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Big 12 Men’s Basketball Preview 2/18-2/22

NCAA Basketball: Iowa State at Baylor Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports

TCU @ Oklahoma State

Monday, February 18th 8:00 PM CT, ESPNU

TCU (17-8, 5-7) went from almost beating Kansas in overtime earlier last week to dropping a home game to Oklahoma, their second loss to the Sooners this season. That was a devastating blow as it looked like TCU was starting to get its mojo back. They now travel to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State (8-16, 2-10). The Cowboys have lost 8 straight Big 12 games. While this could be one of the last few winnable games for Oklahoma State, the Horned Frogs ought to get this one done.

74-62 TCU

#23 Kansas State @ West Virginia

Monday, February 18th 8:00 PM CT, ESPN

#23 Kansas State (19-6, 9-3) is in must-win mode as far as the Big 12 title race is concerned. The Wildcats lost at home to Iowa State over the weekend to tighten up the race significantly. Kansas State is only a half game up now. West Virginia (10-15, 2-10) is essentially sleepwalking through the rest of the season with their already shaky team being further depleted from players getting kicked off the team. The Mountaineers only had 14 first half points against Kansas over the weekend and ended up losing by 26. While Kansas State has all the pressure on its shoulders in this road game, they should be able to handle the Mountaineers, even if the injury to Dean Wade is serious enough to keep him out.

78-61 Kansas State

Baylor @ #19 Iowa State

Tuesday, February 19th 8:00 PM CT, ESPN2

Baylor (16-9, 7-5) is doing everything it can to limp its way towards an NCAA Tournament bid. They have already lost Tristan Clark for the season. But King McClure and Makai Mason have also been dealing with injuries that have kept them out of three and two games respectively. Even though Mason played against Oklahoma, he looked nothing like he did a mere week earlier and sat out again against Texas Tech. Baylor desperately needs one or both players to get healthy by Tuesday as they travel to Ames to take on #19 Iowa State (19-6, 8-4). The Cyclones just knocked off Kansas State to put themselves in a position to strike for at the Big 12 title. They have to hold home court in order to make that happen. The Cyclones did lose a week ago at home to TCU. It seems Hilton is less daunting this season than it has been in recent years. However, the Cyclones have picked up the home court slack with an impressive slate of road wins. Regardless, this is a must win for Iowa State to try to win the Big 12. While not necessarily a must win for Baylor, the Bears really need to pick up a few more wins to make it to the tournament, A top 25 win in Ames would go a long way. With McClure and Mason questionable, I can’t pick the Bears in this one. But if one or both are able to play that could totally change this prediction.

76-69 Iowa State