The Big 12 Conference begins its men’s basketball postseason tournament on Tuesday in Kansas City as its teams fight for the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
All 14 member schools will participate as the conference builds to Saturday’s championship game.
The 2024 Big 12 Tournament will include five Texas schools. TCU and Texas will begin playing their games on Wednesday, while Texas Tech, Baylor, and Houston will start their postseasons on Thursday, awaiting winners from Wednesday’s games.
Houston (28-3, 15-3 in the Big 12), the No.1 team in the country and the regular season conference champion in its first season in the Big 12, is looking to solidify its place as a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars have lost only three times all season and are coming off a convincing 30-point win over then-No.14 Kansas on Saturday.
Texas Tech (22-9,11-7) and Baylor (22-9,11-7) finished the regular season tied for third place in the Big 12, splitting their two meetings. Baylor got the tiebreaker for seeding and will be the No.3 seed in the Big 12 Tournament, while Texas Tech will be No.4 and open Thursday’s games against BYU, UCF, or Oklahoma State. UCF is the only team of the three to defeat the Red Raiders during the regular season.
TCU (20-11, 9-9) and Texas (20-11, 9-9) tied for seventh in the Big 12. The Horned Frogs will be the No.8 seed and play No.9 seed Oklahoma (20-11, 8-10) at 2 p.m. CT on Wednesday, while the Longhorns will be the No.7 seed — because of a head-to-head win over TCU — and play No.10 seed Kansas State (18-13, 8-10) at 6 p.m. the same day.
All five Texas teams are in the NCAA Tournament field, according to national experts, entering the week, but Texas and TCU can help their causes with wins.
Defending Big 12 Tournament champion Kansas also begins play on Wednesday as the No.6 seed.
Here is the complete Big 12 Tournament schedule (all times CT):
First round — Tuesday, March 12
Game 1: No.12 UCF vs. No.13 Oklahoma State at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN+
Game 2: No.11 Cincinnati vs. No.14 West Virginia at 2 p.m. on ESPN+
Second round — Wednesday, March 13
Game 3: No.5 BYU vs. Game 1 winner at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Game 4: No.8 TCU vs. No.9 Oklahoma at 2 p.m. on ESPN+
Game 5: No.7 Texas vs. No.10 Kansas State at 6 p.m. on ESPN+
Game 6: No.6 Kansas vs. Game 2 winner at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2/ESPNU
Quarterfinals — Thursday, March 14
Game 7: No.4 Texas Tech vs. Game 3 winner at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Game 8: No.1 Houston vs. Game 4 winner at 2 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Game 9: No.2 Iowa State vs. Game 5 winner at 6 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Game 10: No.3 Baylor vs. Game 6 winner at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Semifinals — Friday, March 15
Game 11: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner at 6 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Game 12: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2
Big 12 Championship Game — Saturday, March 16
Game 13: Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner at 5 p.m. on ESPN
