Kansas City, Mo ? Headed into the Big 12 Conference season, Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson said the best word to describe his young, highly ranked team was “intriguing.”

The best word now might be “slumping.”

Saturday’s 79-75 overtime loss to Missouri was the No. 11 Sooners’ third straight defeat and dropped them to 10-3 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12 — with No. 22 Texas Tech looming tonight.

“This is a tough league to win in with a lot of young guys,” said Sampson, whose team was ranked No. 6 before its skid began. “We don’t have a Final Four team, so we’re not going to get ourselves too disappointed.”

Missouri surely can relate. After all, the Tigers once were ranked third before dropping five of their last eight games. Saturday’s win kept Missouri (7-6) from going under .500 for the first time since finishing the 1996-97 season 16-17.

“We just stuck together,” said Arthur Johnson, who had 16 points and 11 rebounds. “They’re hard to beat on their home court. But we came down here and pulled it out, and now we’re 2-1 in the league. It feels good.”

The conference’s other ranked teams each won Saturday, but it wasn’t easy.

No. 18 Texas needed Royal Ivey’s jumper with 2.4 seconds left to beat Nebraska, 63-61. And Texas Tech blew a 10-point lead against Baylor before pulling away late for a 75-66 victory, the Red Raiders’ 10th win in a row.

Had Ivey not hit from 16 feet in the closing seconds, things could have been different for Texas (11-2, 2-0) as well.

“You’re going to be in situations like this,” Ivey said. “It’s going to be good for us come March. It’s good to have games like this to have confidence come crunch time.”

Texas didn’t always play with confidence, though.

Texas Tech (14-2, 2-0) withstood a three-minute stretch during which there were eight lead changes, then went on a 21-11 run highlighted by a pair of steals and breakaway dunks by Robert Ross.

At least Baylor (5-10, 0-2) got back its two senior co-captains.

Terrance Thomas, who had missed three games after being declared academically ineligible, led Baylor with 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting over 25 minutes. He and R.T. Guinn were reinstated by the NCAA Friday — a decision that upset Texas Tech coach Bob Knight.

“I think eligibility standards should be followed and followed no matter what,” he said. “It’s a bad message to send out. If kids can’t do the work in the classroom that’s required by the NCAA and this league, then I think it’s a bad precedent to set, regardless of the circumstances.”