MBB Falls Short Against Kansas State

Saturday, February 9

Waco, Texas

5 p.m.

Baylor

15-8, 6-4RV/RV

Kansas State

18-5, 8-2RV/RV

Kansas State

Baylor

MBB Falls Short Against Kansas State

2/9/2019 7:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Freddie Gillespie had 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

If Baylor coach Scott Drew didn't subscribe to Murphy's Law before, he does now.

Already shorthanded with two of the projected starters out for the year, Drew's hands were tied even more Saturday night with starting guards Makai Mason and King McClure out with foot and knee injuries, respectively.

Down to eight scholarship players, and only one returning from last year's team, the Bears gave league-leading Kansas State all it wanted Saturday night in what amounted to a battle for first place in the Big 12.

But, the experience-laden Wildcats (18-5, 8-2) had a late 11-0 run and outscored Baylor, 29-15, in the last 9 ½ minutes to pull away for a 70-63 victory and take a 1 ½-game lead in the conference race.

"I thought our effort was good enough to win, our execution wasn't," said Drew, whose team fell to 15-8 overall and 6-4 in conference with its first two-game losing streak of the season. "We didn't rebound well enough, we turned it over too many times and really credit Kansas State. Because at the end of the day, they made 3's late. The last nine minutes of the game, they won the game by the way they performed."

The Bears seemed to hit their groove with a six-game winning streak after Tristan Clark's season-ending knee injury on Jan. 8. But, Mason played limited minutes with a bruised foot in Wednesday's 84-72 loss at Texas, and then McClure joined him on the bench Saturday with a knee injury.

"(K-State) is a team that can not only win the Big 12 but can win a national championship because you don't normally return that kind of experience with that kind of talent," Drew said. "Coach (Bruce) Weber has done a great job with them, and we knew what kind of challenge it would be. Obviously, it was even more challenging without Makai and King. We're starting to get a lot of people at the end of the bench. So, we need more guys in uniform and less in suits."

Asked if he would get Mason or King back for Monday's 8 p.m. game against Oklahoma (15-9, 3-8), Drew said: "If you believe in Murphy's Law, I'd say we're not getting anybody back. But, we'll find out."

Even with as much adversity as they faced, the Bears led by as many as five in the first half and were up 29-25 on a Mark Vital dunk with 2:00 left in the half. K-State closed on a 6-0 run on a Kamau Stokes jumper and back-to-back buckets by Makol Mawien to go up 31-29 going into the break.

"Give Scott a lot of credit, they've kind of had to revamp their roster, and then you've got to deal with these injuries," said Weber, whose team has won eight consecutive conference games for the first time in the Big 12 era. "And those guys took it at us right from the beginning. They were quicker, they were physical. They're as physical a team as there is in the league."

Baylor regained the lead early in the second half and took its largest lead of the night, 48-41, on a Mario Kegler free throw with 9:50 left in the game. But, that's when the tide turned.

Sophomore Cartier Diarra drained a 3-pointer, then Stokes hit three straight free throws when he was fouled on a three-point attempt. Buckets by Vital and Freddie Gillespie seemed to at least slow down the Wildcats' momentum, giving the Bears a 53-51 lead with 6 ½ minutes to go.

That's when K-State reeled off 11 unanswered points with back-breaking treys by Diarra, Stokes and Barry Brown and a pair of free throws by Dean Wade to go up 62-53.

"I think they wore down at the end of the first half and maybe the end of the second half," Weber said. "Obviously, we made some plays we made some shots and our defense picked it up a little bit down the stretch, which was probably the difference."

After Kegler drained a 3-pointer, Diarra came up with arguably the play of the game when he stole a Vital pass along the baseline and heaved it down to the other end for a dunk by a streaking Brown that stretched the lead to 64-56 with under two minutes to play.

"Just using my athleticism and used a little hang time," said Diarra, who was falling out of bounds as he threw the pass to Brown on the other side of half court. "I was reading the court to see where everybody was, and I saw Barry looking like, 'Throw it long.' I threw it long, and he ran and got it before the Baylor player (Kegler). it looked really good, I bet."

That was the final dagger for the Bears, who did make it a one-possession game on a pair of free throws by Devonte Bandoo with 35.9 seconds left.

"I'll be honest, I haven't really played this type of minutes in a long time," said Bandoo, who started in place of McClure and finished with a team-high 15 points in 36 minutes, his most minutes by far in a Big 12 game. "I was kind of a little gassed, and I've got to get used to it. I felt like those two big 3's that they hit really brought the momentum down. That's something we have to adapt to. When teams make a big play like that, we've got to slow the game down."

Stokes knocked down three 3-pointers and went 7-for-7 from the line to score a game-high 20 points, while the Wildcats' senior duo of Brown and Wade had 13 and 12 points, respectively. Butler added 13 points and two assists for the Bears, but also had three of Baylor's 13 turnovers.

"It's tough for guys who are in their first time in those environments and situations," Drew said. "That's why normally you need experience to close or win. The great thing is these guys are gaining that experience, and they're getting that now. You see K-State's seniors, they made big plays, because for three years they've been in that situation. It's not different for them. That's the reality and the facts.

"At the same time, proud of our effort. We'll control what we can control. I love how our team competes, love how they fight for each other."

In a quick turnaround, Baylor hosts Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Monday in a "Big Monday" game on ESPN2. The Sooners lost their fourth in a row on Saturday, falling 66-54 at home to 18^th-ranked Texas Tech.