THE BIG 12 REPORT

The Longhorns' collapse in Stillwater re-opens the door for Oklahoma and West Virginia

The Longhorns' collapse in Stillwater re-opens the door for Oklahoma and West Virginia
Kyler Murray and OU benefit most from Texas' loss. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

The Longhorns' miracle season came to an abrupt ending on Saturday night in Stillwater, Okla. During their six-game winning streak Texas looked to be one of the top teams in the nation with legitimate national champion potential, all of which is distant memory now. After the Cowboys took an early 31-14 lead, the Longhorns fought their way back to just a three-point deficit making the score 31-28 late in the fourth quarter. Just as UT felt like they had the comeback in hand, Oklahoma State scored once again to strike the final blow. What this means for the Big 12 is it has for the time being, it has become a two-team race between Oklahoma and West Virginia, and to make things even more interesting, they are set to face off in the final week of the season. While the Longhorns playoff hopes are lost, they are still not completely out of the picture. If Texas is able to win the rest of their games, they would likely be in a position to contend for the Big 12 championship.

Must watch games week 10:

(12) West Virginia vs. (15) Texas

The most exciting game in Week 10 will without a doubt be the showdown between the Mountaineers and Longhorns. Not only is this game a must watch because both teams will arguably be fighting for a chance to compete in the Big 12 championship, but this will also be a faceoff between two of the most exciting playmakers in the Big 12, quarterbacks Will Grier and Sam Ehlinger. This will be an interesting matchup of opposites as both teams are known for completely different schemes. West Virginia has created a name for themselves through their air raid offense while Texas has grown to rely on a more physical style of play and an option-based offense that utilizes the play action to create big play opportunities. Despite their differences, both teams have found plenty of success this season and will do everything in their power to continue that in week 10. One thing to keep any eye on in this matchup is the Longhorns defense. While Texas has relied heavily on the dominant play of their defense this season, the Longhorns D struggled mightily in their 38-35 upset loss to Oklahoma State giving up over 300 yards through the air and three touchdowns. UT’s defense will need to have a bounce back week if they hope to take down the 6-1 Mountaineers.

(7) Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech

The second premiere matchup of week 10 is Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech. The Sooners will be playing with new life after Texas; the only team to defeat them this season went down in Week 9 to Oklahoma State. Oklahoma now sits atop the Big 12 standings tied with West Virginia, who also holds a 6-1 record and is quickly making a push back into the playoff conversation. While this is all exciting news for the Sooners, the season is far from over for a team that could make a lot of noise if they are able to win out the rest of the season. The Red Raiders on the other hand lost a little life in Week 9 as they fell to a hot Iowa State team 40-31. Texas Tech struggled to stop Iowa State’s offense on any level which is a dangerous problem to have heading into a game against one of the most explosive offenses in the nation. While there is no doubt that OU will be the better of the two teams, don’t count the Red Raiders out with gunslinger Alan Bowman at quarterback.

Players to watch week 10

Texas Tech WR Antoine Wesley: If the Red Raiders hope to have any chance of knocking off the No. 7 Sooners, they will need their big play receiver Wesley to have one heck of a game. Standing at 6’5, Wesley’s combination of size, speed, and ball skills are a matchup nightmare for defensive backs and his stats prove it. The towering target leads the Big 12 with 58 receptions and 977 receiving yards and is tied for fourth in touchdown receptions with seven. Wesley has also surpassed 100 yards receiving in four game this season, three of which have come in Texas Tech’s last four games. Look for Wesley to be targeted early and often in hopes of sparking momentum for a Red Raider team that will need all the help they can get.

Iowa State WR Hakeem Butler: Another physically impressive receiver makes the list of players to watch this week, 6’6 Hakeem Butler. Butler has been a highlight machine for the Cyclones this season, make some of the most acrobatic and jaw dropping catches in all of college football this season. Iowa State's go-to man has been playing his best football as of late with over 100 yards receiving in his last two games and a touchdown reception in each of his last three games. Since Freshman quarterback Brock Purdy took over the starting job he has shown an immediate connection with Butler which can only be expected to grow stronger as the two get more playing time together. This could very well mean that Butler’s best play is still ahead of him and will look to build off his recent success against an inconsistent Kansas team.

Kansas State RB Alex Barnes: The final player to keep an eye on this week is the Big 12 rushing leader Alex Barnes. While being the highlight of Kansas State’s season, Barnes has had a quietly impressive year leading the Big 12 with 816 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. Though the Wildcats have struggled this season with just three wins, Barnes has played his best two games as of late when he rushed for 250 yards and 3 touchdowns vs. Baylor and 181 yards and 4 touchdowns vs. Oklahoma State. Kansas State will have a chance to take down a disjointed TCU team in week 10 but will need Barnes to set the tone with the rushing attack.








 

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The Rockets host the Warriors for Game 1 this Sunday. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

They’ll be watching in Canada, not just because of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, though the NBA’s scoring champion and MVP favorite who plays for Oklahoma City surely helps lure in fans who are north of the border.

They’ll be watching from Serbia and Greece, the homelands of Denver star Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Alperen Sengun will have them watching Houston games in the middle of the night in Turkey, too. Slovenian fans will be watching Luka Doncic and the Lakers play their playoff opener at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, 5:30 p.m. Saturday in Los Angeles. Fans in Cameroon will be tuned in to see Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers. Defending champion Boston features, among others, Kristaps Porzingis of Latvia and Al Horford of the Dominican Republic.

Once again, the NBA playoffs are setting up to be a showcase for international stars.

In a season where the five statistical champions were from five different countries, an NBA first — Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian, rebounding champion Domantas Sabonis of Sacramento is from Lithuania, blocked shots champion Victor Wembanyama of San Antonio is from France, steals champion Dyson Daniels of Atlanta is from Australia, and assists champion Trae Young of the Hawks is from the U.S. — the postseason will have plenty of international feel as well. Gilgeous-Alexander is in, while Sabonis and Daniels (along with Young, obviously) could join him if their teams get through the play-in tournament.

“We have a tremendous number of international players in this league,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this season. “It’s roughly 30% of our players representing, at least on opening day, 43 different countries, so there’s much more of a global sense around our teams.”

By the end of the season, it wound up being 44 different countries — at least in terms of countries where players who scored in the NBA this season were born. For the first time in NBA history, players from one country other than the U.S. combined to score more than 15,000 points; Canadian players scored 15,588 this season, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, the first scoring champion from that country.

Gilgeous-Alexander is favored to be MVP this season. It'll be either him or Jokic, which means it'll be a seventh consecutive year with an international MVP for the NBA. Antetokounmpo won twice, then Jokic won three of the next four, with Cameroon-born Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers winning two seasons ago.

“Shai is in the category of you do not stop him,” Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said after a game between the Raptors and Thunder this season.

In other words, he's like a lot of other international guys now. Nobody truly stops Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Doncic either.

And this season brought another international first: Doncic finished atop the NBA's most popular jersey list, meaning NBAStore.com sold more of his jerseys than they did anyone else's. Sure, that was bolstered by Doncic changing jerseys midseason when he was traded by Dallas to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it still is significant.

The Slovenian star is the first international player to finish atop the most popular jerseys list — and the first player other than Stephen Curry or LeBron James to hold that spot in more than a decade, since soon-to-be-enshrined Basketball Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony did it when he was with New York in 2012-13.

“We’re so small, we have 2 million people. But really, our sport is amazing,” fellow Slovene Ajsa Sivka said when she was drafted by the WNBA's Chicago Sky on Monday night and asked about Doncic and other top Slovenian athletes. “No matter what sport, we have at least someone that’s great in it. I’m just really proud to be Slovenian.”

All this comes at a time where the NBA is more serious than perhaps ever before about growing its international footprint. Last month, FIBA — the sport's international governing body — and the NBA announced a plan to partner on a new European basketball league that has been taking shape for many years. The initial target calls for a 16-team league and it potentially could involve many of the biggest franchise names in Europe, such as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.

It was a season where four players topped 2,000 points in the NBA and three of them were international with Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Antetokounmpo. Globally, time spent watching NBA League Pass was up 6% over last season. More people watched NBA games in France this season than ever before, even with Wembanyama missing the final two months. NBA-related social media views in Canada this season set records, and league metrics show more fans than ever were watching in the Asia-Pacific region — already a basketball hotbed — as well.

FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis said the numbers — which are clearly being fueled by the continued international growth — suggest the game is very strong right now.

“Looking around the world, and of course here in North America," Zagklis said, "the NBA is most popular and more commercially successful than ever.”

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