Box Score By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation
Unable to cool off a hot-shooting Oklahoma team, no matter what defense they threw at them, the 13th-ranked Baylor Bears fell to the No. 1 Sooners, 82-72, Saturday before a season-high crowd of 10,206 at the Ferrell Center.
Led by Jordan Woodard and Buddy Hield, the Sooners (16-2, 5-2) shot a sizzling 62 percent for the game and knocked down 16-of-28 (57.1 percent) from beyond the arc to match the most ever allowed by the Bears, who are 0-7 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams.
"When we went man, it didn't work out. When we went triangle-and-two, it didn't work out," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team fell to 15-4 overall and 5-2 in the Big 12. "They lead the nation in 3-point percentage and most people man them. So, it's not like man is the answer. Otherwise, they wouldn't be where they are. Last year, we held them to 15 points with five minutes to go in the first half."
OU scored more than that in the first 7 ½ minutes, going up 16-10 on a Hield jumper.
But after falling behind by six early, the Bears went on a 12-0 run to take a 22-16 lead on a Taurean Prince 3-pointer with 8:50 left in the half. Freshman King McClure scored seven in a row, knocking down a 3-pointer and open jumper and then a fast-break layup off his own steal.
With Hield going to the bench after picking up his second foul at the 8:53 mark, Baylor had a chance to take control and build on that six-point lead.
Instead, it was the Sooners that took over, hitting their next five shots from the field and regaining the lead on a Woodard three-point play that was part of a 16-2 run.
"Guys stepped up and made plays," said Hield, who scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half. "That's what you expect from guys like Jordan and Isaiah (Cousins). They've been in the gym a lot, and they've made a lot of shots. I was happy, ask anybody. I was celebrating more than anybody on the bench."
Trailing by seven at the break, Baylor got back-to-back 3-pointers from Ishmail Wainright to tie it up at 41-41. But again, OU answered, draining three straight treys to push the lead back to nine.
"I didn't think they exposed the zone," said Prince, who tied Johnathan Motley for team-high scoring honors with 15 points. "We had some defensive breakdowns early and late. I think that's just bad scouting on our part as players, and we did a bad job of making sure we were in the right place at the right time."
Prince knocked down a 3-pointer that made it a 10-point game with about 12 ½ minutes to go. But the Sooners hit an unfathomable 10 of their next 11 and blew it open, going up 82-58 on a wide-open layup by Dante Buford with 5:33 left.
"The way we were moving the ball, it starts with Ryan (Spangler)," Hield said of the 6-8 senior forward. "I feel like when Ryan makes shots, it opens things up for everybody. It starts with Isaiah, too. The whole game, he was finding open guys, making the right plays and making shots, too. Isaiah and Ryan really opened up the game for us."
OU also fed off Baylor's mistakes, scoring 28 points off the Bears' 16 turnovers.
"They're way too good in transition to give them easies," Drew said. "With us, I think a lot of it was self-inflicted. You take out some of those turnovers - we shot 46 percent (overall), we shot 40 percent from 3- - if you get shots up, now you're probably scoring. And if you're not scoring, at least you're setting up your defense."
Up by 24, Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger emptied his bench for the last four minutes as the Bears forced five turnovers and closed on a 14-0 run. McClure had three steals in a 38-second span and matched his career-high with 11 points, and then Motley finished it off with a slam dunk off a feed from freshman guard Jake Lindsey.
"I thought the crowd was outstanding, OU was outstanding, and I thought we were average, at best," Drew said. "From 3, they made some tough ones, they made some open ones, and we didn't do a very good job contesting enough of them. But they're the No. 1 team for a reason. . . . I'm disappointed we didn't have a better showing for an opportunity like this, but I know we'll get better."
Each team had four players in double figures. Woodard scored all 20 of his points in the first half, with Cousins and Spangler chipping in with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore guard Al Freeman knocked down two treys and had 10 points for the Bears, while Rico Gathers had 11 rebounds but only two points.
Baylor will try to bounce back with a game against Oklahoma State (10-8, 2-4) at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Stillwater, Okla. The Bears knocked off the Cowboys, 79-62, in the first meeting on Jan. 5.
