It’s a mess of sleet, ice, and snow outside as the Big 12 Championships roll into the second day of action. Although temperatures are expected to be back in the 70’s within a week, Mother Nature decided that folks traveling to OKC for the tournament would just love a three-day visit from some bitterly cold weather. So rather than going out in this last gasp of winter that has gripped the city, we’ll take a look back at all of yesterday’s action from the Ford Center.

[11] Texas Tech 88, [6] Texas A&M 83

The best game of the day was certainly the last one, although it seemed like the nightcap between Texas A&M and Texas Tech was well on its way to being the worst of the four first-round match-ups. In fact, when we finally threw in the towel at halftime and hit the exits, the Aggies led by 19 points, and there were no more than 1,500 hardy fans remaining in the seats. But those who stuck around were treated to the single most-impressive performance in the history of the Big 12 tourney.

Mike Singletary — a forward whose role all season long was simply that of an effective sixth man — scored 35 points in the second half, including 29 straight for Texas Tech, and led the Red Raiders back from a 22-point deficit to steal the win. Oddly enough, we were joking midway through the first half that Singletary was Tech’s entire offense. At the time, his four points were all that Tech had mustered in the first seven minutes of the game. Who knew how accurate our wisecracks would actually be?

[9] Baylor 65, [8] Nebraska 49

While Nebraska’s four-guard sets have sometimes made it difficult to rebound against bigger teams, it seemed that a match-up with the similarly guard-oriented Baylor Bears might hide that weakness for Coach Doc Sadler and the Cornhuskers. That was anything but true in this one, as the Bears outrebounded Nebraska by a ridiculous 43-18 margin. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that Kevin Rogers grabbed more boards than Nebraska all by himself. Rogers posted a double-double with 20 rebounds and ten points.

It’s also notable that this game started the day off with three technical fouls. There were three more in later action, and an additional warning on the Oklahoma State bench even after they had already been tagged with a T. Despite the temperatures outside, it was quite heated inside the Ford Center.

[7] Oklahoma State 81, [10] Iowa State 67

Perhaps the most heated of all the action came in the prime-time game, featuring the Cowboys from OSU. The Pokes hail from Stillwater, just 66 miles NNE of the Ford Center, and the arena was packed to the gills with folks wearing road-cone orange. Craig Brackins took charge early for Iowa State, as he often does, and drew not only tons of whistles from the refs, but the ire of the OSU faithful as well. The fans grew more and more restless as the fouls piled up for Oklahoma State, while the Cyclones stayed foul-free.

With seven minutes left in the first half, the Pokes had seven team fouls to the zero for Iowa State, and some additional commentary from the OSU bench heading into the media timeout resulted in a technical foul. The irate crowd absolutely ate up the tactical maneuver from Coach Travis Ford, and when the Cyclones were finally whistled for their first infraction with only three minutes left in the first half, mock cheers rained down on the court and Ford slapped the scorers table so hard it could be heard from across the arena.

Interestingly enough, foul calls in the second half were much more even until Iowa State was forced to intentionally hack at the Pokes in the final minutes. It’s tough to tell if this was a result of Ford’s lobbying or of OSU’s newfound commitment to pounding the ball down to Marshall Moses in the paint, but the newfound whistle equity allowed the Cowboys to cruise to a first-round win.

Tonight the Longhorns host their second straight home game, just four days after the huge win over then-No. 2 Oklahoma on Saturday night. Texas is now in a tie for fourth in the conference with Kansas State, a team who owns the tiebreaker by virtue of their win in Austin on January 31st. If the Longhorns hope to earn a bye in the Big 12 tournament, they will have to finish at least a full game ahead of the Wildcats, who will likely finish their remaining schedule with a 3-1 or 2-2 mark.

Luckily for Texas, their home slate consists of two very winnable games, starting with tonight’s contest against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Coach Pat Knight will not be on the sidelines for the game due to a suspension the league levied for his comments following his team’s loss to Texas A&M on Saturday. For a preview of the key players on the Tech squad, check out the game preview from the first game between the two teams, a contest which the Longhorns won by a lopsided 71-49 count behind 18 points from Damion James.

The Erwin Center has been unkind to Tech, as the Red Raiders have lost in their last 12 trips to Austin. It will likely be even tougher tonight, as the jersey retirement ceremony of superstar Kevin Durant will ensure a much larger crowd than typically expected for an 8:30 tip on a Wednesday.

This should be a game that Texas coasts to victory in, but stranger things have certainly happened. Hopefully, the momentum from Saturday night will carry over, and the Longhorns will make this the blowout it should be. But for a Texas team that has seemingly played to the level of its competition all season long, things could certainly be much closer than necessary.

#2 Duke Blue Devils 73, NC State Wolfpack 56 – After twenty minutes, the second-ranked team in the nation trailed State by four, thanks to a paltry 29% shooting clip in the first half. But Coach K’s team shot a ridiculous 20-of-29 in the second half, while holding the visitors to just one field goal in the final eight minutes of play. Gerald Henderson led the way for the Dukies, posting 21 with seven rebounds.

#24 Illinois Fighting Illini 67, Ohio State Buckeyes 49 – Bruce Weber’s defense continued its stifling play, forcing the Buckeyes into 20 turnovers on the night, a season high for the visiting club. Dominique Keller provided a spark off the bench for Illinois, dropping in 12 points to go with his six boards in only twenty minutes of play. The win keeps the Illini tied for second in the Big 10, with a huge home game against Wisconsin looming on Saturday afternoon.

Texas Tech Red Raiders 63, Colorado Buffaloes 55 – With sharpshooting senior Alan Voskuil suffering from the flu and limited to only three points, Mike Singletary was asked to carry the load for Tech on Tuesday night. The big man bruised his way to 20 points and nine rebounds in only 22 minutes off the bench, propelling the Red Raiders to their first conference victory of the season.

It’s not exactly a night that will keep you glued to the couch, which might seem obvious when Ohio State and Illinois play in the headliner…

Top 25 Action

Ohio State (13-3 overall, 3-2 Big 10) at #25 Illinois (15-3, 3-2) | 7 PM ET, ESPN
Bruce Weber and the Illini have bounced back from an awful 2007-08 season much faster than anyone might have expected, but a tough stretch to open conference play has left them in the middle of the standings. Ohio State finds itself in the middle of that same pack, but enters tonight’s game in Champaign as winners of five straight against Illinois. The Buckeyes will have their work cut out for them, however, as they are ranked 250th in the country in offensive rebounding and are facing the nation’s 10th-ranked defense.

North Carolina State (10-5 overall, 1-2 ACC) at #2 Duke (16-1, 3-0) | 8 ET, ESPN Full Court
Duke has been playing absolutely lights out as of late, most recently shutting down Georgetown on Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor. They are sporting an NCAA-best +0.345 efficiency differential, just ahead of their Tobacco Road rival, North Carolina. In simpler terms, the Blue Devils outscore their opponents by 0.345 points per possession, which means that even if the Wolfpack can slow things down to their tempo, they will only lose by……approximately 22 points. Uh oh.

Big 12 Games

Colorado (8-8 overall, 0-2 Big 12) at Texas Tech (10-7, 0-2) | 8 PM ET, ESPN Full Court
It’s a game matching two teams that have the potential to be the absolute worst squads in the Big 12! If that doesn’t scream “must watch,” I’m not sure what else does. Perhaps a marathon of the Ryan Seacrest-produced reality show, Momma’s Boys?

Around the country

Tennessee (11-5 overall, 2-1 SEC) at Vanderbilt (12-5, 1-2) | 9 PM ET, ESPN
Last year, these two teams put on one of the most exciting games of the season, as the Commodores eked out a three-point win over their cross-state rivals, who had just reached No. 1 for the first time in school history. This year, there’s not nearly as much on the line, but excitement is still on tap. Just ask stat guru Ken Pomeroy, who hopes his new FanMatch feature can pinpoint the most intriguing match-ups of the night. And according to Mr. Pomeroy’s brand-spanking-new ranking system, this particular Battle of Tennessee has a 71.7% chance of kicking major ass. Guaranteed.

The Texas Longhorns are coming off of their most embarrassing performance of the season, a 78-63 defeat at Oklahoma that had Coach Rick Barnes so disgusted that he benched most of his starters for a majority of the first half. Unfortunately, the next game on the schedule for the reeling team is a trip to Lubbock, historically one of the toughest road environments in the conference for ranked squads. The Longhorns learned that first-hand last season, as their eight-game conference winning streak came to a crashing halt with an 83-80 loss at United Spirit Arena.

This year, Pat Knight’s Red Raiders were picked to finish 10th in the conference by the media, but showed grit and determination in their conference-opening loss to Baylor last Saturday. They have struggled for much of the year and don’t pose a huge threat on paper, but much of this Tech team is the same that pulled off last year’s upset. And considering that the Longhorns have shown a tendency to play to the level of their opponents this season, they cannot afford to let Tech keep it close.

The starting five

In the backcourt, John Roberson is making huge strides in his sophomore campaign. His 14.4 points per game are tied for team-best, while his great court vision has led to more than six assists per game. The young guard is lightning quick and can absolutely thread the needle with entry passes, so the Longhorns will have their hands full with him this afternoon.

Alan Voskuil was a thorn in the side of the Longhorns when they met here last March, leading the Red Raiders with 18 points, including a perfect 10-of-10 from the line. This season, he has picked up where he left off, knocking down 45% of his three-point attempts while averaging 14.4 points a game. One problem Tech often runs into is that the team will hit cold spells and look solely to Voskuil to hit a shot to break the skid. If he is missing his shots, the Longhorns can focus more on their post defense — an aspect the Horns have excelled at for most of the season.

In the post, D’Wayln Roberts has taken on a much larger role in his second season at Tech. Last year, he averaged just over 11 minutes a game off the bench, but has started all 16 contests this year. He’s one of the few rebounders on a team that is often getting demolished on the glass, so he will be called on to hold his ground against the Longhorns today.

Hailing from just outside Kansas City, Robert Lewandowski is making a huge impact as a freshman. He’s shown a knack for getting in excellent position for entry passes, and is great at scoring with his back to the basket down low. As a freshman, there isn’t a huge book on him yet, but one of the knocks on his play is a weakness on the glass. Lewandowski is the tallest significant player on a rather undersized Tech team, but he ranks only eighth on the squad in rebounds. As with Roberts, Lewandowski will have to step up against a Texas team that is solid on the glass. Otherwise, they will have far too many empty possessions to stay in the game.

Michael Prince earned his first start of the season against Baylor, and it was easy to see why. He’s a high-energy player who is excellent on the defensive end, and he can attack the rim off the dribble even though he’s a lanky forward. He did miss six games with a foot injury earlier this year, though, and Coach Knight thinks that Prince is still only at 80%. Texas is likely going to focus a ton of attention on Roberson and Voskuil today, so if Tech is hoping for an upset, Prince could well be the X-factor.

Off the bench

Mike Singletary and Nick Okorie are also likely candidates to earn that fifth starting slot, as the pair have combined for 14 starts on the year. Okorie is an amazing find for Tech, a JuCo All-American last season who is just as fast as Roberson. He knows how to get to the rim, can hit from outside, and is just as adept as Roberson at slipping passes past the defense and into the post.

Singletary was a starter for half of last season, and has been shuffled around the lineup this year. But he has made significant contributions this year, even when coming off the bench. He’s an undersized forward, but is leading the team in rebounds and is third in minutes despite only making four starts.

Esmir Rizvic is also back this month for his final semester of eligibility. After having his face shattered two years ago by the flailing elbows of Longar Longar, Rizvic applied for a medical hardship to earn another half-season of play. The NCAA showed its miniscule soft side and granted the request, allowing Rizvic to participate in conference play this year. He’s not going to see a ton of minutes at this point, as Coach Knight hopes to work him up to game shape. But on a team with a still-developing inside presence, the 7-foot Bosnian could provide some much-needed relief.

Keys to the game

On paper, this is a game that Texas should easily win. And despite the fact that the Longhorns have won 19 out of 22 against Tech in the Rick Barnes era, the fact remains that United Spirit Arena is a tough place to play. In all honesty, Texas just needs to execute the fundamentals to win this one, which means that today’s keys are incredibly simple.

Control the glass – Texas is a much better rebounding team than Tech, but also took 13 minutes against Oklahoma to secure their first offensive rebound. Their lack of offensive boards also led to a meltdown in the second half, so the Longhorns can’t afford to have a repeat performance against the Red Raiders.

Win the turnover battle – Tech is a very sloppy team with the ball and averages more than fifteen turnovers per game. Texas has had its own ball-control issues, but still has coughed it up less than twelve times per contest. The Longhorns can really squash any upset hopes by scoring points off of turnovers and not giving up any easy transition looks.