All season long we have anticipated big things from the wall-to-wall second day of basketball at the Big 12 Tournament, and for the most part, Thursday’s action in Kansas City did not disappoint. The afternoon session featured two largely competitive games and the evening session featured the crown jewel of the conference tournament up to this point: Iowa State‘s last-second win over Texas. Here is some of the good, bad and ugly from the Cyclones’ thrilling victory as well Oklahoma‘s neutral-site Bedlam win over Oklahoma State.

Monte Morris certainly deserved to be carried off the floor after sinking Texas (USA Today Sports).

The Good.

• Iowa State’s Resilience. The Cyclones are developing a habit lately of playing with fire. There was the eight-point halftime hole they dug themselves into against TCU followed by the 19-point halftime deficit they faced against Oklahoma. Each time the Cyclones were able to battle back and win those games behind explosive second halves, and last night was more of the same for Fred Hoiberg. Texas essentially held a double-figure lead until the final four minutes when Iowa State used pressure-induced turnovers to start their run. Are these come-from-behind wins exciting? Certainly. Are they sustainable? Probably not. Georges Niang acknowledged the importance of avoiding these holes in his postgame press conference. “It’s a mental aspect. We really just got to come in and really respect our opponent and come in with a locked-in mind to run our stuff and defend against their stuff.” Iowa State has concrete reasons to believe that it can come back from any deficit it faces, but I’m guessing Hoiberg would prefer that his team no longer need to draw on those experiences.

• Big 12 Tournament Legacies. Monte Morris‘ game-winning jumper is now cemented in Iowa State lore. Pulling that play off to cap a dramatic comeback in front of a packed house of Cyclones’ fans is about as memorable as it can get. Le’Bryan Nash also had a memorable performance in his final Big 12 contest. The senior scored more than half of Oklahoma State’s points (27) in the Cowboys’ loss to Oklahoma. Nash was the only player who could get anything going for Oklahoma State, and while his great night came in a losing effort, it was emblematic of the leadership role that he has grown into during his four years in Stillwater.

The Bad.

It’ll be a long wait until Sunday for Travis Ford and Oklahoma State (Mark D. Smith/US Presswire).

• That Feeling in Texas and Oklahoma State’s Stomachs. It won’t be a comfortable wait until Sunday for either Travis Ford or Rick Barnes’ teams. Texas and Oklahoma State both held halftime leads in games that could have served to lock up NCAA Tournament bids, but second half letdowns has resulted in them sitting on edge until the words roll off Greg Gumbel’s tongue in about 60 hours (nice imagery, right?). Which team has the better case? Texas is just 3-11 against the RPI top 50 but is at least somewhat trending in the right direction, having won three of their last four games. Oklahoma State has the opposite problem. The Cowboys are on a downturn, having lost six of their last seven games, but are a more respectable 6-8 against the RPI top 50. Is this a case of you say tomato, I say, well, tomato? Or will the Selection Committee value a recent string of improved play more than a less-accomplished overall resume? These are questions that both teams could have put to bed but they’ll now have to wait on, like the rest of us.
• Overall Offense in Bedlam. It was tough to watch a large portion of the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State nightcap. The Sooners came out ice cold, shooting just 23.3 percent in the first half. The Cowboys weren’t much better, shooting 34.5 percent for the game and getting just nine field goals from players other than Nash. But this type of game does not phase Oklahoma because the Sooners have a chameleon-like ability to wins games in a variety of ways. They are fine playing in fast-paced, transition-heavy games, like its 94-83 win over Iowa State in Norman. But they also have the personnel (more specifically, TaShawn Thomas) and willingness to grind out sluggish games like last night’s when necessary. This should bode well for the Sooners against whichever style they are matched up with next weekend.

The Ugly.

• The drive North to Ames Had Things Not Gotten Magical. Take away the 10-second call on Isaiah Taylor, the Dustin Hogue three, the Morris game-winner, or any other number of plays, and there would have been a tear-filled highway heading north from Kansas City to Ames. It would have also put a big dent in the weekend, at least as far as atmosphere is concerned. Iowa State fans have descended on the city in such numbers that the school rented out a portion of the downtown convention center to hold their pep rallies. A convention center! Who knows how many would have stuck around had Iowa State lost yesterday, but the unlikely win assures that both semifinals will feature teams with boisterous fan bases that will pack the arena (the other, of course, being Kansas).

Greg Mitchell (@gregpmitchell) (231 Posts)

This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2015 at 10:01 am by Greg Mitchell and is filed under 2015 conference tournaments, big 12, microsites. Tagged: feature, fred hoiberg, georges niang, lebryan nash, monte morris, oklahoma, oklahoma state, rick barnes, texas, travis ford. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.