Top 10 stories from the Big 12 regular season

 #7: Lon Kruger leads Oklahoma over undefeated Iowa State

Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Lon Kruger just simply does not get the respect he deserves a fantastic coach in this country. His Oklahoma Sooners were projected to come in fifth place in the preseason polls. Even after a solid non-conference record of eleven and two, people were still critical of the Sooners due to a lack of quality wins. Then they started conference play with a win against the Texas Longhorns, a loss to the Kansas Jayhawks, and then the undefeated Iowa State Cyclones came to Norman on January 11th.

No matter though, the Sooners took care of business down the stretch to beat the Cyclones 87 to 82. This instantly got national buzz because it was the first loss for Fred Hoiberg’s team. Leading the way for Oklahoma were a trio of sophomores: Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins, and Ryan Spangler. Hield had 22 points, Cousins had 17 points, and Spangler has 16 points and 15 rebounds. This helped propel Kruger’s team to a second place finish in the Big 12 and to be ranked 17th in the AP Poll this week.