On Saturday night, the BYU basketball team used a dominant first half to take down Kansas State 80-65. The win ended Kansas State’s six-game winning streak and put BYU at two games above .500 in conference play. With BYU’s win over Kansas State and Kansas’ loss at Utah, BYU is in a three-way tie for fifth place in the Big 12 standings. Below are the updated Big 12 standings after 14 conference games for every team.

BYU is tied for fifth place with Kansas and Baylor. Tuesday night’s matchup against Kansas will give BYU an opportunity to continue climbing the standings, and most importantly, continue to build its NCAA Tournament resume. A win over Kansas would create some buffer in the standings for BYU since they would own the tiebreaker against both Kansas and Baylor.

For BYU, the realistic goal in the Big 12 standings should probably be fifth at this point. The top four teams in the standings have created some separation from the rest of the conference. They each hold at least a two-game lead on every other team in the conference.

Below BYU, Kansas, and Baylor, there is a large group hovering at or around .500 in conference play: Kansas State, TCU, Utah, and West Virginia. A win over Kansas on Tuesday would help BYU create some separation from those four teams.

As far as the conference standings go, finishing in the top eight is critical for BYU. The top eight teams in the conference standings get first-round byes in the Big 12 conference tournament.