KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The second round of the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament nearly went to chalk on Wednesday at the T-Mobile Center.
Iowa State pulled a historic win over Arizona State, who opted not to retain head coach Bobby Hurley hours after the game. UCF went on a big run late in its game against Cincinnati to claim a win and likely cement their place as an at-large team in the NCAA Tournament. BYU became the only double-digit seed to get to the quarterfinals and TCU remained red-hot.
Here were the results of the second-round games:
Game 5: No. 5 Iowa State 91, No. 12 Arizona State 42
Game 6: No. 8 UCF 66, No. 9 Cincinnati 65 (OT)
Game 7: No. 10 BYU 68, No. 7 West Virginia 48
Game 8: No. 6 TCU 95, No. 14 Oklahoma State 88
Here are the takeaways from the day.
BYU Has Another Dunker (And Win)
While BYU’s AJ Dybantsa seems to be on a revenge tour for not being named the Big 12 player of the year, he has a teammate that flies nearly as high as he does. And Dominique Diomande got some attention from a Big 12 legend on this dunk in the first half of Wednesday’s second round win over West Virginia.
Meanwhile, Dybantsa had 27 points, seven rebounds and three assists. When he came to the podium after this victory, he remembered to keep his Red Bull out of sight. It became a source of product placement angst for the Big 12 after the game.
It’s product placement 101. If the league doesn’t sponsor it, you can’t have it on the dias with you. I’m sure the folks at Red Bull are thrilled. That’s free media that will live forever.
The Cougars are where I thought they would be after the second round. I felt they were the most likely team to advance out of the first round and into the quarterfinals and they did that. BYU gets Houston on Thursday and that’s going to be a tough game to win. But, I think the Cougars have built up enough momentum for me to feel good about them winning a first-round NCAA Tournament game and, depending on the draw, slipping int the Sweet 16.
A player like Dybantsa cures a lot of deficiencies when you lose one of your top three scorers to injury in February. So can a renewed defensive effort for BYU, which limited West Virginia to 48 points using a simpler approach to assignments, rotations and philosophy, according to head coach Kevin Young.
The Best Game of the Tournament (So Far)
In terms of quality of play, it’s hard to beat the TCU-Oklahoma State game, which ended play on Wednesday night.
Both teams shot 50% or better for most of the game. They combined for just 15 turnovers. Most of the stats in the game were dead even. But, at one point, Oklahoma State led by 10 points and TCU kept chipping away, trying to avoid having OSU become the first No. 14 seed in Big 12 Tournament history to get to the quarterfinals.
One play didn’t win the game. But I felt one play flipped the momentum for TCU. With 5:54 left and down two points, TCU’s Tanner Toolson had a free throw, the second of two. He missed it. But Xavier Edmonds wormed his way around the block out, grabbed the rebound, pivoted around and kicked out a pass to Jayden Pierre, who drained a 3-pointer to give the Horned Frogs the lead, 81-80.
OSU took a timeout and responded right after, but that play seemed to energize TCU more than any play in the second half did. It ignited a 14-8 run to end the game.
“That was a huge energy boost for us,” Toolson said. “He [Xavier] made a huge rebound, Jayden [Pierre] made a huge shot, and it gave us the energy to buck up and play defense for the final six minutes.”
Little effort plays make a different in a tournament like this, especially in a game where statistically the two teams played to a tie.
Toughness is a Necessity
Down nine points with 4:22 to play, UCF coach Johnny Dawkins knew he had to shake up his defense. So, he had his players go into a full court press to try and force some turnovers against Cincinnati — and it worked.
“I thought it disrupted what they were doing,” Dawkins said.
To that point, UCF had a relatively listless first half and the Bearcats were playing like the team that was going to get the chance to play Arizona on Thursday. But, the press flipped the script and the Knights put together an offensive run to tie the game and force overtime.
Perhaps UCF was lucky that Cincinnati coach Wes Miller didn’t get that timeout as soon as he wanted late in regulation. It seems clear he and the Bearcats should have gotten more time at the end of the game.
But Cincinnati also ran a bad offensive set before the timeout and allowed UCF to take control in overtime. If nothing else, playing 18 games in this conference prepared the Knights to make that kind of a comeback. Toughness is a necessity in the Big 12.
“I’ve been in multiple leagues as a player, and as a coach I was in the ACC,” Dawkins said. “As a coach, I was in the old Pac-12. So I’ve been multiple conferences and I’m telling you, from top to bottom, I haven’t seen a conference that is better than this conference right here in college basketball.”
Hilton South Activated
The Iowa State Cyclones showed up for their second-round game with the Arizona State Sun Devils in the late morning slot and it wasn’t exactly a “Hilton South” atmosphere. At least not what I’m used to. For those fans in Ames who were saving their powder for Thursday, the Power and Light District welcomes you with open arms. So do the Big 12 record books, as the margin of victory was the biggest in Big 12 Tournament history.
The Cyclones’ game with Arizona State wasn’t much of a game. ISU was up 45-16 at halftime. At one point the Cyclones shot six straight free throws after a flagrant one foul and two technical fouls on ASU, one of which was on coach Bobby Hurley (naturally). The Sun Devils that looked re-charged in February finally ran out of energy.
That was probably fine by coach T.J. Otzelberger. He was able to rest starters in the second half and begin to calibrate for Texas Tech on Thursday. All along, one of the league’s five ranked teams was going to have to play in the second round. I didn’t think it would end up being Iowa State. Even just a couple of weeks ago I thought the Cyclones would get the double bye. But, if you’re a believer in momentum over rest, perhaps this helps Iowa State on Thursday as it faces a Red Raiders team with an extra day on the shelf.
And if you think you have problems. The GlassFloor here at the Big 12 Tournament won’t allow Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson to use his Ja Morant kicks. He did a little too much slipping and sliding in the first half for his taste. Add that to the nay pile on the floor.
