 "Photo: Stephen Durda")
Texas plays for the Big 12 regular season title Sunday afternoon when Oklahoma State rolls into town.
The Longhorns are currently 25-5, and a conference record of 12-3 ties them with Kansas atop the standings. A victory over the Jayhawks earlier this year means that Texas will claim the No. 1 seed in the conference tourney if they win this weekend.
"We've put ourselves in a great position to come out on top," forward Damion James said.
Though the Cowboys are below .500 in conference play and lost Wednesday to Oklahoma, they got hot down the stretch, and their 61-60 victory over Kansas showed they can beat anyone.
"As good of a February as we had, two teams that really flipped it too were Nebraska and Oklahoma State," Texas head coach Rick Barnes said.
The Huskers almost tripped up Texas at the Erwin Center on Tuesday, and now the Cowboys will get their shot at playing spoiler.
Point guard D.J. Augustin has said repeatedly this year that his goals are all team-oriented. A Big 12 title would be his idea of an important accomplishment. But along the way, yet another awards committee has noticed the sophomore.
Augustin was nominated this week by the United States Basketball Writers Association for the Oscar Robertson Trophy. He is one of only 10 players selected, and the award goes to the association's player of the year.
Meanwhile, Barnes is receiving attention for the job he's done with this Longhorn squad, just a year after Kevin Durant left to join the NBA. Barnes was nominated for the Henry Iba Award, which goes to the nation's top coach. Winning the Big 12 would be a big step toward claiming that title, and the Longhorns will likely have to knock off Iba's old team to do it.
Iba began a 36-year career with Oklahoma State before it was even Oklahoma State. In 1934, he arrived in Stillwater when the school was known as Oklahoma A&M.
By any name, the Cowboys stand as Texas' final obstacle in their path to a third regular season Big 12 championship.
While the Longhorns seem poised to take the title, they've struggled recently with a loss to Texas Tech and a narrow escape against Nebraska.
Earlier in the year, it took a similarly nail-biting bit of late heroics for Texas to beat Oklahoma State 63-61 on the road. While that score reflects the Cowboys' upset ability, the Longhorns have one last trick up their sleeve: home court advantage.
Texas hasn't lost a conference game on its home floor this season. If the pattern holds for one more game, the Big 12 can crown its regular season champ at the Erwin Center.
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