Big 12 Sports Blog by Big 12 Fans

BAYLOR 100, MISSOURI 89: Bears rally from double-digit deficit, defeat Tigers 100-89 for third straight Big 12 victory

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – With the second half nearing the 14 minute mark, the Baylor Bears found themselves down by 13 points at home against the Missouri Tigers when Head Coach Scott Drew called a timeout.

At that time, the Bears men’s basketball team was down 69-56 with 14:16 remaining – before making the run they needed to deadlock the game, and eventually win the contest.

“This team, we have been through so much we were just thinking in our heads that there is just too much time left,” Baylor junior forward Kevin Rogers said. “Early leads mean nothing. We were able to come out and execute and play how we know how to play. Any lead is easy to break into, we just need to slow ourselves down and get back to the basics and get stops and score.”

Shortly thereafter, Baylor (20-8, 8-6 Big 12) did just that – clawing past prior problems by pressing the opponents in the backcourt, playing daunting team defense and garnering sharp shooting from the Bears gifted guards – to pull off an 11-point victory, 100-89, against Missouri (15-14, 5-9).

The BU guards, proving throughout the season that they can and will successfully survive by making a high percentage of their shots from beyond the arc, went on a patented Bears run – scoring 14 unanswered behind consecutive three-pointers by LaceDarius Dunn to give Baylor a 70-69 lead with 9:13 remaining in the game.

“We wanted to make [Saturday’s match-up with Missouri] exciting,” Drew said. “The team showed their togetherness and heart. In the second half, being down and finding a way to win is a sign of a team with experience, good leadership and a lot of courage.”

The Bears and Tigers were tied, 77-77 with 6:34 left, prior to Baylor’s senior Mamadou Diene – scoring a season-high 10 points – and Rogers stepping up offensively with back-to-back baskets to put the Bears on top for good.

“Our whole team knew the importance of this game,” Drew said. “Give a lot of credit to Missouri, they played a great game. Defensively, we just weren’t very sharp for 25 minutes of the game. In the last 15 minutes we did a much better job blocking out.”

Blocking out, or lack thereof, was one of the main reasons behind the Bears allowing the Tigers to take a big lead and remain in the fight – although Baylor finally managed to pull together and deadlock Missouri in team rebounding with 41 apiece.

“We played with effort,” Baylor sophomore guard Tweety Carter said. “The first half we came out and we didn’t look like we had the energy defensively. Starting with me, I wasn’t energetic out there like I normally am until the second half. It has to be a 40 minute thing, so we have to continue to get better at that.”

With that being said, the Bears did what was necessary to pick up a much-needed win on a day filled with upsets – including a Texas A&M blowout loss at Oklahoma and a Texas loss to Texas Tech – to give the BU basketball team their 20^th win of the season, as well as their third straight conference victory.

“Nationally, people look at a 20-win season as a pretty big deal,” Drew said. “That is why when a team can reach a 20-win season, it is something to obviously be proud of. At the same time, I don’t think anyone says that they just want to win 20 [regular season games], and the good thing is we have a lot of basketball left.”

For Baylor’s Carter and company, the credit goes to God – as well as teamwork.

“You have to give credit to God for bringing us together,” Carter said. “A lot of us had other opportunities to go to other schools and play for other coaches; when Coach Drew recruited us, he told us that one day it would be a special day for us at Baylor. We need to continue to get better. [Our current 20-8 season] is a great start for us, but we just need to continue to get better.”

The Baylor big men, primarily Diene and Rogers, played a significant role in the victory – especially during the Bears second half rally as the home team’s forwards/centers came through in the clutch.

“Well I think our bigs always have an impact on the game with the standpoint that a lot of times they create advantages with their screens and their play,” Drew said. “I thought [in Saturday’s game against the Tigers] they did a great job finishing and scoring inside.”

Forward Delbert Simpson, a junior transfer from Tyler Junior College, scored a career high in both scoring and blocks while coming off the bench – netting 10 points to go along with six rebounds and two blocks on Saturday afternoon at the Ferrell Center.

“It was a great day for me, but a better day for our team,” Simpson said. “I contributed to the team where I feel like I could help out today. I want to win, and the team wants to win. We are a family.”

Baylor’s hoops family also did a phenomenal job of hitting the glass and blocking out late in the second half after a dismal first half left the Bears in a halftime deficit.

“That [second half rebounding] was a major thing,” Simpson said. “With this game in particular, we had to come in and hit the boards to be victorious.”

For the Bears, seven players hit double-digits in scoring – including Henry Dugat (18), Carter (17), Dunn (16), Curtis Jerrells (14), Rogers (12), Diene (10) and Simpson (10) – as the Baylor guards once again came to the rescue.

“They’ve got quick guards; actually I think they’ve got the best guards we have played all year,” Missouri junior forward Lee Lyons, who led the Tigers with 22 points and 15 rebounds, said. “They [Baylor’s guards] are quick, and they can shoot the ball. So you really can’t guard them. In my opinion, I think they are the best guards in the Big 12.”

Rogers also picked up his 12^th double-double of the season on Saturday, and his fifth straight, muscling in 12 points while pulling down 12 boards as Baylor picked up their first 20-win season since 1987-88 – a season that saw the Bears break into the postseason NCAA Tournament.

Currently (as of March 2), the Baylor men’s basketball team is tied for third place with Kansas State with 8-6 records in Big 12 standings – with the Bears owning the tie-breaker if the teams are deadlocked by season’s end – while the Aggies, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech battle it out for fifth.

The Bears final two regular season challenges come this week – a home date with Texas A&M on Wednesday, March 5 at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2, and a road game against Texas Tech on Saturday, March 8 at 12:45 p.m. CT on ESPN Plus – as Baylor aims to finish the season on a strong note with a postseason invite on the line…

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

MISSOURI-BAYLOR PREVIEW: Bears, Tigers set to claw it out on the hardwood Saturday afternoon in Waco

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – Baylor (19-8, 7-6 Big 12) hits the Ferrell Center hardwood on Saturday afternoon, March 1 with back-to-back victories in their rearview mirror, battling Big 12 rival Missouri (15-13, 5-8) in a game slated to tipoff at 3 p.m. CT.

Saturday afternoon’s match-up between the Bears and Tigers is scheduled to be broadcast live on ESPN Plus (KWTX and “The CW” in Waco, Temple and Bryan areas), with Fred White and Bob Sundvold calling the action.

Scott Drew’s Bears are coming off a 68-57 victory over Colorado on Wednesday evening, Feb. 27 in Boulder – the team’s first win in the Rocky Mountains since the Big 12’s inception – and aim for win number 20 of the season on Saturday.

Missouri, meanwhile, fell at home to Oklahoma State in a two-point thriller, 75-73 on Tuesday night, Feb. 26.

After the MU-BU showdown on Saturday afternoon, Baylor has two games remaining in conference play – a rematch with Texas A&M, this time at home, and a road trip to Lubbock to face Texas Tech in the regular season finale.

On Wednesday, March 5, the Aggies will travel to Waco for a battle with the Bears at the Ferrell Center and is slated to tipoff at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2; also, the epic five-overtime Baylor victory at Reed Arena will finally be broadcast on national television when ESPN Classic airs the marathon game at 5 p.m. prior to the start of the rematch.

The BU men’s basketball team concludes Big 12 play on Saturday, March 8 at Texas Tech – where the Bears aim to finish strong before the annual conference tournament, March 13-16 in Kansas City, in hopes of a postseason invite to the NCAA Tourney.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

Baylor ends skid, knocks off Kansas State at rowdy Ferrell Center

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – The Baylor Bears men’s basketball team is back on track.

And Head Coach Scott Drew couldn’t be happier about his young team’s terrific turnaround.

After dropping four straight conference contests, Baylor (18-8, 6-6) used a solid second half surge in a 92-86 come-from-behind victory over Kansas State (18-8, 8-4) on Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Ferrell Center.

“After the last two press conferences, this one’s a lot more enjoyable for our coaching staff and players,” Drew said. “I’m very proud of the team effort. We did a great job in the second half holding them to 37 percent [shooting], and then us only missing two free throws and shooting a high percentage at 58 percent, where we really moved the ball and took high-percentage shots. Much needed win; it feels great.”

Saturday’s win comes at a good time for the Big 12’s Bears, pulling BU into a four-way tie for fourth place after both Kansas and Texas A&M fell on a college hardwood day filled with upsets.

“I really felt that down the stretch, everybody made big plays,” Drew said. “I was also very pleased because I know how tough the last couple of games have been, not only on our players, but also on our fans, and it was great to see them be rewarded after a couple of sleepless nights as well.”

Curtis Jerrells led the way for Baylor, netting 24 points and dishing out seven assists in the Bears six-point win over the No. 24 Wildcats.

“I can assure you, I stepped up to the free throw line for the first time, and I saw OU players and OU fans, and I kind of couldn’t put it past me,” Jerrells said. “Kool [LaceDarius Dunn] here, he kind of got into me when I was shooting those last ones. I told him he kind of ticked me off, but he did what he had to do to make me mad and to make me not miss, so that was a good job.

“My teammates did a good job of picking me up, [along with] my family, my friends and coach. I really wanted to blame myself for it, but those guys picked me up and put me over the hump.”

Four of Jerrells’ teammates also hit double figures in scoring, with Kevin Rogers (18 points and 10 rebounds), LaceDarius Dunn (16 points, seven rebounds and two steals), Tweety Carter (12 points and three assists) and Aaron Bruce (11 points) all chipping in as Baylor ended a four-game Big 12 skid.

“We still have a couple of games left, so I don’t want to talk too soon and say something out of line,” Rogers said. “We just came out and played as a team today and did some things that we weren’t doing in those last two games, and fortunately we came out with a victory.”

Baylor fell behind early before a hot shooting streak briefly put the Bears on top, but shortly thereafter BU lost some momentum as the Kansas State Wildcats took a 44-38 lead into halftime.

“That’s the reason that we did what we did in the offseason; for the last five minutes of games, to try to close those things out because we lost so many close ones last year,” Rogers said. “In a game like this, that offseason work really paid off.”

The second half was all Baylor, as the Bears battled back from a short-lived deficit and regained control of a must-win game against a very talented Wildcats basketball team – as Kansas State’s Michael Beasley set a new conference record with 44 points to go along with 13 rebounds.

“I don’t know if there’s a better two-man performance that I’ve seen personally than what Beasley and [Bill] Walker put on, but the big thing that I look at is our bench,” Drew said. “Our bench had 32 points and their bench had five, so again it was a great team effort.

“The other thing is that I thought we did a very good job on the boards considering that they’re so good on the boards. Kevin [Rogers] had 10, LaceDarius [Dunn] had seven, and I think we did a very good job limiting them to not as many boards as they normally get.”

Kansas State’s Walker added 31 points for the Wildcats – as he and teammate Beasley contributed to a majority of the KSU scoring.

“All week coach’s been talking about playing as a team, and when we went into halftime, those two guys were beating us by themselves,” Jerrells said. “It takes a team, and you see that we had five guys in double figures, and we just outplayed them as a team tonight.”

The Bears next challenge comes on Wednesday, Feb. 27, as Baylor travels to Colorado to face the Buffalos in an effort to gain ground in the race for a postseason birth.

“Every game is big in the Big 12,” Drew said. “Every game matters, and we’re just going to focus one at a time.”

Baylor’s match-up with Colorado on Wednesday is slated to tip off at 8:30 p.m. and will be televised live (locally) on FSN Southwest.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

SPORTS ADDICT: The real reason OU beat BU in Norman is due to awful officiating and straight-up cheating…Commentary by Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – I have never in my life seen as much unsportsmanlike conduct by a team as was exhibited by the Oklahoma Sooners against the Baylor Bears on Tuesday evening, Feb. 19 in Norman, Okla.

On top of that, I honestly don’t think I have a seen a more one-sided officiated game as called by the Big 12 trio of Steve Welmer, Mark Whitehead and Curtis Shaw.

In my opinion, those three should be fined, fired and never allowed to officiate another game as long as they live.

Yes, the Bears may have now lost four straight.

But at least they can say they didn’t cheat to get to where they are today.

And, they literally did everything in their power to make it a game on Tuesday night on the road – forcing overtime before a ridiculous call came against Baylor’s Aaron Bruce with 7.3 seconds left in OT after a made three-pointer by OU gave the Sooners a chance to take the lead at the free throw line.

First of all, Bruce never touched the Oklahoma player shooting the three; in fact, not a single part of his body touched the Sooner taking the shot.

Secondly, the “fight” that occurred earlier in the game was started – no doubt about it – by Oklahoma.

Yet two Baylor players – Mark Shepherd, who left with a laceration above his eye and trouble breathing after being put in a full-nelson by Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin prior to throwing an elbow in Griffin’s direction to get the OU forward to let him go, and Richard Hurd, who apparently was tossed for standing up for his teammate, were ejected after the skirmish with just one, an ASSISTANT COACH, being ejected for OU.

Unbelievable.

In addition, the Bears were whistled for 33 fouls compared to 23 fouls called on the Sooners – with OU outscoring BU at the charity stripe 28-17 (37 attempts for Oklahoma, 23 attempts for Baylor).

For those looking at the final box score for Oklahoma’s win over Baylor, they will find the sheet full of lies – two BU players were tossed from the game for so-called flagrant fouls while no OU players were ejected (the “official” box score has no Baylor players ejected, but those watching the game on television know that is not the case).

The NCAA needs to be held accountable for these actions.

First, their officials call an awful game – through the first half, second half and especially in overtime.

Secondly, it appears to me as though the NCAA now wants to cover this whole thing up by not mentioning anything about this incident in the official box score.

Also, the officials REVIEWED the skirmish before ejecting the two BU players – did they just decided to ignore what they saw and only punish Baylor?

Either way, it’s unreal and unfair.

The Big 12 and the NCAA need to look into this matter – and fast.

Baylor shouldn’t have lost in OU – and Sooner fans can say all they want about Curtis Jerrells being whistled for a foul in the lane with one second left and a chance to win the game for BU.

It never should have come down to that.

> Find Big 12 gear including Baylor hats & merchandise and Oklahoma Sooners apparel online through Big12-fans.com!

Bruce never fouled the OU shooter on the other end and the game should have been tied at 91; we should have played another five minutes of overtime.

Instead, the officials handed the Sooners a 92-91 Big 12 win – propelling the Oklahoma basketball team, albeit by cheating, into a two-way tie for fourth place with Texas A&M.

Let’s even go back towards the beginning of the game, when Oklahoma had a steal that led to a fast break the other way.

Have you ever, in your entire life of watching college hoops, seen a teammate showboat by tossing the ball off the glass as an “alley-oop” of sorts to setup a thunderous slam?

In my opinion, definitely should have been whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The sad thing is that not only was it not called unsportsmanlike, but OU head coach Jeff Capel appears to applaud the unsportsmanlike play of his players.

I guess that shouldn’t surprise me coming from Capel, a guy who loves to think of himself as a mini-god in college hoops…

Grow up, Capel – learn to win the right way, not by showboating and cheating.

The Oklahoma basketball team, coaching staff and the trio of officials who called Tuesday night’s game should all be investigated.

And if any wrongdoings are uncovered, they should all be severely punished.

The Bears are back in NCAA basketball, I guarantee you.

It’s just impossible to win games if the officials are going to cheat the entire time – from the opening tip to the 7.3-second mark in overtime.

Coach Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears basketball team deserve an apology and a win.

Unfortunately, I doubt they will receive either as the NCAA would rather pretend this never occurred than to actually do something about their terrible officiating crew.

If this is how Baylor games are going to be called the rest of the season, we’ll never win again.

But I’m not about to watch my Bears go down in flames due to cheating.

Wake up, NCAA – Baylor deserves, at the very least, sportsmanlike respect.

And, OU better get their heads out of their exits-only before they become so wrapped up in themselves that they think the world has come to an end and that they are all little deities led by mini-god Capel…

No matter how you slice it, the Sooners are a stuck-up bunch of jerks – and you can tell they learned it from the man at the helm, none other than Mr. Capel himself.

I just can’t wait until my Bears get revenge come Big 12 tourney time.

My only hope, and prayer, is that the same officiating crew won’t be hitting the hardwood come March…

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

OKLAHOMA 92, BAYLOR 91: Bears drops awfully officiated game to Sooners, fall by one in OTBy Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – The Baylor Bears couldn’t find a way to outmuscle the awful calls and unsportsmanlike play of the Oklahoma Sooners, eventually falling in overtime at the Lloyd Noble Center, 92-91.

Leave no doubt – the Bears were robbed of a road win in this one.

After battling back from awful calls by the officials, unsportsmanlike play by OU and a 10-point halftime deficit, the Bears were ultimately robbed by the trio of men in stripes when it mattered most – in overtime with Baylor up big.

Yet somehow, Oklahoma walked off the court on Tuesday night with a W.

Albeit cheating, the Sooners came out on top in a one-point heartbreaking, irritating, nerve racking, throw everything-but-the-dog-at-the-TV evening.

It’s unreal, but Oklahoma is now tied for fourth place in the Big 12 while Baylor drops to one game under .500 at 5-6 in conference play.

Cheating might not be the best word to describe the night.

Unsportsmanlike works better.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel applauds unsportsmanlike play – and it shows with his players attitudes on the court.

> Find Big 12 gear including Baylor apparel & clothing and Oklahoma Sooners hats & merchandise online through Big12-fans.com!

First, there was the off-the-backboard slam dunk on a breakaway steal.

Then, there was the “skirmish” where OU’s star forward put Mark Shepherd in a full-nelson choke hold before Shepherd reacted by throwing an elbow in the direction of Blake Griffin – only to result in two BU players being ejected and just one Sooner, an assistant coach, being tossed from the game.

And last but not least, there was Capel – urging his home crowd to stand and continue applauding after an opposing player’s miss at the free throw line with one more still to come, something I had never seen happen in NCAA basketball until tonight in Norman.

Unsportsmanlike is the perfect word to describe why and how OU defeated BU, but unfortunately all that really matters is a team’s record.

The Bears can still climb back out of the mini-hole the officials dug for them; it’s just going to take a lot of heart to rise out from the ashes after this evening’s terribly-called game.

As far as final stats are concerned, Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin led the Sooners with 29 points and 15 rebounds while Baylor was led by Curtis Jerrells, who racked up 29 points, four assists and two steals.

As a team, Baylor shot 50.8 percent from the field (32-of-63) and hit 17-of-23 from the free throw line (73.9 percent); Oklahoma, meanwhile, shot 47.4 percent from the field (27-of-57) and drained 28-of-37 from the charity stripe (75.7 percent).

The Bears were also whistled for 33 fouls on the night and had 16 turnovers, compared to the Sooners’ 23 fouls called against them and 14 turnovers.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

Bears tip off against Sooners tonight at OU, seek to end three-game slide

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Bears Correspondent

WACO, Texas – Tonight at 7 p.m. CT, the Baylor Bears (17-7 overall, 5-5 Big 12) shoot to end a three-game losing streak in conference play when they tip off against the Oklahoma Sooners (17-8, 5-5).

The Big 12 showdown will be broadcast live on ESPN Plus (The “CW” in Waco, Temple and Bryan), with Bob Carpenter and Paul Splittorff calling the action from the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.

According to BU big man Kevin Rogers, despite the Bears recent three-game slide, the Baylor men’s basketball team’s confidence is still up.

“It [our confidence] is definitely still up,” Rogers said. “We can’t let a couple of games get us down because there’s still plenty of season left to go. We can only take things from [the Texas] game and learn from them and hope we get better before we play Oklahoma.”

Baylor dropped their last conference match-up, a home game at the Ferrell Center against the University of Texas, in a five-point heartbreaker after battling back in the game’s final seconds.

“From a coach’s standpoint, we did a great job coming back,” Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew said. “I was proud of the team’s effort to give ourselves a chance to get a win down the stretch. I credit Texas for making big plays.

“I told the guys in shoot-around that this program’s back to a point now where you have ESPN, you have the largest crowd in the school’s history, and you’ve got a chance to beat a top-10 program.”

Drew is exactly right.

Since Drew’s arrival in Waco nearly five years ago, the Baylor basketball program has gone from zero to hero – hanging with some of the best teams in the nation this season while finally beginning to get the recognition they deserve after taking a program from the ashes and creating an NCAA Tourney-bound team.

“This has been a tough week, and you’ve got to be above .500 in the league to normally get to the NCAA [Tournament],” Drew said. “We’re going to get five or six teams in, and our goal is to be in the top half so that we’re in that position.

“I don’t think we played well at Oklahoma State, but I think we played better [against Texas]. Over the last two years we’ve finished very strong, and I look for us to get on a roll pretty shortly here.”

Beginning tonight in Norman, the Bears’ hoops team will hopefully heed the words of their head coach as they face an OU team riding a two-game winning streak after defeating Texas Tech, 66-64, on Saturday (Feb. 16) in Lubbock.

A win tonight would push Baylor into a two-way tie for fourth place after Texas A&M was blown out last night (Feb. 18) in Austin, falling by 27 points to the Longhorns on ESPN Big Monday.

In just a few short hours, we’ll have a little better idea of who’s who in the Big 12 Conference… although a majority of our questions (postseason births, etc.) will still have to wait until March’s madness to be answered.

Check back tonight after the BU-OU match-up for post game quotes, notes, stats and more…

Game Notes

In addition to hopes and prayers of ending a three-game slide in the Big 12, the Bears also aim to end a 27-game losing streak against the Sooners – dating back to a 75-69 win at OU on Dec. 6, 1977.

On a happier note for Bears fans, Baylor’s 5-5 conference start matches its best ever in Big 12 play after opening the 1997-98 season (my freshman year at BU) with a 5-5 mark.

Also, Baylor’s 17 wins this year surpasses last season’s win total and is the most since Drew inherited the program (additionally, its the most wins since 2000-01, when the Bears won 19 games and received a postseason birth in the NIT tournament).

In conference play, Baylor leads the Big 12 in scoring (81.4 points per game), free throw shooting (78.1 percent) and three-pointers (8.0 threes per game).

With three more wins, Drew (53 victories with the Bears) will move into seventh place on Baylor’s career coaching victories list; also, if BU guard Curtis Jerrells (1,051 career points) can put up 11 or more points tonight on the road, he will move him into 15^th place on Baylor’s career scoring list.

Aaron Bruce could also join the Bears’ top-10 milestones list as well – with Bruce (309 assists) needing just five more assists to move into fourth place on Baylor’s career assists list and needing just 66 more points to move into sixth place on BU’s all-time scoring leaders (Bruce currently has 1,294 career points).

In addition, Bruce (129 threes) is just three three-pointers shy of moving into sixth place in the Big 12’s career three-pointers in conference games list, while freshman LaceDarius Dunn (56 threes) is just three three-pointer shy of moving into second place on Baylor’s freshman three-pointers list (Tweety Carter is currently third with 57 in 2007 and John Lucas III is second with 59 in 2002).

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

BIG 12 MEN’S BASKETBALL UPDATE (Feb. 18, 2008): Aggies, Horns face off tonight in Lone Star Shootout

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter /Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – It’s been a busy week in Big 12 men’s basketball action, with Kansas, Texas and Kansas State currently sitting amongst the elite in the conference.

This past week saw Texas upend Kansas in Austin on Monday before a major road win for Oklahoma State over Texas A&M on Saturday has the Cowboys riding a two-game winning streak.

Then, there was this weekend’s barn-burner in Waco – as the Bears battled back in the final few minutes to give the Horns quite a scare before Texas narrowly escaped with a five-point victory.

One of the biggest games of the week tips off tonight, Feb. 18, with the Aggies traveling to Austin for a Lone Star Shootout against the Longhorns at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

On Tuesday, Feb. 19, Baylor will travel to Oklahoma as the Bears aim to end a three-game slide against the Sooners – tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and will be televised locally on ESPN Plus.

Two Big 12 games hit the hardwood on Wednesday, Feb. 20, with Texas Tech traveling to Colorado for an 8 p.m. match-up (not televised) and Kansas State facing Nebraska on the road at 8 p.m. (ESPN2).

Big 12 men’s basketball action returns three days later, with six games scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 23 – Iowa State at Texas Tech (12:30 p.m., ESPN Plus), Oklahoma at Texas (2:30 p.m., ABC), Kansas at Oklahoma State (3 p.m., CBS), Nebraska at Texas A&M (3 p.m., ESPN Plus), Colorado at Missouri (7 p.m., not televised) and Kansas State at Baylor (7 p.m., not televised).

Current Conference Standings (02.18.08)

                        Big 12              Overall             National Ranking (ESPN)

Kansas             9-2                   24-2                 5

Texas               8-2                   21-4                 7

Kansas State    8-2                   18-6                 25

Texas A&M     6-4                   20-5                 22

Baylor              5-5                   17-7                 –

Oklahoma        5-5                   17-8                 –

Texas Tech       4-6                   13-11               –

Iowa State        4-7                   14-12               –

Missouri           4-7                   14-12               –

Ok. State         4-7                   13-12               –

Nebraska         3-7                   14-9                 –

Colorado          2-8                   10-14               –

Standings Scenarios

With a Texas win over A&M on Monday, plus a Kansas State win over Nebraska on Wednesday – both highly likely – the Big 12 will have a three-way tie for first place (Kansas, Texas, Kansas State).

In addition, if Baylor can beat Oklahoma on Tuesday on top of an Aggie loss in Austin, the Bears will move into a two-way tie for fourth place with Texas A&M.

Conference Notes

According to RPI ratings, six Big 12 teams are in the top 42 (Kansas: 5, Texas: 6, Kansas State: 30, Oklahoma: 33, Texas A&M: 39, and Baylor: 42), including two in the top six.

In addition, five of the six Big 12 games played on Saturday, Feb. 16, were sellouts – with the league currently on pace to surpass 2.2 million fans for the second straight season, after never reaching the 2-million mark prior to that time.

Weekly Awards

Weekly award winners for the Big 12 were announced on Monday, Feb. 18 – with this week’s player of the week honors going to Oklahoma State’s Byron Eaton and rookie of the week honors going to Kansas State’s Michael Beasley.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

Baylor Battles Back, Falls 82-77 To No. 11 Texas In Big 12 Thriller

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter

WACO, Texas — By the time all was said and done, the No. 11 Texas Longhorns (21-4 overall, 8-2 Big 12) escaped Waco with a narrow 82-77 victory over the Baylor Bears (17-7, 5-5) on Saturday evening, Feb. 16 at the Ferrell Center.

With the largest crowd in the gold dome’s history on hand to watch and support the Bears, the Baylor hoops team gave them something to cheer about – despite the final outcome.

“I give credit to two things [on being able to make a run in the final minutes],” Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew said. “Our players showed a lot of heart and a lot of character, and our fans gave us a chance to be in that situation.”

After falling behind 74-61 with 3:39 remaining, the BU basketball team made a remarkable run – cutting the Texas lead to 76-72, with 1:05 left in regulation, after back-to-back threes by LaceDarius Dunn and Henry Dugat.

Shortly thereafter, a Texas miss and a Baylor drive to the basket cut the Horns lead to 76-74 as the Bears’ house erupted.

“From a coach’s standpoint, we did a great job coming back,” Drew said. “I was proud of the team’s effort to give ourselves a chance to get a win down the stretch. I credit Texas for making big plays.

“I told the guys in shoot-around that this program’s back to a point now where you have ESPN, you have the largest crowd in the school’s history, and you’ve got a chance to beat a top-10 program.”

Drew’s Bears did just that – giving themselves a fighting chance after a Texas turnover with 58 seconds left gave the ball back to Baylor.

However, upon regaining possession, Curtis Jerrells was whistled for an offensive foul – with BU’s junior guard fouling out of the game after picking up his fifth personal with 41.8 seconds remaining in regulation.

“They [the Baylor basketball team] have come a long way in a short period of time, and in the last two games where we’ve been over-excited to play, Arkansas and Texas, we didn’t start off shooting the ball very well,” Drew said. “[Shooting] 1-for-17 in the first half [against Texas] doesn’t get it done against a top-10 team, but we played good enough defense and rebounded well enough to give ourselves a chance in the second half.

“The irony is that when the offense came on in the second half the defense shut off. We’ve just got to get them both at the same time.”

With Texas taking a 77-74 lead after hitting one of two from the charity stripe, Tweety Carter answered with a driving layup to make it 77-76 with just under 30 ticks left in the game.

“We haven’t given up all year and I didn’t expect us to give up,” Drew said. “We like to play fast and Texas starting slowing down in the second half and did a good job milking that lead.

“We had to start pressuring and try to create something else, and we were able to get some momentum after we made a couple of shots. They missed some free throws which gave us a chance.”

The Ferrell Center’s crowd roared to life on the ensuing play after a poor inbounds pass by Texas led to a quick turnover – with BU retaining possession and down just one with 28.4 seconds remaining.

Then, the unthinkable happened. Senior Aaron Bruce, a veteran to the game of basketball pretty much since birth, made a big mistake – signaling for an untimely timeout with Baylor having none remaining, resulting in a technical foul against the Bears.

“I don’t think it [the technical] drew any life out of us because he hit one free throw and he missed one,” Rogers said. “We just didn’t make the play to come out with the victory.”

As Rogers mentioned, Texas hit only one of two from the line - once again giving Baylor a chance to tie or take the lead with BU down by just two, 78-76, with the ball in the Bears’ hands.

Bruce quickly made up for his poor decision making on the prior play, making a beautiful drive to the basket before kicking the ball out to an open Dunn – who barely missed a three-point shot that would have given Baylor the lead – before a foul by Kevin Rogers sent Texas to the line for two shots with 20.5 ticks left on the game clock.

“Where I was pleased with Aaron (Bruce) is that he made a mistake, but he didn’t let that one mistake turn into two,” Drew said. “He came back and made a great drive and dished off to LaceDarius (Dunn), who was our best shooter tonight by far. There’s no one you’d rather have with a wide-open shot in that situation. I was proud that Aaron came back after that.”

With the crowd standing to their feet and screaming near the top of their lungs for a Texas miss from the free throw line, UT’s D.J. Augustin hit only one of two to give the Horns a 79-76 lead – and Baylor, amazingly, had another chance to tie the game if the Bears’ could find their touch from long range.

“At the end of the game we didn’t get it done from the free throw line and we made it a lot harder than it had to be,” Texas Head Coach Rick Barnes said. “With the pressure that they applied and the turnovers that they forced, you have to give Baylor credit for that.”

A late whistle on a Carter drive in the lane on the ensuing BU possession put the sophomore guard at the line for a pair of free throws with 16.1 seconds left. Carter used all of the basket’s iron to make the first shot from the stripe before missing the second as UT pulled down the rebound.

Texas‘ Augustin then calmly drained a clutch pair of free throws in front of a loud and rowdy BU home crowd, giving the Horns a two-possession lead at 81-77.

“I think over the past few years that we have played Baylor, they have showed that they are never out of the game,” UT guard Justin Mason said. “We haven’t really beaten [Baylor] that badly recently, so we know they are never out of the game.”

After both Carter and Bruce, after a BU offensive rebound, missed desperation three-pointers on the other end, Baylor was again forced to foul Augustin – this time with only 1.1 seconds left and the Bears in a hole too big to climb out of.

“Baylor is a great team,” Augustin said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game coming in. We need to win every road game that we get. This was a great win for us, and we give a lot of credit for Baylor.”

Augustin hit the back end of two from the line before Carter’s half-court heave nearly dropped - bouncing off the back iron – as the Bears lost a home court heartbreaker, 82-77.

“Any time you make a run like that you expect to win,” Carter said. “Texas missed some free throws, and we had a lot of opportunities to win the game, but we just didn’t pull it off.”

According to Rogers, despite the trio of conference losses the team’s confidence level hasn’t dipped as the Bears prepare to face the Sooners on Tuesday night at OU.

“It [our confidence] is definitely still up,” Rogers said. “We can’t let a couple of games get us down because there’s still plenty of season left to go. We can only take things from this game and learn from them and hope we get better before we play Oklahoma.”

The Bears still have plenty of time to regain momentum, with six games remaining in the highly competitive conference before the Big 12 tournament tips off March 13 in Kansas City, Mo.

“This has been a tough week, and you’ve got to be above .500 in the league to normally get to the NCAA [Tournament],” Drew said. “We’re going to get five or six teams in, and our goal is to be in the top half so that we’re in that position.

“I don’t think we played well at Oklahoma State, but I think we played better tonight. Over the last two years we’ve finished very strong, and I look for us to get on a roll pretty shortly here.”

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

Bears Drop Heartbreaker To Horns, Falls 82-77 At Ferrell Center
By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter

WACO, Texas — Unfortunately for the Big 12’s green and gold, the Baylor Bears (17-7 overall, 5-5 Big 12) have now dropped three straight conference games.

On Saturday, Feb. 16 at the BU Ferrell Center, Baylor fell to No. 11 Texas (21-4, 8-2) in a home court heartbreaker - battling back for an unprecedented run with a little over 3:30 remaining - dropping an 82-77 decision under the Bears’ gold dome.

After shooting just under 24 percent in the first half, while going 1-for-17 from long range in that same stretch, Baylor hit seven three-pointers in the second half while draining 60 percent of their shots from the field (18-for-30).

LaceDarius Dunn and Henry Dugat led the BU hoops team in scoring, with both players putting up 19 points apiece in the Bears loss to the Longhorns.

Also scoring in double-figures for Baylor was Kevin Rogers (12 points), Curtis Jerrells (11) and Tweety Carter (11).

Damion James led the charge for UT, netting 19 points as Texas held on for another Big 12 victory to improve the Horns’ conference mark to 8-2.

Check back within the next hour or so for postgame analysis, quotes from coach Scott Drew and the Baylor basketball team, as well as final stats from tonight’s match-up…

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

No. 11 Texas Holds On For 82-77 Victory Over Baylor
By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter

WACO, Texas — It seems as though the Texas Longhorns had an answer for everything the Baylor Bears did.

Despite a remarkable run, with BU rattling off six straight points in a matter of seconds, the Bears fell to the Horns on Saturday evening, Feb. 16, at the Ferrell Center.

In front of a sold out and rowdy home crowd - the largest in the arena’s history - Baylor made a big comeback late, only to fall 82-77.

With the Bears down just one, 77-76 with 28.4 seconds remaining in regulation, Baylor’s Aaron Bruce called an untimely timeout - as BU was out of timeouts when he signaled to the officials for the call.

Due to Bruce’s momentary lapse of reason, Texas went to the other end for two free throws - with A.J. Abrams missing the second and the Horns on top 78-76.

However, LaceDarius Dunn missed a quick three for BU - forcing the home team to foul down the stretch as Texas hung on for a victory in Waco, defeating Baylor 82-77.

Check back soon for postgame quotes, notes and more…

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com