Big 12 Tournament 2012: Missouri Takes The Title

Missouri left the Big 12 with a flourish on Saturday, overwhelming Baylor with a balanced offensive effort in its last conference game before leaving for the SEC next season.

The Tigers had a double-digit lead for most of the second half, as they dissected the Bears’ 1-3-1 zone with crisp ball movement and hot outside shooting, winning 90-75.

In a battle of contrasting styles, Baylor used their size to dominate an undersized Missouri team in the paint in the first half.

However, the Tigers were able to fillet the Bears 1-3-1 zone on the other end of the floor, racing out to a 43-37 lead after 20 minutes in the Big 12 Tournament Championship in Kansas City.

J’Covan Brown scored 21 points for Texas. While the Longhorns shot well from outside and won the rebounding battle, they couldn’t do anything to slow down Missouri on the defensive end.

For more on the two teams, check out Missouri Tigers blog Rock M Nation and Texas Longhorns blog Burnt Orange Nation. For more on the entire tournament, keep it on our Big 12 Tournament StoryStream.

Against the Cyclones, J’Covan Brown led the way with 23 points for the Longhorns. The junior is averaging over 20 points per game this season. He will need to be at his best if Texas hopes to score the upset, and solidify their spot on the right side of the bubble.

For updates and coverage of the 2012 Big 12 Tournament, stay tuned to this StoryStream or SB Nation’s dedicated NCAA basketball hub. For news and information on Big 12 conference basketball, please visit Big 12 Hoops.

The Big 12 Tournament is down to its Final Four, and one school crashed the party with an upset win on Thursday. The teams one would expect to be in the late stages of the Big 12 Tournament are there, with Baylor, Kansas and Missouri all taking care of business. But Texas hopped right into the mix with its win late Thursday night, knocking off Iowa State to advance to the semifinals.

Baylor opened the action on Thursday with a relatively easy 82-74 win over Kansas State to knock the Wildcats out of the tournament. Kansas followed by throttling Texas A&M 83-66 to move into the semifinals. Missouri also picked up a double-digit win, taking care of Oklahoma State, 88-70.

For more on these two teams, visit Missouri blog Rock M Nation to Oklahoma State blog Cowboys Ride For Free.

Perry Jones III scored a career-high 31 points to go with 11 rebounds a No. 4 seed Baylor defeated fifth-seeded Kansas State 82-74 in a Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal game on Thursday.

Jones, a sophomore who is considered by many to be a potential lottery pick in this spring’s NBA Draft, scored on a dunk to start the game and never looked back. He connected on 11-of-14 shot attempts, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc, and went 7-for-9 from the free-throw line.

Baylor is currently a four seed in SB Nation’s latest bracketology post, but the Wildcats are currently sitting as an eight seed -- a spot reserved for the bubble teams, if recent history is any indication. Both teams will have a shot at playing themselves into a better position when their game tips off at 12:30 p.m. ET Thursday on ESPN.

The winner of Thursday afternoon’s contest will play the winner of the Kansas-Texas A&M game on Friday evening in the Big 12 tournament semifinals.

Things start to get real on Thursday as the Big 12 Tournament moves into its second day. On Wednesday, it was about the play-ins, with Texas A&M and Oklahoma State each moving on to advance to the quarterfinals. The rest of the Big 12 will enter the mix on Thursday, with heavyweights Kansas and Mizzou favored on each side of the bracket.

For Oklahoma State and Texas A&M, Wednesday win was good in that it moved them forward, but the going doesn’t get any easier. The two will face Mizzou and Kansas, respectively, in the second round in what are, on paper, mismatches.

Both teams struggled in the regular season, but Aggies coach Billy Kennedy will be happy that his team was able to get a tournament win to build on going into next year. Oklahoma kept it close for most of the game, but Texas A&M held the lead for 25 minutes en route to a 62-53 victory.

Neither teams shot better than 40 percent from the floor, but the Aggies outrebounded the Sooners 36 to 26 and hit three more three-point shots than their opposition, which was the difference between the two teams on the night.

The two teams faced off twice during the regular season. In their first meeting in January, The Aggies won at home in overtime, 81-75. In the rematch and regular-season finale on March 3, The Sooners got their own home win, 65-62.

The game will tip off at 6 p.m. ET and will air on the Big 12 Network.