Baylor beats Texas again, advances in Big 12 tourney

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ekpe Udoh scored 25 points and pulled down eight rebounds as 21st-ranked Baylor ran past Texas, 86-67, in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.

Tweety Carter added 20 points, while LaceDarius Dunn chipped in 19 points, nine boards and seven assists for the Bears (25-6), who will face ninth-ranked Kansas State in Friday's semifinals. The Wildcats upended Oklahoma State earlier Thursday.

Baylor, which lost to Missouri in last year's title game, has never won the Big 12 tourney. It was the Bears' third win over Texas in as many tries this season. That includes a victory in Baylor's regular season finale.

Damion James totaled 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Longhorns (24-9), who will await to see where they'll be placed when the field for the NCAA Tournament is announced on Sunday. Avery Bradley and Dexter Pittman each scored 14 in defeat.

Pittman's layup to start the second half brought the Longhorns within 43-41, but the third-seeded Bears scored the ensuing 13 points, capped by Carter's layup. Dunn had seven points during the flurry.

The sixth-seeded Longhorns managed to climb within 58-50 with under 13 minutes to go on Pittman's jam and they inched closer at 64-59 following another jam by the senior center with just over eight minutes remaining.

Dunn countered with a layup, and soon after his three-point play expanded the margin back to double-digits at 71-61 with 6 1/2 minutes left. Texas never threatened down the stretch.

Baylor, which shot 53.6 percent, led for virtually the entire first half, although Texas managed to tie the game at 30 on a pair of James free throws with 4 1/2 minutes left.

Game Notes

Only five schools have won the Big 12 championship, led by Kansas' six titles. Texas has also never won it, advancing to the final five times, including three in a row, from 2006-08...Last season in Oklahoma City, Baylor became the first No. 9 seed to advance to the Big 12 Championship title game -- and the second-lowest seed ever to accomplish the feat...Baylor's current four-game winning streak over Texas is its longest since winning six straight from Feb. 7, 1981-Feb. 26, 1983...This marks the first time the Bears have beaten the Longhorns three times in the same season since the 1981-82 campaign...Texas ended at 36.4 percent from the field.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.