Texas basketball could glide their way to a Big 12 Title vs. OK State

What’s facing No. 13 ranked Texas basketball is not what many anticipated at this point of the Big 12 Tournament. Head coach Shaka Smart and this Texas team rallied to down the No. 20 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders and head coach Chris Beard on the night of March 11 in their first game of the Big 12 Tournament, to triumph by the final score of 67-66.

It was senior guard Matt Coleman hitting two clutch free-throws in the dying seconds of the second half to give the Longhorns the one-point win over the Red Raiders.

After Texas notched their first win of the season over Texas Tech earlier this week, it was figured that they would have to face head coach Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament. But Texas caught a bit of weird luck in the way of Kansas coming down with a positive COVID-19 test, thus pushing this team to the final round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Coleman and the Longhorns are now set to take on the No. 12 ranked (and five seed) Oklahoma State Cowboys in the final round of the Big 12 Tournament. Texas got to get one win by one point in the conference tournament, and now they will be facing a hot OK State squad for the Big 12 crown.

When it’s all said and done, Smart and the Longhorns could catch a nice stroke of luck to get the first Big 12 Tournament crown for this head coach in a span of more than five years. That could give the Longhorns the momentum they need to make a solid run through the NCAA Tournament too.

You would have to figure at this point that Texas would not be ranked lower than a four seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Texas basketball vs. OK State for the Big 12 crown

In the final round of the Big 12 Tournament, Texas will get a really tough test in Oklahoma State and star freshman point guard Cade Cunningham. Albeit the Longhorns don’t have to face the No. 2 ranked Baylor Bears, but Texas is not going to get a Big 12 crown easy this weekend in the final round.

Cunningham gave the Pokes 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and one steal, in their nine-point upset win over Baylor in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament. Texas will need a big outing from the likes of Coleman and junior guard Courtney Ramey to be able to top Cunningham and the Pokes on March 13.

A little less than 24 hours ahead of tip off between Oklahoma State and Texas on March 13, the men in burnt orange are likely to be underdogs. These two teams split their two meetings in the regular season, so it should be a close one at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, MO, this weekend.

Texas enters the final round of the Big 12 Tournament now with a record of 19-7 if you include their wins over Texas Tech and technically Kansas in the last two days. Oklahoma State comes in having won eight of their last games including their win over the Bears.