The Big 12 quarterfinals will wrap up Thursday with the Missouri Tigers taking on Texas A&M in a matchup that pits one of the highest-scoring teams in the country with one of the lowest. A&M won the last matchup in overtime, by a score of 91-89 against a Mizzou team that was ranked 12th. Missouri is coming off an 88-84 win against Texas Tech in which they couldn’t quite pull away; A&M beat Tech in their last regular-season game of the season, winning 66-54. Those two scores are all that needs be said about the teams’ respective tempos; find them on your TV schedule shortly after a Sportscenter rerun—the tip-off is 8:30 on ESPN2.
A&M’s victory over Missouri was at the peak of Big 12 influence for both teams. It was Texas A&M’s 13th consecutive win, but they’d drop their next game by 21 points to Texas and finished the season on a 7-6 run. Missouri was 15-2 when they ran into A&M; they’d go 7-7 to close the season, dropping out of the top 25 after peaking at nine in the new year.