Texas 65 Texas Tech 53
Cameron Ridley finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Isaiah Taylor added 12 points and seven assists as the seventh-seeded Texas Longhorns got a much-needed win over the 10th-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders on Wednesday in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Longhorns (20-12) were able to expand on a four-point halftime lead midway through the second half, as they focused their offense on dumping the ball off to Ridley in the post, where he scored 12 points during the half.
Texas has struggled with inconsistency throughout the regular season, and entered Big 12 tournament play after two straight regular season wins that followed their second four-game losing streak of the season.
Texas Tech (13-19) was led by departing senior guard Robert Turner’s 11 points.
Up next: Texas moves on to face second-seeded Iowa State at 7 p.m. CT on Thursday. The Cyclones swept the regular season series.
TCU 67 Kansas State 65
The ninth-seeded TCU Horned Frogs moved on to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament, eliminating the eighth-seeded Kansas State Wildcats on the back of sophomore forward Chris Washburn’s 16 points and eight rebounds on Wednesday.
TCU (18-14) had built up a 58-46 lead with just over 6 1/2 minutes left in the second half, but Kansas State (15-17) managed to whittle it down to 64-62 after senior forward Nino Williams converted a three-point play with 1:58 left in the game. The Wildcats would be forced to foul the Horned Frogs shortly after, and failed to score until a three-pointer from Wesley Iwundu as time expired.
Williams led the Wildcats with 13 points and 10 rebounds in his final game at the school.
Up next: TCU faces No. 1 seed Kansas at 2:30 p.m. CT on Thursday afternoon.
