By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
In a 2 ½-minute stretch, Davion Mitchell turned a back-and-forth nail-biter with Iowa State into a comfortable double-digit lead for the second-ranked Baylor Bears.
After hitting all three free throws at the end of the first half, Mitchell came back with a pair of 3-pointers early in the second half as the Bears (14-1, 4-0) followed up Saturday's historic win at Kansas with a 68-55 victory over the visiting Cyclones (8-8, 1-3) Wednesday night before a crowd of 8,500 at the Ferrell Center.
"Just give credit to my teammates," said Mitchell, who scored 17 points, just two off his career high. "They found me, I was wide open, and I just hit the shots."
Baylor extended its winning streak to 13 straight, the nation's second-longest behind seventh-ranked San Diego State (18-0). No. 4 Auburn, the only other remaining undefeated team, had its 15-game streak snapped with an 83-64 blowout loss at Alabama on Wednesday.
Sophomore guard Jared Butler, who also scored a couple second-half 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 19 points, said Baylor's backcourt trio of Mitchell, MaCio Teague and himself are like a "three-headed monster."
"We need all three guys biting," said Butler, who was just 1-of-7 from the field in the first half. "(Mitchell) is in the gym always, and he's done a great job. I love playing beside him and MaCio."
Combined with TCU's blowout loss to 12th-ranked West Virginia a night earlier, Baylor now sits atop the Big 12 standings at 4-0. Particularly in the first half, the Bears leaned on a defense that has held their first four league opponents to an average of just 51.5 points and has given up 60 just once in their last nine games.
"In the first half, we weren't in our groove," said Baylor head coach Scott Drew, referencing the Bears' 34.5 percent shooting overall and 1-of-11 from outside the arc, "but our defense kept us there. In the second half, we were able to have the offense come around and get some separation. A team like Iowa State, who leads the conference in scoring (78.6 coming into the game), you don't want to be in a situation where you're in a one- or two-possession game, because they can score quick."
In a first half that featured eight lead changes and two ties, Baylor grabbed the momentum in the last few seconds when Mitchell took an inbounds pass and sprinted up the court before getting fouled by Tre Jackson with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. He calmly sank all three free throws to push the Bears' lead to 30-25 at the break.
"I kind of knew he was going to foul me because I was moving so fast," said Mitchell, who was 6-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the line. "I knew he was going to be behind me, and he was thinking I was going to get a layup. So, I knew if I stopped, he was going to run right into me."
Asked what he was looking for on the last play, when the Bears inbounded the ball with 3.2 seconds left, Drew jokingly said, "We draw it up so he gets fouled."
"That definitely turned out to be (a big play)," Drew said. "I know it's always nice that that last play before the half . . . you get some momentum. I think the big thing, too, was Davion making all three free throws. . . . Three seconds, you don't have a lot of options, so you trying to give him one or two, get to the rim or pull-up."
Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said the Cyclones "just didn't compete" in the second half, getting outscored 10-0 in the first four minutes on the two 3-pointers by Mitchell and layups by Butler and Freddie Gillespie, who recorded his sixth double-double of the season and seventh of his career with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
"If you're going to try to beat a really good team in our league on the road," Prohm said, "forget that we had open shots and we missed shots and all that. We've got to compete better on the defensive end, especially going against a guard group that can dribble, pass and shoot it like Teague, Mitchell and Butler. And they've got toughness and size up front. And then we only lose by (13), so it should make you sick."
Baylor stretched the lead to as many as 20 late in the half before Mitchell ended a 9-0 run by the Cyclones with a layup in the final seconds.
Mark Vital had 11 points, seven rebounds and two steals, helping the Bears dominate the boards, 45-33, and outscore Iowa State by nine in second-chance points, 14-5.
"Credit to Mark, he was rebounding like a monster in that first half," Gillespie said of Vital, who grabbed five boards in the first half. "I think he kind of drew a lot of the guys to him and opened it up for me. The nice thing about having his inside presence is when he starts boarding really well, they look to box him out, and it opens up more rebounds for me. And vice versa."
Sitting beside the 6-9 senior forward in the postgame press conference, Butler added, "And I missed some shots" to help Gillespie's double-double performance.
"Jared missed a couple on purpose, and I got some easy put backs," said Gillespie who was an efficient 6-of-8 from the floor. "That just shows his unselfishness."
Baylor goes back on the road to face Oklahoma State (9-7, 0-4) at 11 a.m. Saturday before a quick turnaround in hosting Oklahoma (11-5, 2-2) in an ESPN "Big Monday" game at 8 p.m. Monday.