Big 12 Basketball: West Virginia, Oklahoma rises in new power rankings

Saturday was a treat for the majority of College Basketball fans. A loaded slate that involved multiple upsets to ranked teams. Also involving the release of the top 16 overall seeds, where debates were held on the matter.

It also involved a four-game Big 12 Basketball slate, headlined by one of the best games, the conference has been able to offer.

With Baylor being under COVID-19, the Big 12 race has become closer of a margin. The Bears are not sure if they will be able to re-schedule every game lost. That very may well play a factor in other teams getting closer.

Over the past week, two teams have closed the margin, due to playing more games. Baylor has just a 2.5 game lead on the rest of the conference.

Here’s a look at this week’s Power Rankings for the Big 12 as we turn to the middle of February.

Previous games: 76-79 loss to TCU, 64-97 loss to Kansas, 50-64 loss to Kansas.

Next games: Tuesday at. Oklahoma State, Thursday vs. Texas, Saturday vs. Oklahoma.

The Cyclones came out firing on all cylinders and went into halftime tied with the Horned Frogs. Iowa State didn’t shoot extremely well, but got 21 free throws to fall, including a perfect 13 of 13 from Rasir Bolton. Bolton led the Cyclones in scoring with 26 points, as he has been the consistent go-to scorer for Iowa State this season.

With the game on the line, Iowa State finished the game how you would expect a 2-12 team to do. Jaden Walker would end up getting a clutch steal, which would end up with a wild three-point attempt from Tre Jackson. Instead of fouling, TCU would get the rebound and would end up running the clock out and getting the win.

Walker was a bright spot for the Cyclones with 10 points, five rebounds, and two steals on 4-7 from the field.

In a rare Thursday-Saturday series, Iowa State would start it against Kansas. All of the positives that came from the TCU evaporated on Thursday. The Cyclones shot just 20 percent from beyond the arc and gave up 56 second-half points to the Jayhawks.

It was Jalen Coleman-Lands that lead the Cyclones with 20 points.

Although the defense did improve in their second game with the Jayhawks, the offense was just as worse. Coleman-Lands had another 20 point performance against Kansas and Rasir Bolton added 13 more.

However, 23 turnovers defined the game for Iowa State after shooting just 37.8 percent from the field.