TEAM W L NEXT 3 Texas 7 0 Tech, at OU, Baylor Kansas 6 1 at Nebraska, Mizzou, ISU Texas A&M 4 3 Baylor, at Colorado, at Tech Oklahoma 4 3 at OSU, Texas, at Mizzou Baylor 4 4 at A&M, Nebraska, at Texas Colorado 4 4 at Mizzou, A&M, K-State Missouri 3 4 Colorado, at Kansas, Oklahoma Nebraska 3 4 Kansas, at Baylor, OSU Oklahoma State 3 5 Oklahoma, at Nebraska, at Texas Kansas State 3 5 at Iowa State, at Colorado, Kansas Texas Tech 3 5 at Texas, A&M, at Mizzou Iowa State 1 7 K-State, at Kansas, at A&M

It’s a fairly boring Saturday across the college landscape, with just one game — Kentucky at Florida — matching two teams currently ranked in the Top 25 by the nation’s coaches. The Big 12 isn’t exempt from Snoozer Saturday, thanks to the fact that after Kansas and Texas, the rest of the league is a muddled mess. Just 1.5 games separate Texas A&M, in 3rd, and Texas Tech, which is in 11th place. While that means there’s a lot to be sorted out in today’s conference battles, it also means that the competition will likely be lacking.

Kansas State at Iowa State, 12:45 P.M. CT (ESPN Full Court; ESPN3.com)
Frank Martin and the ‘Cats endured even more turmoil this week when Wally Judge suddenly left the team. KSU bounced back with a home win over Nebraska to keep them within arm’s reach of a first-round bye. If the Wildcats and their NIT-averse “leader” Jacob Pullen have any designs on turning their season around, this is one of those games they must win. To do so, they’ll have to shut down the outside shooting of the ‘Clones and neutralize the great home-court advantage at Hilton.

Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, 12:45 P.M. CT (ESPN Full Court; ESPN3.com)
The Sooners have the youngest roster in the conference, and were picked to be fighting for last place with Iowa State by most preseason publications. Instead, Jeff Capel has his team overachieving, and the Sooners would actually have a tournament bye if the season were to end today. The Cowboys, meanwhile, have been rather disappointing. With a more formidable frontcourt and the addition of Jéan-Paul Olukemi, it looked like OSU could make some noise in the Big 12 this season. If the Sooners pull off the road win in the Bedlam rivalry this afternoon, it may be time to reverse our expectations for these two teams.

Baylor at Texas A&M, 1 P.M. CT (ESPN)
Remember when Baylor and A&M were a budding basketball rivalry on the Brazos? Things are very different this time around, as the Bears have scuttled through conference play and enter this one with a .500 mark in the Big 12. Baylor is incredibly talented, but their very lengthy zone has been frightfully porous so far this year. The Aggies have also looked iffy over the last two weeks, but can easily get their train back on-track with a pounding of Baylor at home this afternoon. And if A&M loses? More confusion and mediocrity in the middle of the standings.

Kansas at Nebraska, 3 P.M. CT (ESPN Full Court; ESPN3.com)
Nebraska showed a lot of promise in pushing Kansas to the final possession at Allen Fieldhouse earlier this season. While the Devaney Center has been the site of a few major upsets in recent years, you have to think that Bill Self will have his team ready after their previous close call with the Huskers. Doc Sadler‘s stiff defense should frustrate the Jayhawks, but we expect the superior talent of KU to win out in the end. There aren’t many games left on the Jayhawk schedule that look even remotely risky, but this one does fit the bill. You might want to keep a finger on the remote if things are still close around 5 P.M.

Colorado at Missouri, 6:30 P.M. CT (ESPN Full Court; ESPN3.com)
This game is bound to be an exciting, run-and-gun affair. Everyone knows about Missouri’s Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball, but Tad Boyle has a team full of athletes at Colorado that also love to push the tempo. The Buffs came up with a huge upset over Mizzou in their conference opener back on January 8th, a ridiculously fast game which had 74 possessions. Colorado came out with the victory thanks to excellent ball control — they posted a turnover rate of just 13.4% against the Mizzou pressure D — but teams have a much harder time when they face the Tigers in Columbia. Look for Mizzou to get revenge in an exciting one this evening.

Texas Tech at Texas, 8 P.M. CT (ESPNU)
A full look at the Longhorn/Red Raider tilt will come in our typical game preview later this afternoon.

After six years of frustration in College Station, the Longhorns finally left Reed Arena with a victory. Texas led from wire to wire against the Aggies on Monday night, building a lead as large as 27 points before cruising to a dominating 69-49 win over their in-state rivals.

The victory moved the Longhorns to 7-0 in Big 12 play, while the Aggies fell into a third-place tie with Baylor at 4-3. With Texas now holding the tiebreaker over Texas A&M by virtue of sweeping the season series, the Aggies are essentially eliminated from any discussion of a conference title.

To claim the Big 12 crown, Texas A&M would need to run the table — which includes a road trip to Kansas — while the Longhorns would have to lose four of their final nine games, and the Jayhawks would have to lose to another opponent in addition to the Aggies. Not even Lloyd Christmas would like those odds.

What looked good

The story all season has been the superhuman numbers being posted by the Longhorn defense, and against the Aggies it was no different. Texas held A&M to just 0.559 points per possession in the first half, and allowed 0.790 per possession for the game. In conference play alone, Texas is allowing just 0.835 points each time down the court, a number made even more impressive by the fact that it includes four games against the league’s three best teams.

For the third straight game, the Texas defense also completely shut down one of the top scoring threats for the opposition. Khris Middleton couldn’t even manage a point against the Texas defense, despite coming into the game averaging 15.5 a night. Against A&M, Missouri, and Oklahoma State, the Longhorns held Middleton, Marcus Denmon, and Keiton Page to a total of seven points. That trio had combined to average 45.5 points per game prior to facing the Horns.

An early catalyst for the Longhorns was the aggressive play of Dogus Balbay, who has attacked the basket much more in the last few games. Balbay seems to be more aware of when defenses aren’t prepared to stop the ball in transition, and he’s collecting a few easy layups in each game as a result. Against the Aggies, that led to six points for Dogus, who has scored 29 points in Texas’ last four games. In the nine games prior to his offensive outburst, Balbay chalked up a grand total of 28 points.

Jordan Hamilton posted yet another impressive stat line, scoring 20 points with ease. He recognized mismatches and sunk midrange jumpers over Dash Harris and B.J. Holmes, grabbed six rebounds, and added three assists. While Hamilton made only three-pointers against Oklahoma State last week, he was attacking off the dribble in this one and creating good looks for himself inside the arc.

The bench also provided a huge spark in the first half, as the four Longhorn reserves scored 17 points in the first 20 minutes of the game. That alone was nearly enough to eclipse Texas A&M’s 20 first-half points. Big men Alexis Wangmene and Matt Hill finally both had a solid game on the same night, with the pair scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting, while they combined to grab 12 rebounds. J’Covan Brown chipped in eight points with three assists, and actually did not attempt a three the entire night.

What needed work

As always, free throws were a major issue for the Longhorns. The team shot 59.1% from the line, which at the very least was a marked improvement from the abysmal 47% mark they posted against Missouri on Saturday. Tristan Thompson was once again the main offender, making just four of his 10 attempts at the line. The rest of the Longhorns actually shot 75% from the stripe, although Hill missed the front-end of a one-and-one in the first half.

The offense in the second half left a little to be desired, but it’s hard to fault a team for letting off the gas when they take a 25-point lead to the locker room. Texas managed just 24 points in the second half, but still shot 44% from the field over that stretch. All told, the Longhorns scored 1.087 points per possession, a number any fan would be pleased with in conference play. If the biggest complaint you can make about a team is that they didn’t win by 30 points, then it seems you don’t have that much to worry about.

Unfortunately, the one Longhorn who did had a rough night was reserve guard Jai Lucas. He had a nice early drive for a layup, but also picked up three fouls (one of which was 85 feet from the basket), bricked his only three-point attempt, and was abused defensively by B.J. Holmes. It’s great that Jai was able to play 12 minutes in this one, but it’s hard to believe this performance earned himself any extra minutes in the future.

Next up: vs. Texas Tech (11-11 overall, 3-4 Big 12); 8 P.M, Saturday

Tonight, the Texas Longhorns visit Reed Arena as one of the hottest teams in the country. This afternoon, they ascended to the 3rd spot in both national rankings, and have moved up to the 1- or 2-seed line in almost every bracket projection on the internet. The Longhorns are boasting their first 6-0 conference start since the school joined the Big 12 conference, and have a dominating defense that has allowed conference opponents just 0.842 points per possession.

All of that could be meaningless, however, as Reed Arena has been a house of horrors in recent years for the Texas Longhorns. A&M has won the last six meetings between the two schools, with the Aggies claiming a 74-58 victory last season. During that six-year stretch, Texas has sent two teams to the Elite Eight — those two teams lost by a combined 30 points in Reed Arena.

But if you had to pick a Texas team to break the curse, this year’s edition would be a safe bet. The Longhorns seem to thrive on hostile environments, grabbing road wins at Michigan State’s Breslin Center and in front of 21,000-plus clad in Carolina-blue at Greensboro Coliseum. And then, of course, there was the monumental comeback win against the Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse that snapped Kansas’ 69-game home winning streak. These Longhorns have proven they can stand tall on the road, but a win at Reed Arena will still be a very tough task.

The first meeting

Tonight’s game is the second match-up for the Horns and Aggies, who squared off in Austin just two weeks ago. The Longhorns dominated from the start, jumping out to a 20-5 lead just seven minutes into the game. While A&M closed the gap to five points in less than five minutes, that was as close as the Aggies would ever get, and Texas cruised to an 81-60 win.

Texas A&M’s frontcourt was absolutely abused by the Longhorns in the first meeting. Texas posted a plus-eight rebounding margin, and grabbed more than 40% of their own misses. On the defensive end, the Horns held the Aggies to just a 33.3% offensive-rebounding mark, well off of their season average of 40.9%.

Texas A&M was frustrated all night, and it showed in the types of fouls they were whistled for. Ray Turner and Kourtney Roberson each were called for four fouls, forcing David Loubeau to play more minutes on a night where he was having difficulty containing Texas’ Tristan Thompson. The Canadian freshman finished with 18 points on the night, and added six rebounds in 30 minutes on the court.

Since then…

The Aggies have only played twice since that game in Austin, splitting the two contests. Texas A&M first knocked off Kansas State at home last Saturday, before dropping a game against Nebraska in Lincoln two days ago. The Aggies failed to score in the last 1:34 against Nebraska, allowing the Huskers to pull away for a 57-48 win.

During the two games, Dash Harris struggled at the point. Harris combined for five turnovers and just five assists in the two wins, while his typically-abysmal shooting continued. Against KSU and Nebraska, Dash was just 4-of-13 from the field.

Khris Middleton, meanwhile, continued to lead the way for Texas A&M, chipping in 30 points in the two games. Against the Wildcats, Middleton had a tough day from the field, but manufactured points for his team by getting to the line. Although he shot just 30% from the field, the sophomore knocked down 11 of 12 attempts at the line.

Meet the Aggies

Since this is the second meeting between the two teams this year, writing another in-depth look at the A&M roster would be a monumental waste of time. We suggest that you revisit the first game preview for more info on the Aggies than you probably ever wanted to know.

Keys to the game

As it was the first time these two teams met, controlling the glass will be key. The Aggies have found success this season by winning the rebounding battle, and Texas is one of the few teams that has managed to successfully keep A&M off the glass. If the Horns can once again limit second-chance points by clearing the defensive glass and can extend their own possessions by earning offensive rebounds, they have a much better chance to complete the season sweep.

All road environments are tough to fight through, but Reed Arena is one of the loudest places the Longhorns will play. Texas showed poise in coming back in front of a hostile Allen Fieldhouse crowd, so they need to draw on that experience when things get tough tonight. The Longhorns must fight through adversity if they are going to overcome the crowd and break the losing streak in College Station. When the Aggies go on a scoring run, the Texas offense must continue to be patient, and they cannot force shots in an effort to silence the crowd.

Finally, Texas would be wise to limit the perimeter scoring. The Horns did a great job shutting down the inside game of the Aggies in Austin — Loubeau, Nathan Walkup, and Turner combined for 19 points — but gave up a lot of three-pointers in the second half. Mark Turgeon does a great job slowing things down at home, and his stout defenses always make it very tough to put the ball in the basket. This adds up to a high likelihood for a very low-scoring affair tonight. The Horns can’t afford to let Texas A&M to sink many threes when their own points will likely be hard to come by.

Texas is more than halfway through the most brutal five-game stretch of their schedule, yet the team still sits atop the league with a perfect 5-0 mark. They have survived two road games and defeated two top ten teams, and have ascended the polls and the standings as a result. Unfortunately, the final two games of that five-game gauntlet will not be any easier.

First up is Missouri, who comes to the Frank Erwin Center tonight as winners of the last three matchups between these two programs. Texas had a chance to win when the teams last met in Austin, but failed to execute down the stretch and let the Tigers escape with a 69-65 win.

Missouri is coming into this game with extra rest, as they have been off since demolishing Iowa State last Saturday. Texas, meanwhile, is returning home for the first time since logging road wins against Kansas and Oklahoma State. For the Tigers, a loss tonight would put them two losses behind the Jayhawks and three losses behind the Longhorns. Without a doubt, this game is a must-win for their league title hopes.

By the numbers

If you’ve watched any Big 12 hoops in the last few years, you know about Missouri’s “Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball.” They average more than 73 possessions per ballgame, which is 10th-fastest in all of Division I. The Tigers push the tempo with full-court pressure and extended man-to-man and matchup zones that force guards to make decisions well beyond the perimeter.

But while the Tigers force a turnover once in every four trips down the court, they don’t play reckless when they have the ball on their own end. Missouri coughs it up on just 16.9% of their own possessions, good enough for 17th-best in the country. When the easy looks aren’t available in transition, they know to slow it down and run their half-court offense.

Those half-court sets are highly efficient, reminiscent of the Dribble Drive Motion that Memphis made famous in 2008. The Tigers have a lineup filled with athletic shooters who can attack the paint off the dribble, knock down jumpers with ease, and know how to find the open man on the perimeter when they force defensive help. Missouri’s offense is just fractions of a point less efficient than that of the Longhorns — just 0.002 points per possession seperate the two offenses.

The biggest weakness for Missouri is their defensive rebounding. They are allowing opponents to claim 33.9% of their misses, and Colorado and A&M both exploited this in wins over the Tigers. The Aggies rebounded 40% of their own misses, while Colorado snagged 42.7% when they upset Missouri in Boulder. For a Texas team that has proven to be very strong on the glass, this could be huge tonight.

Meet the Tigers

Without a doubt, the team’s leader is sharpshooter Marcus Denmon. He’s making nearly 50% of his attempts from behind the arc so far this season, and he’s a guy who takes more than five threes a game. When the Tigers faced Nebraska in Columbia earlier this month, Coach Doc Sadler and the Huskers labeled Denmon as a “no-catch guy.” Their defense, however, allowed him to not only catch it, but also shoot it — over and over and over. All told, Denmon scored 27 on the typically stingy Nebraska defense, tying his career high.

Yet another sweet shooter for the Tigers is Kim English, a gym rat whose penchant for sleeping in the practice facility was well-documented during Missouri’s Elite Eight run two seasons ago. He’s averaging nearly 11 points per game and is sinking 39% of his threes, yet is just the 5th-highest scorer on the team. With five players all averaging double figures, the well-balanced Missouri attack can be very hard to defend.

One reason these Tigers are so hard to defend this season is the addition of junior college transfer Ricardo Ratliffe. Twice an All-American at the juco level, Ratliffe gives the Tigers their first legitimate post player since Coach Mike Anderson arrived in Columbia. He’s deadly with a right-handed baby hook, can drop step to the bucket with ease, and is an absolute rebounding machine. Ratliffe is averaging seven boards per game, and is grabbing nearly 13% of the team’s offensive rebounding opportunities, a number that puts him in the Top 100 nationally.

Laurence Bowers is another 6’8″ forward for the Tigers, but he plays much more like a wing. He’s a terrible match-up for most opponents, as he is so athletic and has such good handles that most forwards find it tough to contain him. At 6’8″ and boasting an impressive wingspan, Denmon makes it difficult for smaller guards to challenge his shots. On the defensive end, Bowers is an excellent shot blocker with great timing, and he’s often able to disrupt fast breaks as a trailer by coming up with unbelievable swats.

At the point, sophomore Michael Dixon has developed nicely after a freshman campaign which had some speed bumps. He’s posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.3, yet still averages more than 10 points per game. He’s yet another solid outside shooter for the Tigers, knocking down 37.9% of his looks behind the arc so far.

Backing up Dixon is freshman phenom Phil Pressey. A top 10 recruit at his position last season, Pressey is averaging nearly four assists per game off the bench, despite fracturing the ring finger on his right hand in December. He’s also really blossomed as a scorer in the last few weeks, and is liable to go off for a flurry of points tonight if Texas doesn’t keep a defender in his shirt.

Justin Safford provides the only senior leadership on the team, and he also brings to the table a reputation for solid interior defense. Unfortunately, Safford looks to have lost a step since tearing his ACL last February, and he doesn’t look quite as comfortable this season running the floor in transition for Mizzou. With the addition of Ratlife to the lineup, Safford is playing less than 18 minutes per game, but he still is chipping in more than seven points and four boards per game.

Also coming off the bench in the frontcourt is junior Steve Moore. Aside from Ratliffe, Moore is the only other prototypical big man on the roster, checking in at 6’9″ and 270 pounds. Unfortunately, he’s not in great shape for running up and down the court, and his conditioning leads to a lot of fouls when he gets out of position. He’s fouled out of three games this year and averages more than 8 fouls per 40 minutes.

In the backcourt, the deep Tiger roster also boasts junior college transfer Matt Pressey, older brother of Phil. He played his juco ball at Navarro CC, where he showcased the ability to get inside off the bounce and score in traffic. He’s not a great outside shooter, so the Horns would be wise to give him a cushion lest he blow by and penetrate the lane.

Freshman Ricky Kreklow rounds out the rotation, and he marks the third-straight Mr. Basketball from the state of Missouri to play for the Tigers. He’s known for his outside shooting, and so far is making 32.3% of his long-range attempts in his 11 minutes of action per game.

Keys to the game

First and foremost, the key for any team playing the Tigers is to control the basketball. Fortunately, Texas has been one of the steadiest teams in the country when it comes to ball control, coughing it up just 17.5% of the time. Of course, the Longhorns haven’t faced a defense quite like Missouri’s so far this season, and have shown occassional spurts of sloppiness throughout the season. Limit the turnovers tonight, though, and the Longhorns should move to 6-0 in league play.

If Texas is limiting the turnovers, it forces Missouri to play half-court basketball. The Tigers are great at penetrating and kicking, so they must lock down the perimeter, especially the sharpshooting Denmon. Dogus Balbay has done a fantastic job in his last two games, holding Josh Selby to four points and Ketion Page to zero. If he can lock down Denmon, the Horns will only have to worry about keeping Dixon and English from lighting them up from outside.

As we mentioned earlier, Missouri’s big weakness is on the defensive glass. If Texas can dominate the offensive boards, they should be able to get quite a few second chance points. Texas is the 35th-best offensive rebounding team in the country, securing 37% of their own misses. Keep up that trend against Missouri, and it should result in a W.

Finally, Texas will want to dictate the pace. The Tigers are more rested coming into this game, and have a rotation of ten men. The Longhorns can feasibly only run seven or eight deep, so getting into a track meet will only work in Missouri’s favor. If the Longhorns can run when it benefits them, and play half-court basketball when the fast break isn’t there, they should be able to defend their home court.

For the second time in just five days, the Longhorns were the hated enemy in a sold-out, hostile gym. But as has become the norm this season, Texas fed off the negative energy and silenced the fans, emerging from Gallagher-Iba Arena with a 61-46 victory.

The win was the fifth on the road for the Longhorns, who have tripped up just once away from home this season. In early December, Texas was embarrassed by an average USC team in Los Angeles, losing by 17 points. Since then, the Horns have been undefeated on the road, winning by an average margin of 14.2 points.

With the victory, the Horns keep their perfect conference mark intact, moving to 5-0 in Big 12 play. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, dropped to 2-4 in the conference, falling into a tie for 9th place with Kansas State.

What looked good

The most-hated Longhorn in Stillwater wasn’t Jordan Hamilton or Tristan Thompson. Instead, it was Dogus Balbay, who responded to the jeers by having a career night. Balbay more than doubled his scoring average, putting in 10 points, all in the first half. Along with Cory Joseph, the Turkish guard also prevented OSU’s sharpshooting Keiton Page from even scoring a point.

Balbay’s hustle was visible everywhere on the court Wednesday night. He grabbed five boards and had four assists in the winning effort, and constantly batted away Oklahoma State passes. Even with most of those deflections ending up out of bounds, Balbay still came up with two steals.

As it has been all season, Balbay’s staunch defense was just one part of Texas’ stifling performance on D. As a team, the Longhorns held Oklahoma State to 32.1% shooting from the field and limited the Pokes to only 0.793 points per possession. Coming into the game, OSU was averaging roughly 1.04 points each time down the floor.

Freshman big man Tristan Thompson worked through a difficult first half and ended up with a very productive night. He scored all 14 of his points in the second half, including a seven-minute stretch where he scored 11 straight points for Texas. On defense, he frustrated the Cowboy bigs with three blocks.

Another reassuring sight in the win was the clear effort Jordan Hamilton and J’Covan Brown were making in looking for open teammates. In addition to his 12 points — all coming behind the arc — Hamilton was credited with two assists. When not taking open threes, he was attacking off the dribble and looking for open teammates as the defense collapsed on him. If not for fumbled passes by other Longhorns, Hamilton would have had another few assists.

Brown, meanwhile, seemed to be quite aware that it wasn’t his night to shoot. Although he forced up a bad three near the end of the first half, he mostly played within the flow of the offense. After a few misses, he was content with passing off to other guards coming off of screens and curls. His deferential attitude didn’t result in any assists against Oklahoma State, but it is definitely preferable to poor shot selection.

In addition, the alternating big games from Matt Hill and Alexis Wangmene continued, with the big man from Cameroon providing the quality PT against the Cowboys. Wangmene played just 11 minutes, but worked hard inside and earned two trips to the line, which he turned into four points. He grabbed a pair of rebounds as well, and only turned it over once, on a bobbled one-time pass from Hamilton.

What needed work

Unfortunately, the Texas offense was very sloppy with the ball in the first half, particularly in transition. The team’s 23.7% turnover percentage was its third-highest of the season, behind only the neutral-site loss to Pitt and a very sloppy win against Lamar.

With Missouri coming to town on Saturday, that lack of ball control in high-tempo situations is cause for concern. The Longhorns may have won this one by 16 points, but had they simply held on to the ball, the margin of victory likely would have crept past twenty. The Tigers are going to push the tempo and pressure the ball, so Texas cannot afford to have a repeat performance on Saturday.

In the half-court, Oklahoma State was very committed to limiting Texas’ points in the paint, and that often led to double- and triple-teams when Thompson and Gary Johnson would get the ball in the lane. When they would manage to put up a shot against the army of defenders, there was never an orange jersey anywhere near the rim.

Not only did this cost Texas a bunch of offensive rebounding opportunities, but it also meant that Thompson and Johnson had very few options to dish it off when OSU collapsed. With the Cowboys focused on the ball, Texas could have capitalized with easy layups by players cutting from the wings, and it would have resulted in more putbacks on Johnson and Thompson’s missed jumpers.

Next up: vs. #13/11 Missouri (17-3 overall, 3-2 Big 12); 8 P.M. CT, Saturday