For the first time in 106 days, Baylor felt the sting of losing a basketball game when Kansas held off a furious rally to pull out a 64-61 win before Saturday’s record-tying Ferrell Center crowd of 10,627.
Of course, it wasn’t just any loss.
Seeking their first conference title in 70 years, a win would have given the Bears a two-game Big 12 lead with four games to play. Instead the Jayhawks and Bears have a loss apiece.
While the Jayhawks jumped to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, the Bears fell to No. 2 after holding down the top spot for a school-record five straight weeks while building a Big 12-record 23-game winning streak.
Despite the loss, the Bears (24-2, 13-1) can still win the Big 12 title as they try to bounce back against last-place Kansas State at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Ferrell Center.
“I think Coach (Scott) Drew said it after Saturday, our goal wasn’t to sweep Kansas, it was to win the Big 12 regular season conference title,” said Baylor forward Freddie Gillespie. “That’s one of our goals and we still control our own destiny, and we have four games left and we just have to finish strong.”
Saturday was tough on all the top national teams except Kansas as Baylor, Gonzaga and San Diego State all lost. But the Bears still have an inside track to a No. 1 regional seed if they finish strong.
“The stat that jumped out to me was being ranked No. 1 longer than anyone since Kentucky in 2015,” Drew said. “I know you hear all the time there are no dominant teams, but in college basketball it is just the parity. It’s just really hard to sustain and not lose games. You look across the board and there is not much that separates these teams.”
The Bears won’t face another big man as dominating as 7-0, 255-pound Kansas center Udoka Azubuike the rest of the regular season. The massive Azubuike was the difference for the Jayhawks against the Bears as he finished with 23 points, a career-high 19 rebounds and three blocks.
Kansas State (9-18, 2-12) is headed in the opposite direction as Sunflower State rival Kansas. After winning the Big 12 co-championship with Texas Tech last season, the Wildcats are fading down the stretch with seven straight losses, including a 70-59 loss to Texas on Saturday in Manhattan, Kan.
The Wildcats’ biggest issue is scoring as they rank last in the Big 12 with 64.3 points per game and ninth with a 41.2 field goal percentage. Only two Kansas State players are averaging double-figure scoring with forward Xavier Sneed hitting 14.3 points per game and guard Cartier Diarra averaging 12.9.
But Kansas State showed more offense than usual in a 73-67 loss to Baylor on Feb. 3 in Manhattan as Sneed scored 23 points, Diarra 11 and forwards Makol Mawien and Montavious Murphy 10 apiece.
“They have a lot of freedom, especially their guards,” said Baylor guard Davion Mitchell. “Their coach lets them run and lets them shoot 3s. They’re a hard team to guard.”
That wasn’t enough to beat the Bears as they shot 50 percent behind a 20-point performance by guard Jared Butler while guard MaCio Teague scored 15 and Mitchell 13.
After missing two games with a wrist injury to his (right) shooting hand, Teague came back against the Jayhawks and hit a pair of 3-pointers to finish with eight points in 28 minutes. Drew hopes Teague can continue to improve as the remainder of the season unfolds.
“I’m really proud of how he played,” Drew said. “It’s really tough when you haven’t practiced. He got limited reps the day before the game and that’s a tough environment to just jump out there. So I’m excited to get him back practicing to where we can continue having that chemistry before his injury.”
After facing Kansas State, the Bears play TCU in Fort Worth on Saturday before playing their final home game against No. 22 Texas Tech on Monday. Baylor will end the regular season against No. 20 West Virginia in Morgantown on March 7 before beginning Big 12 tournament play March 12 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
Baylor has already clinched one of four first-round byes for Big 12 tournament games on March 11. By then, the Bears hope to have their first Big 12 regular season championship in hand.
“Well I think that the real urgency is the goal we’ve had all year long to win a Big 12 championship,” Drew said. “You are within two weeks of that being either accomplished or not. They always call it the dog days of February, but there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel here.”
— WACOTRIB