Big 12 - Thursday Game Recaps

Well at the time of this writing, the Big 12 has gone 4-1 tonight with only Nebraska getting a loss today. Texas is still in action in Madison Square Garden against Illinois but looking good. The record is very deceiving as both Kansas State & Missouri were taken the distance in close contests that frankly shouldn't have been.

(14) Missouri opened their regular season with a 66-61 win over Western Illinois, a game where the Tigers trailed by 1 with just 2:36 left to go in the game. Luckily for Tiger fans disaster was avoided and the game goes down as a W on the schedule. No player for Missouri scored in double figures but four Tigers scored 9 points each. In what has to be considered somewhat of a disappointing effort, Ricardo Ratliffe opened his career with only 6 points and 2 rebounds in 22 minutes of action.

The other major scare of the evening was West down I-70 in Manhattan, KS as K-State turned in a very uninspired effort in defeating Presbyterian 76-67. The Wildcats were once again without Curtis Kelly and were coming off a win against Virginia Tech on Tuesday but neither is a good enough excuse for how KSU played in this one. Presbyterian finished 9-15 from 3 point land in the game but many of these were wide open looks due to breakdowns on defense or lack of effort from K-State. The player of the game for K-State was probably little used reserve Victor Ojeleye who only played 8 minutes and scored 4 points but provided the team with a spark during the 2^nd half when they desperately needed it. Another common theme was K-State's free throw shooting as they finished the game 9-19 from the charity stripe. Just not a good game all around for K-State and I am glad I don't have to participate in their next practice session which may actually be occuring right now.

The #17 Baylor Bears improved to 3-0 on the season without LaceDarius Dunn as they defeated the Jackson State Tigers tonight 63-49. Perry Jones led the Bears with 20 points and 8 rebounds while A.J. Walton added 14 points. While the Bears only had an 8 point halftime lead they never let it get any closer than that in the second half and easily held on for the double digit victory.

In what could be the most impressive victory so far tonight the Oklahoma Sooners put a hurting on Texas Southern with a 82-52 victory in Norman. The win moves  OU's record to 3-0 on the year. The Sooners pushed a 36-29 halftime lead out to a 30 point victory by outscoring the Tigers 46-23 in the second half. Cade Davis scored 21 points and Steven Pledger led scorers with 23. OU finished the game shooting a scorching 13-24 from the 3 point line. This represents a strong win for Jeff Capel and his rebuilding program, very impressive.

The only loss on the day came from the Nebraska Cornhuskers who fell to Vanderbilt 59-49 in a game played in San Juan Puerto Rico. The Huskers held a two point halftime lead but were outscored 33-21 in the second half to drop their record to 2-1. For the game, Nebraska went 0-10 from behind the arc and only 18-51 shooting for the game. They were led in scoring by Brandon Ubel who finished with 10 points. Vanderbilt was paced by John Jenkins who led all scorers with 22 points.