Big 12 Basketball

The last unbeaten team in the nation fell on Tuesday night in a surprising upset.

No. 2 Houston suffered a 57-53 loss to unranked Iowa State in a road matchup. The loss dropped the Cougars' record to 14-1 this season.

Iowa State was coming off a 71-63 loss to No. 11 Oklahoma on Saturday, which snapped a six-game win streak. That loss apparently fueled the Cyclones, as they blitzed the Cougars right from the opening tip.

Iowa State opened Tuesday's game with 14 unanswered points and never looked back. The Cyclones led by 12 and took a 31-21 lead into halftime. Houston managed to tie the game at 41 and again at 53, but Iowa State remained poised enough to secure the win. Milan Momcilovic hit the go-ahead jumper with 31 seconds left and then sealed the game with a pair of free throws with 10 seconds remaining.

Tamin Lipsey led the Cyclones with 14 points while Momcilovic added 11 points. They overcame a 20-point performance by Cougars guard Emanuel Sharp.

Neither team shot the ball particularly well, with Houston shooting 38.0 percent from the field and 26.9 percent from three-point range while Iowa State shot 38.3 percent overall and 20.0 percent from beyond the arc. However, the Cyclones earned 22 attempts from the free-throw line and made 18 of them, while the Cougars got to the line just 12 times.

Houston will look to bounce back on Saturday in a road matchup against TCU. Iowa State will return to action that same day at home against Oklahoma State.

Texas Tech guard Pop Isaacs has been accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl during the team's November trip to Paradise Island, Bahamas, for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.

ESPN's Myron Medcalf reported the news.

The lawsuit was filed in a district court in Lubbock County, Texas, by the parents of the girl, who are requesting $1 million in damages, Medcalf reported.

The age of consent is 16 in the Bahamas.

The plaintiffs say their daughter was sexually assaulted while she was intoxicated and after she "attempted to fight him off," according to the lawsuit described by Medcalf.

The lawsuit alleges the incident occurred after a "Texas Tech booster" purchased alcohol for Isaacs and another Texas Tech player, per Medcalf.

Texas Tech officials have known about the lawsuit since at least Dec. 14, when Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland was contacted by the plaintiffs, according to the lawsuit.

Isaacs turned 20 in August and is in his second year at Texas Tech.

Ryan Minor, a former two-sport Oklahoma Sooners star who played three seasons for the Baltimore Orioles before becoming a longtime minor-league coach in Maryland, died Friday after a battle with cancer.

Minor was 49 years old. He was diagnosed in September 2022 with Stage IV colon cancer and recently entered hospice.

The news was shared on social media by his twin brother, Damon Minor.

As a member of the OU basketball team, Minor was named the Big Eight Conference Player of the Year in 1995. He averaged 16.5 points per game through four seasons with the Sooners.

He also spent three seasons on the OU baseball team alongside Damon. Joined the roster late each spring after the conclusion of basketball season, Minor batted .266 with 11 home runs, 15 doubles and 43 RBIs in 203 career at-bats.

Minor contributed to one of the most dominant seasons in Oklahoma baseball history, when the team went 42-17 during the regular season before going undefeated in the NCAA Tournament on their way to a College World Series title.

He was selected in the third round of the 1996 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Instead, Minor went to the MLB, where he went on to make history with the Baltimore Orioles. He was the player who replaced Cal Ripken Jr. to end his consecutive games played streak at 2,632 against the New York Yankees on Sept. 20, 1998.

After spending parts of three seasons with the Orioles and one with the Montreal Expos, Minor ended his MLB career after 142 games.

He went on to become a longtime coach in the Orioles farm system. The Delmarva Shorebirds, the Single-A affiliate of the O's, honored Minor as the first Shorebirds jersey ever retired in an August ceremony.

He is survived by his wife, Allyson, and their daughters Regan and Finley.

Kansas basketball won its fifth straight game Saturday night as the No. 2 Jayhawks got past Missouri 73-64 in a battle of the borders.

While Kansas picked up another solid win to add to the resume, there was a certain aspect that had fans torn.

Jayhawks big man Hunter Dickinson, who transferred to Kansas from Michigan ahead of this season, had a shaky performance after looking like a candidate for Player of the Year early this season.

He had just 13 points on the night — down from his 20.1 points per game average. His off game had fans debating whether he is ready for the intensity of Kansas' schedule.

Dickinson faced major slack after his slow start. He only attempted two shots in the first half, which allowed Missouri to keep things close early. Fans criticized his lack of aggression in such an intense game.

As some fans were critical of Dickinson, others praised him for his work on the glass. He pulled down 16 rebounds on the game and was a major force for the Jayhawks on defense. Some fans argued that it was Dickinson's lack of touches that contributed to a slow offensive night.

While fans were divided on what to think of Dickinson's performance, they can agree that it was a good win for Kansas, which improved to 9-1 on Saturday.

Fans will be looking for a little bit more production from Dickinson moving forward, but it was a positive sign that the Jayhawks were still able to take care of business during an off night from their star player.

Kevin McCullar Jr.'s hot three-point shooting guided the No. 5 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team to a 69-65 home win over the No. 4 UConn Huskies.

McCullar hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to turn a 54-52 deficit into a 58-54 KU lead with 5:15 remaining.

Hunter Dickinson, who scored 15 points, then followed up with his own three for a 61-54 edge.

UConn clawed back to make this a one-possession game at 63-60, but McCullar answered again with a three for a six-point lead with 1:10 remaining.

The Huskies weren't done yet, though, thanks to Tristen Newton scoring five of his game-high 31 points down the stretch. After Dajuan Harris Jr. missed two free throws, UConn had a chance for the win down 67-65, but Cam Spencer's three-pointer missed the mark. Two KU free throws closed this out.

This was a great game featuring two top-five teams who easily could find themselves making deep March Madness runs. In the end, though, McCullar's hot shooting proved to be the difference.

He's been dominant after returning to school for his second season at KU (following three seasons at Texas Tech), averaging 18.1 points on 51.6 percent shooting, 7.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists.

Naturally, fans and analysts were impressed with his clutch performance.

The 7-1 Jayhawks will now play UMKC on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.

An overtime battle between the Kansas State and Providence men's basketball teams turned physical Friday night.

Kansas State freshman guard Dai Dai Ames and Providence freshman guard Garwey Dual were ejected from the game after fighting during extra time.

After several instances of Ames making contact with Dual on the court, Dual turned around and hit Ames in the face.

The two were then physically separated by Providence head coach Kim English and other members of the coaching staff.

Kansas State won 73-70 as David N'Guessan scored six points in extra time.

The contest was a neutral-site game held in Nassau, Bahamas as part of the first round of the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship.

Ames and Dual are each slated to serve automatic one-game suspensions following their ejections, according to Fox's John Fanta.

Dual will miss Providence's Sunday game against Georgia, while Kansas State will take on Miami the same day without Ames.

The Texas Longhorns seriously bolstered their recruiting class in 2024, landing 5-star shooting guard Tre Johnson on Wednesday.

"I chose Texas because I like their family culture and my relationship with the coaching staff," he told Joe Tipton of On3.

He went with the Longhorns over Baylor and had a long list of offers, including from Kentucky and Kansas.

Johnson, who hails from Dallas, is considered the No. 4 overall player in the Class of 2024, the top shooting guard and the top player from the state of Texas, per 247Sports' Composite Rankings.

Adam Finkelstein of 247Sports called him "one of the very best scorers in the national class" and a "threat at different levels" who "just has a knack for putting the ball in the basket."

He added that as "he learns to become more efficient offensively, and competitive defensively, his game should continue to go to new levels."

Don't expect Johnson to only be a scorer at Texas, however.

"They want me to play on and off the ball," he told Tipton. "Sometimes play the 1 and create for others."

Johnson leads a strong Class of 2024 for the Longhorns, joining 4-star shooting guard Cam Scott and 4-star power forward Nicolas Codie. That has the team ranked fourth in 247Sports' recruiting rankings for the 2024 cycle, trailing only Duke, Kentucky and Missouri.

But the games are played on the court, not on the recruiting trail, and under Rodney Terry the Longhorns are looking to turn around a program that hadn't advanced past the second round in the NCAA tournament for 13 straight seasons before reaching the Elite Eight last year.

"I'm a winner and I'm trying to come in and do some winning," Johnson told Tipton.

The Longhorns are hoping he's up to that task.

No. 1 survives.

In the best game of the young men's college basketball season, the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks outlasted the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats for an 89-84 victory in Tuesday's Champions Classic at the United Center in Chicago.

It was a back-and-forth affair throughout, and there were extended stretches where it seemed like both teams would eventually pull away for the win. Yet clutch shooting from Dajuan Harris Jr. and a dominant performance from Hunter Dickinson was enough for the Jayhawks to prevail.

Dickinson finished with 27 points, 21 rebounds and three steals, while Harris added 23 points and seven assists behind 5-of-6 shooting from three-point range. Throw in a triple-double of 12 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds from Kevin McCullar Jr., and Kansas had too much firepower.

The performance drew praise from social media:

The Jayhawks are the top team in the country with national championship aspirations thanks to the presence of a number of headline veterans, while Kentucky was the one with some questions about youth and inexperience.

It didn't look that way in the first half.

Freshman Rob Dillingham provided an immediate spark off the bench with a barrage of three-pointers and a willingness to facilitate when Kansas collapsed on him. Combine that with sophomore Adou Thiero controlling the boards and scoring from different areas, and the SEC representatives jumped out to a seven-point halftime lead and extended it to double digits.

However, the seemingly inevitable Kansas run arrived.

Dickinson started overwhelming Kentucky's bigs down low, and McCullar set up K.J. Adams Jr. for multiple chances in a row that included an alley-oop. McCullar then converted an and-one, and just like that the Big 12 team had the lead.

It would have been easy for the Wildcats to fold down the stretch after Kansas appeared to seize control, but they did the opposite. Much like Dillingham in the first half, freshman Reed Sheppard provided a key lift off the bench with his outside shooting, and Antonio Reeves created multiple scoring chances.

The back-and-forth defined the second half, but Harris' red-hot shooting from the outside and a key basket down low from Dickinson in crunch time secured the win for the Jayhawks.

They will look to keep the momentum rolling when they face Chaminade on Monday.

Kansas' Bill Self signed a new contract with the school that makes him the highest-paid coach in men's college basketball, according to The Messenger's Jeff Goodman.

Goodman reported the deal is worth around $53 million over five years.

According to USA Today, Self had been earning nearly $6 million annually in total pay, which trailed only Kentucky head coach John Calipari ($8.5 million).

In April 2021, Self signed a lifetime contract with Kansas in five-year rolling increments. The school confirmed Tuesday that the two sides had amended the original agreement.

"Bill Self is undoubtedly the most consistent coach in college basketball, and a restructuring of his contract terms were long overdue," athletic director Travis Goff said. "In an ever-changing collegiate athletics environment, our strong commitment to Coach Self positions KU basketball to maintain and enhance its status as the most storied program in the country."

Self is in his 21st season with the Jayhawks, having carried on the success the program enjoyed under predecessor Roy Williams. He has compiled a 581-132 record (.815 winning percentage) and collected eight Big 12 tournament titles along with two national championships.

More accolades could beckon in 2023-24.

Kansas opened as the No. 1 team in both the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll and got the season started with a 99-56 victory over North Carolina Central on Monday. Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson had 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists in his debut.

The Jayhawks will look to justify the hype surrounding them when they play No. 16 Kentucky in Chicago on Nov. 14.

West Virginia forward Akok Akok is reportedly alert and communicating after collapsing on the court during the team's charity exhibition game against George Mason University, according to ESPN's Myron Medcalf.

Akok was transported to Ruby Memorial Hospital on Friday night after leaving the court on a stretcher, while the school is currently calling the incident a medical emergency.

West Virginia interim head coach Josh Eilert gave a positive update after the game, although there is still uncertainty regarding the cause of Akok's collapse.

"I just got briefed with our medical staff," he said, via Medcalf. "He's stable. He's talking. He's in a good place. He wanted to wish the guys well and congratulate them. He's in a good place. But they're going to monitor him overnight and do a lot of testing overnight to figure out what's going on. That's all I've got."

Mountaineers forward Quinn Slazinski revealed to reporters that Akok was texting his teammates following the game, per Wesley Shoemaker of Blue Gold Sports.

"Akok, all is well," Slazinski said. "He's admitted overnight and we're super proud with him sticking with us. Everything should be good. Really freak accident"

Akok played for Georgetown last year before transferring to West Virginia this past summer.

"It's music to my ears that he's doing good," Eilert said (via Medcalf). "He's such a good kid and a great teammate. I never thought I'd see that moment and have to deal with that. It's heartbreaking."