouse on MLK Day with an unblemished record and a gaudy national ranking. The first half of the game was what everyone had hoped for, but an incredible performance by Tyshawn Taylor fueled the rowdy home crowd and propelled the Jayhawks to an 18-point victory. The Bears have been tested by many of the league’s middle-tier and lower-tier teams. The real question is whether Baylor plays to the level of its competition, or if this supremely talented bunch just lacks a killer instinct to put games away. Against a team like Kansas, the Bears have to hope it’s the former.