Oklahoma State @ Texas Christian preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 18, 2019 ) Texas Christian 61, Oklahoma State 68

With their fleeting NCAA Tournament hopes buoyed by a big win in the Big 12 regular-season finale at Texas, TCU looks to lock up a bid with a strong showing in the conference tournament. That ride begins Wednesday when the eighth-seeded Horned Frogs meet No. 9 seed Oklahoma State at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

TCU had dropped six of seven games before junior Desmond Bane scored a career-high 34 points - most by a Horned Frog since Kyan Anderson scored 35 in the 2012-13 season - on 14-of-20 shooting, including 6-of-8 from beyond the arc, in Saturday's 69-56 win at Texas. The Cowboys, who dismissed four players from the team in January, will enter the Big 12 tourney on a roll after consecutive wins to end the regular season, 67-64 at Baylor and 85-77 against West Virginia on Saturday. "It gives us a lot of confidence going into Kansas City," coach Mike Boynton told reporters after the win over the Mountaineers. "It was a great way for us to cap off the regular season. But, tomorrow we have to come in and get our minds right because we believe we can go into Kansas City and win it all. That's our mindset." The teams split the season series with TCU winning at home 70-68 on a running fadeaway jumper by JD Miller with one second left on Feb. 6 and the Cowboys pulling off a 68-61 triumph 12 days later behind 23 points and six 3-pointers by Thomas Dziagwa.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT OKLAHOMA STATE (12-19): Junior Lindy Waters III scored 19 points against the Mountaineers, freshman Isaac Likelele added a season-high nine assists and Yor Anei (7.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, Big-12 leading 2.5 blocks) scored 16 points and added eight blocks - a program record for a freshman and two off the school record set by Joe Atkinson in 1985. Waters (12.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists), who drained 3-of-5 beyond the arc, finished third in the conference in 3-point marksmanship (45.3 percent) and second in free-throw shooting (90.8 percent), and joined fellow junior Cameron McGriff (12.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, third in Big 12) as conference honorable mention picks. Dziagwa (11.7 points, Big 12-best 101 3-pointers), who is one of six Cowboys ever to make 100 3-pointers in a season, reached double figures in scoring in six of his last seven games and has 23 games with at least a trio of 3-pointers.

ABOUT TCU (19-12): Bane (15.2 points, 40.5 3-point percentage), who become the third Horned Frog all-time to earn second-team All-Big 12 honors, had 26 points and six 3-pointers in the first contest with the Cowboys and followed with 19 and three 3-pointers in the second game. Senior Alex Robinson earned third-team all-conference honors after finishing the regular season as the Big 12 leader in assists with 6.9 per game (seventh in the nation) and ranking 11th with 12.7 points per game, while sophomore forward Kouat Noi was named honorable mention all-conference selection after ranking ninth in the conference in scoring (14.1) and second in 3-pointers per game (2.4). Senior forward Miller (11.0 points, 6.5 rebounds) and freshman center Kevin Samuels (7.2 points, 7.0 rebounds) ranks second in the Big 12 with a 66.7 field-goal percentage and fourth in blocks (2.1).

TIP-INS

1. The winner of this game will face top seed Kansas State on Thursday.

2. TCU has played exactly seven players in each of its last six games while Oklahoma State is down to seven scholarship players.

3. Waters ranks 15th in school history with 136 career 3-pointers and sixth in 3-point accuracy (41.8 percent).

PREDICTION: Oklahoma State 74, TCU 70