It will be Act 3 of the Bedlam Series in today’s quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.

No. 2 seed OU will face No. 7 seed Oklahoma State, who advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Iowa State 81-67 in the first round Wednesday night.

This will be the third meeting between the two arch rivals this season. The Sooners won both regular season matchups — on Jan. 26 and March 7 — by a combined total of just 11 points.

For OU, this will be its second game against the Cowboys in six days. While many people see that as an advantage for OSU, Sooner coach Jeff Capel doesn’t think it makes much of a difference.

“With Oklahoma State, one thing our guys should be familiar with is what they do, some of the calls they make and some of their plays,” Capel said. “But the bottom line when you get to this point of the year is you have to go out and make plays.”

Rather, Capel is more worried about the potential situation of having to play three games in three days, from Thursday’s quarterfinals to the Big 12 Tournament Championship game Saturday.

“It does concern me with having to play three days in a row because of our injury situation,” Capel said. “But I do hope we have that problem where we play three days in a row with guys trying to get their injuries healthy.”

The game tips off at 6 p.m. at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.

Big 12 Tournament Day 1 Round up

Game 1: No. 9 Baylor: 65, No. 9 Nebraska: 49

The Bears won just five games in the Big 12 during the regular season, but on Saturday they were able to up that number to six.

After falling to the Cornhuskers in the regular season finale, Baylor blew out Nebraska in the opening game of the men’s Big 12 tournament.

The Bears were up by just three at the half, but jumped on the Cornhuskers in the second half, outscoring them by 13 points in the half to win by 16.

Curtis Jerrells was Baylor’s leading scorer, putting in 19 points on 8-10 shooting.

Forward Kevin Rogers also had a big game for the Bears, scoring 10 points and pulling down 20 rebounds.

The Bears move on to play Kansas today at 11:30 p.m.

Game 2: No. 5 Texas: 67, No. 12 Colorado: 56

The Longhorns didn’t finish their season they way they probably would have liked, but they earned the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 tournament, and drew Colorado in the first round.

The Buffaloes stuck around with Texas throughout the game, but never made a serious threat to take down the Longhorns.

The Longhorns were led in scoring by center Dexter Pittman, who scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while playing just 28 minutes.

Guard A.J. Abrams played 39 minutes but only took four shots, knocking down six of them to record 10 points and five steals.

Texas moves on to the second round and will play against Kansas State today at 2 p.m.

Game 3: No. 7 Oklahoma State: 81, No. 9 Iowa St: 67

Iowa State was able to stick with the Cyclones for the first half, but in the second half the Cowboys’ fast-paced style proved to be too much.

After one half, the Cyclones led by three, but OSU outscored Iowa State by 17 in the second half to give the Cowboys a 14-point win.

The Cowboys had a balanced attack, with big contributions from Obi Muonelo, Marshall Moses and James Anderson who scored, 18, 18 and 14 points respectively.

The Cowboys also outrebounded the Cyclones 34-27 in the game.

Iowa State got a strong performnce from forward Craig Brackins, who recorded 23 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough for the Cyclones to get the upset.

OSU will play the Sooners this evening at 6.

Game 4: No. 6 Texas A&M: 83, No. 11 Texas Tech: 88

Early on, it looked like this game was going to be the tournament’s first route. The Aggies jumped all over the Red Raiders early and didn’t look back in the first half.

At the end of one period, the Aggies led 48-29, but the Red Raiders came out firing in the second half.

The leading scorer for Tech was Mike Singletary who scored 43 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

The Aggies were led by Donald Sloan who scored 22 points.

The main area in which the Aggies had an advantage was in free throws, where they significantly more attempts until late when A&M was forced to foul.

TheRed Raiders will move on to the second round and face Missouri at 8:30 tonight.

— Daily Staff