KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jeff Capel wasn't blowing smoke after his team defeated No. 12-seeded Colorado a little bit ago.
"I don't think we played well," Capel said after Oklahoma beat Colorado 54-49. "But this time of the year, it's about surviving and advancing."
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Despite 18 points from Colorado senior Richard Roby, Oklahoma has polished off the Buffaloes 54-49 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.
The Sooners will play Texas in the semifinals on Saturday.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Colorado's Marcus Hall hit a 3-pointer to make this a two-point game.
With 30.2 left, Oklahoma 51, Colorado 49.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Colorado's Jermyl Jackson-Wilson didn't have his best game, and now he has fouled out with 5:52 left.
Jackson-Wilson had two points and five rebounds, and his main contribution was again on defense.
Junior Taylor Griffin hit the ensuing pair of free throws, and with 5:41 left, Oklahoma leads 43-39.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Blake Griffin is a freshman. Freshman often do odd things.
But I would hope Oklahoma's coaching staff would realize the problems he was just having. With about 9 minutes left against Colorado, Griffin's right shoe came off while he was running back toward the defensive side of the court.
He played a defensive possession without it and then posted up on offense, waiting for the ball. When coach Jeff Capel finally called a timeout for him, Griffin sat on the bench for a number of minutes attempting to get the knot out of his laces -- with his teeth.
Griffin is just now getting his shoe back on and should check back in shortly.
With 6:45 left, Oklahoma 41, Colorado 37.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Colorado senior Richard Roby didn't have the season he hoped the Buffaloes would.
But as solace, Roby will not depart Boulder as the leading scorer in history. The 6-foot-6 senior has 13 points in today's game against Oklahoma and has surpassed Donnie Brooks for the all-time lead at Colorado. Roby now has 1,996 career points.
Meanwhile, OU is holding onto a four-point lead.
With 15:01 lef, OU 32, CU 28.
EDIT: Roby has since hit a 3-pointer and now needs one point to reach 2,000 for his career.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- No one thought it was going to be a pretty game.
But why should it be? Oklahoma hasn't played pretty basketball all season. The Sooners are doing what they do best, though: imitate Bob Stoops' football Sooners.
Physical play is going to start taking its toll on the Buffaloes. Longar Longar is pounding the defensive glass and Blake Griffin is doing so on the offensive end. The pair are probably going to really being overmatching Colorado's big men.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- What originally looked like a blowout in the making has turned into another close one here at the Sprint Center.
Neither team is shooting all that well -- Colorado at 37 percent; Oklahoma at 32 percent.
With 3:40 left in the first half, OU 20, Colorado 17.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Longar Longar may not be that old, but I'm pretty sure he watched a lot of old '80s music videos.
Longar, Oklahoma's 6-foot-11 center, is rocking some socks that, when extended, may traverse half the court. He's got them bunched around his ankles, nearly making him appear to have on ankle weights.
With 11:45 left, Oklahoma 12, Colorado 9.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- At the first media timeout, Oklahoma is looking very much like a top-four seed.
Colorado, well, the Buffaloes are looking like the worst team in the Big 12 again. Four Sooners have already contributed with points while CU is 0-of-4 from the floor.
With 15:21 left in the first half, Oklahoma 10, Colorado 0.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Scott Drew isn't one for extremes, but he couldn't help but alter one opinion after his Baylor team lost to Colorado.
Specifically, Drew was asked about his team's chances for making the NCAA tournament.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Colorado overcame poor free-throw shooting and a big Baylor run in the second half and overtime before finally upsetting the Bears 89-84 in double overtime.
The win mean the Buffaloes become the first No. 12 seed in the Big 12 tournament to win a game.
Colorado's Richard Roby led all scorers with 32 points while adding 12 rebounds. Teammate Marcus Hall added 25.
More to come.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Colorado guard Marcus Hall got another chance to end the game at the end of an overtime period against Baylor.
But just as his first buzzer beater failed, so did the second. Now, attrition may start to factor in. Three Buffaloes have four fouls, and three Bears have three or more.
Start of second overtime, Colorado 74, Baylor 74.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Henry Dugat's transition lay-up with just under 1 minute to go in overtime has given Baylor its first lead since the opening minutes of the first half.
With 52 seconds left in overtime, Baylor 72, Colorado 71.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- We have free basketball at the Sprint Center as Baylor has come back from a double-digit deficit.
Colorado had a shot attempt at the buzzer to win, but Marcus Hall's attempt clanked off the front of the rim.
Colorado 65, Baylor 65.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Until a few moments ago, it wasn't clear if there were more than just a few Baylor fans here.
Thanks to Colorado's free-throw shooting problems, the Sprint Center sounds like Waco North. Colorado has missed six of its 11 free throws in this half; several of the misses have come in the last few minutes.
Instead of building or even hanging onto what had been a double-digit lead for most of the half, Colorado is now up 2 points with Baylor about to shoot two free throws of its own.
With 2:54 left, Colorado 61, Baylor 59.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Baylor is finally starting to look like the team it did earlier in the year.
The Bears have finally trimmed Colorado's lead to just eight points following Tweety Carter's wide-open 3-pointer. CU led by twice that for much of the half.
With 6:47 left, Colorado 60, Baylor 52.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Colorado is more than willing to miss a few shots this half in lieu of continuing to take some serious time off the clock.
In their last five possessions, Colorado has attempted just one shot when there was more than 6 seconds remaining on the shot clock, and that lone attempt was a put-back.
The Buffaloes are still shooting 58 percent for the game; meanwhile, Baylor is shooting just 43 percent.
With 11:32 left, Colorado 53, Baylor 42.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Colorado is showing it wasn't a one-half wonder.
The Buffaloes have only scored two baskets early in the second half, but one was an electrifying dunk by Cory Higgins and the second was a sleak spin move by Richard Roby, a play on which Roby was fouled and still has a free throw to shoot.
With 15:43 to go, Colorado 46, Baylor 34.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The first thing you need to know about the Big 12 tournament is that a No. 12 seed has never won a game.
Zero wins in 10 tries.
It just hasn't happened.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's clear Baylor thinks it can simply line up and out-shoot Colorado.
Problem is, that hasn't happened so far.
The Buffaloes have made 6-of-9 3-pointers while Baylor coach Scott Drew has stuck to his zone defense. When Baylor finally did push the zone out some to defend the 3, Colorado's Richard Roby hit one anyway. One CU's next possession, with the zone further extended, it got a wide-open dunk from Marcus-King Stockton.
With 4:47 remaining in the first half, Colorado 32, Baylor 24.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- All season, Baylor has been committed to the 3-point shot.
The Bears had more long-range shots attempts (671 -- 22 per game) than any other team in the Big 12, and their percentage (38.6) was second only to Kansas. It shouldn't be much of a surprise then that Baylor is going deep again today against Colorado.
BU has already attempted nine 3-point attempts, making four of them.
With 9:39 left in the first half, Baylor 18, Colorado 14.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- More than a few of the conversations in the tunnels around the Sprint Center floor have included Baylor.
Do the Bears, who finished the regular season at 21-9 overall and 9-7 in the Big 12, already deserve a spot in the NCAA tournament? Conventional wisdom based on the history of the league would say so.
