College Basketball Report: Week 12

The Baylor Bears and Houston Cougars look to continue their winning ways as Texas and A&M struggle

The Baylor Bears and Houston Cougars look to continue their winning ways as Texas and A&M struggle
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TEXAS LONGHORNS (12-7), (2-4)

Last week: (0-1): L - LSU 69-67

This week: Wednesday vs TCU,Saturdayvs. Iowa State

Even in a non-conference game, the Texas Longhorns have yet to get out of their slump. During their Big 12 vs SEC Conference showdown on Saturday, Texas dropped its third consecutive game in a two-point defeat to the streaking LSU Tigers.

In the loss, the Longhorns allowed LSU to record 15 offensive rebounds, in which the Tigers converted into 15 second-chance points. Following the win, Texas will look to end their losing skid in an interstate showdown against the TCU Horned Frogs.

TEXAS A&M AGGIES (9-9), (3-3)

Last week: (1-1): W - Mizzou 66-64, L - Oklahoma State 73-62

This week: Tuesdayvs. Tennessee, Saturday vs. Georgia

The Texas A&M Aggies survived a recording-breaking night en route to a 66-64 victory over the Mizzou Tigers. in the loss, Mizzou hit a record 54 consecutive free throws—dating back to their loss against Alabama last season.

As Mizzou shot perfect from the line until their final attempt in the closing minutes of the games, Savion Flagg and Josh Nebo scored a combined 28 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in the win for the Aggies. Unfortunately, A&M would go on to lose their third game in four tries in a loss to the Mizzou Tigers.

Up next, the Aggies will return to the court on Tuesday for a match against Tennessee.

Houston Cougars (16-4), (6-1)

Last week: (2-0): W - UConn 63-59, W- USF 68-48

This week: Wednesday vs. ECU, Saturday vs. Cincinnati

Winners of 10 out of their last 11 games, the Houston Cougars swept through their opponents picking up wins against the UConn Mustangs and the USF.

DeJon Jarreau came two assists shy from recording the Cougars' first triple-double since Bo Outlaw in 1993, as the junior guard from New Orleans scored a season-high 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in the win. Following the victory, the Cougars will hit the road for an American Athletic Conference showdown against ECU (Wednesday) and Cincinnati (Saturday).

RICE OWLS (9-13), (1-8)

Last week: (0-2): L - UTEP 72-64, L- UTSA 90-88

This week: Saturday vs. North Texas

Loser of eight of their last 10 games, the Rice Owls are currently riding a five-game losing streak after a winless week.

The Owls put up a good fight in both games, with their worst coming at the hands of UTSA on Saturday in a two-point defeat. Up next, Rice will look to end their worst skid of the season on Saturday in a CUSA showdown against North Texas.

BAYLOR BEARS (17-1), (6-0)

Last week: (1-0): W - Florida 72-61

This week: Wednesday vs. Iowa State, Saturday TCU

As the No. 1 top-ranked school in the nation, the Baylor Bears took part in the Big 12 vs SEC match in a 72-61 victory over Florida on Saturday.

While extending their winning streak to 16, Macio Teague led the Bears with 16 points, six rebounds and a block. Following the win, the Bears will put their winning streak on the line against Iowa State on Wednesday.

TCU HORNED FROGS (13-6), (4-2)

Last week: (1-1): W - Texas Tech 81-49, L - Arkansas 78-67

This week: Wednesday vs Texas, Saturday vs Baylor

Prior to losing to Arkansas on Saturday, the TCU Horned Frogs picked up a much-needed conference play win in a 65-54 victory over Texas Tech. In the win, Desmond Bane had one of his best performances of the season with 27 points (10-15 FG, 6-8 3PT), while Kevin Samuel recorded a double-double of 11 points and 11 boards.

Up next, TCU will look to return to the court on Wednesday for a showdown against the struggling Texas Longhorns.

TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (12-7), (3-3)

Last week: (1-1): L - Texas Tech 65-54, L - Kentucky 76-74 OT

This week: Wednesday vs West Virginia, Saturday vs Kansas

After a hot start to the season, the No. 18 Texas Tech Red Raiders are not living up to the high expectations since the start of conference play. Texas Tech's quick two-game win streak came to an end in a 65-54 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs. In the loss, TCU outscored Texas Tech by 15 points (38-23) in the second half, as well as allowing 17 second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds.

Following an overtime inter-conference loss to Kentucky on Saturday, Texas Tech will hit the court on Wednesday in a home match against No. 12 West Virginia.

SMU MUSTANGS (15-4), (5-2)

Last week (2-0): W - ECU 84-64, W - Memphis 74-70

This week: Tuesday vs Cincinnati, Saturday vs Tulane

After taking care of business in the blowout win over ECU, the SMU Mustangs picked up a huge victory over No. 20 Memphis. It was an all-around team effort led by Kendric Davis who scored a game-high 20 points (5-11 FG, 2-6 3PT) and five assists, while Emmanuel Bandoumel added in 14 points.

Up next, the Mustangs will look to build off their perfect week on Tuesday against one of their conference rivals, the Cincinnati Bearcats in Cincinnati.

LSU TIGERS (15-4), (6-0)

Last week (2-0): W - Florida 84-82, W - Texas 69-67

This week: Wednesday vs Alabama, Saturday vs Ole Miss

The LSU Tigers continued their hot start in conference play and extended their overall winning streak to eight last week.Both games went down to the wire as the Tigers needed a potential game-winner by Florida's Keyontae Johnson waived off with 0.5 left to play. Six players scored in double-digits for LSU with Emmitt Williams leading the Tigers with 19 points.

The Tigers will return home for a SEC match against Florida on Tuesday.

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This is a bad look. Composite Getty Image.

Since rejoining the Astros this week, Jose Abreu has gone 1-6 at the plate, boosting his batting average from an abysmal .099 to a horrid .105 while making a mess of playing first base. This was after going 0-7 at Triple A Sugar Land last week.

And the Astros have dropped both games in Seattle against the division-leading Mariners since Abreu’s been back.

You’ll notice that the Astros recalled Abreu while on the road – you think to avoid the embarrassment of fans boo’ing him at Minute Maid Park? Of course the Astros are aware of their fans' smoldering disgust with Abreu.

It’d be unfair to jeer Abreu, actually. He’s trying. He just can’t do it anymore. He’s washed. What do fans expect, Abreu to retire from baseball and tell the Astros they don’t have to pay the $30+ million still on his contract? Ain’t gonna happen. Contracts are guaranteed in baseball and even if Abreu would be OK with ripping up the deal, the players union would refuse to let the Astros off the hook for the money.

If you want to blame somebody for the Abreu disaster, point a finger at Astros owner Jim Crane for OK’ing the deal to sign him, point another finger at Crane-whisperer Jeff Bagwell for brokering the deal, and a pinky at general manager Dana Brown for supporting the idea of bringing Abreu back to the big leagues.

At least Brown appears to be an Abreu backer. Although he should think twice before making ridiculous comments about Abreu. Explaining why he thought Abreu was ready to face Major League pitching despite going 0-7 including three strikeouts and hitting into a double play, Brown said, with a straight face, “It’s not really about the hits. We want to make sure he’s getting quality at bats.”

Three strikeouts in seven at bats? Grounding into a double play? Quality at bats?

This is how they play baseball in the Bizarro World. It’s not really about hits? How about the final score of games? Do those matter? Because the Astros have lost both games since Abreu rejoined the team.

This is the same Dana Brown who said the Astros were sending Joey Loperfido back to the minors because he strikes out too much. Checking the back of Loperfido’s baseball card (Brown’s favorite hobby), the rookie batted .333 with 13 hits in 39 at bats during his stay with the Astros. Abreu has eight hits in 77 at bats.

Wait I forgot, it’s not really about the hits.

So what is really about? It’s the money. The Astros signed Abreu to a $58.5 million contract before last season. The contract has all this season plus next season on the books.

Playing someone just because you’re paying him stupid money is an idiotic reason. Jose Abreu was awful last season, and this year he’s taking awful to new lows. He is hurting the team. Everybody can see it. Well, almost everybody.

Fans sure see it. If they can’t boo Abreu at Minute Maid Park this week, they can unload on X (formerly Twitter). Here are some of the kinder comments.

“Please just end the Jose Abreu experiment.”

“You have to get Jose Abreu off this team.”

“This team deserves every loss it gets as long as it continues to play Jose Abreu at first base.”

“He is straight up cancer to the team.”

So what is the solution? The team said it struggled deciding what to do to make room for Abreu rejoining the team. They decided on sending Loperfido back to the minors.

The right answer what to do about Abreu – then and now - is staring them in the face and they refuse to accept it.

Suck it up and pay Abreu to stay away.

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