Ninth-seeded Oklahoma State will play Texas Tech, the No. 8 seed, in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday in Kansas City. OSU and Tech split their regular-season games, with the Cowboys winning by 19 at home and losing by two on the road.
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The winner of that game will play top-seeded Texas.
Texas coach Rick Barnes said he doesn't relish the thought of either possibility.
"I don't think we're looking forward to playing anybody in our league again,” Barnes said. "You look at the last three games, Texas Tech beat us and (OSU) could have won the game here today. We know how hard it is to play against both of those teams.”
•Jump-start: Barnes described his team as "jumpy” early in the game.
He attributed the Longhorns' inability to put together solid consecutive offensive possessions to nerves about winning the conference championship.
"I haven't spoken to them about it at all, but they knew what they were playing for,” Barnes said. "We came out like a team that was trying to get it done quickly.”
Oklahoma State's defensive plan also contributed to Texas' disarray.
OSU appeared to switch back and forth from zone to man-to-man defenses on the same possessions. OSU coach Sean Sutton said he didn't want to give away any secrets – "I don't want to give away anything because we're probably going to have to play them again,” he said.
"We tried to keep them off-balance,” Sutton said. "I don't think they're a team you can play straight up man-to-man against.”
•Point guard play: Augustin and OSU point guard Byron Eaton were the players to watch Sunday. Augustin finished with 20 points and Eaton had 12. Each had five turnovers. Texas' Justin Mason guarded Eaton.
"We have to keep him from getting to the paint,” he said. "He did that later in the game and that's when they started to go on a run.”
OSU had a similar plan with Augustin, which they executed better in the second half as he failed to score in the last 9:46 minutes of the game.
•Brown on the mend: OSU junior transfer Anthony Brown practiced lightly last week and could be physically able to play in the postseason. Sutton said it remained to be seen whether or not Brown could help the Cowboys after sitting out most of the conference season with an injury.
By Andrea Cohen
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