It was a big night for two teams in Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball on Wednesday.
No. 4 Arizona headed to No. 3 UConn for an enormous non-conference showdown at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn., the big game on the men’s schedule for the conference. On the women’s side, No. 18 Oklahoma State headed to Queens, N.Y., for its first significant test of the season against St. John’s.
Here are three things we learned about Big 12 basketball on Wednesday.
ARIZONA LEANS ON ITS VETS AGAINST UCONN
First, UConn was serious about getting a sellout at Gampel Pavilion. Not that the locals in Storrs needed a lot of incentive, but still:
Second, let’s start a dialogue about Jaden Bradley and Tobe Awaka.
Must of the attention the first two weeks of the season has been on star freshman Koa Peat, and he had a great game on Wednesday in a hostile environment — 16 points and 12 rebounds. Motiejus Krivas, a holdover from a year ago, had 14 rebounds along with nine points as the Wildcats feasted in the pain. UConn was without Tarris Reed Jr., who averaged 20 points and nine rebounds.
But late it was Bradley and Awaka, two more holdovers, who came through. Bradley’s step-through layup with 16 seconds left pushed Arizona’s lead to 67-64.
That came a minute after Krivas gave the Wildcats the lead. Down the stretch, it was Awaka who made four straight free throws to ice the game. Those were huge free throws for Awaka, who was shooting less than 50% from there this season.
Bradley finished with 21 points and two assists. Awaka had seven points and seven rebounds. It’s nice to have a couple of experienced players that can come through late.
This was a terrific game. It was close for most of the contest, though Arizona had a 13-point lead in the second half. The Wildcats led more than 33 minutes of the game. Gampel Pavilion is a hard place to play. Arizona is used to this. Since 2021 they are now 24-13 against AP Top 25 teams, the second-best record in the country.
If you liked the make-up of this team going into the season, you love it now. The youngsters like Peat and Brayden Burries are blending nicely with the few holdovers from last year’s team. The Wildcats look like the most “together” team in the Big 12 so far.
COWGIRLS FALL IN QUEENS
Oklahoma State women’s basketball coach Jacie Hoyt hasn’t shied away from acknowledging her early schedule. She knows it wasn’t against top-flight teams. The Cowgirls scored 100 or more points in four of their first five games as they played a schedule with a volume of games. Wednesday’s trip to St. John’s was OSU’s first chance to play a high-major team.
Oklahoma State lost, 74-67, as the Cowgirls fell behind by 10 points at the break, rallied to tie it at the end of the third quarter and then let the Red Storm get away from them. What stood out was the 3-point shooting — 25%, or 4-of-16. OSU has feasted from the arc so far this year. But this was its first road game, and the shooting touch wasn’t there. Four different Cowgirls scored in double figures, led by Stailee Heard’s 15 points.
Missing was Haleigh Timmer. She played 17 minutes but didn’t score a point. She was averaging 16.6 points per game going into the contest. Half of her scoring average would have led to a win.
St. John’s didn’t shoot much from the 3-point line, but the Red Storm beat up Oklahoma State inside the arc, shooting 59%. St. John’s also outrebounded the Cowgirls by 10, which offset 19 turnovers.
The rally was the focus for me. Erasing a 10-point deficit and giving themselves a chance to win down the stretch is something for the Cowgirls to build on.
ANTHONY ROY HAS ARRIVED
With the focus on Arizona-UConn, few likely noticed that Oklahoma State hung 103 points on South Florida in an exciting 103-95 win over the Bulls in Stillwater. But the biggest news was the debut of guard Anthony Roy, who scored 15 points off the bench.
Roy missed the first four games with an injury. He was one of the biggest pulls out of the transfer portal for any Big 12 team based on Roy’s season at Green Bay under former OSU guard Doug Gottleib. Roy averaged 25.7 points per game last season.
Oklahoma State had five players in double figures, led by Vyctorius Miller’s 24 points. The Cowboys also shot 50% from the 3-point line. OSU already has a high-major win over Texas A&M and has another pickup opportunity next week against Northwestern.
OSU was already shaping up to be an intriguing team without Roy in the lineup. With him back, watching how this team gels the next few games will be real interesting.
