By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Jared Butler's made a habit of coming through in the clutch and putting this Baylor basketball team on his shoulders late in games. 
            But, on a night when the sophomore guard was "just a step off," 6-9 senior forward Freddie Gillespie and the backcourt trio of MaCio Teague, Davion Mitchell and Devonte Bandoo picked up the slack to help the newly No. 1-ranked Baylor Bears survive a scare from Oklahoma and escape with a 61-57 win Monday night before a season-high crowd of 9,217 at the Ferrell Center. 
            "He's bailed us out of situations many times before," said Teague, who had 10 of his team-high 16 points in the first half, "so it's our job to bail him out of situations the same way he does for us. We just try to believe in each other and continue to play together."
            After becoming the seventh different team to earn a No. 1 ranking this season earlier in the day, Baylor (16-1, 6-0) led by double digits at the half and went back up by eight on a pick-and-roll dunk by Gillespie with 1:38 left. 
            But, the visiting Sooners (12-6, 3-3) made things interesting when Austin Reaves and Brady Manek hit back-to-back 3-pointers that made it a two-point game going down to the wire. 
            Butler, who missed his first 10 shots and finished with a season-low four points, also suffered his second turnover of the game when Kristian Doolittle came up with a steal that led to an open 3-pointer in the corner by Reaves that would have given OU the lead. 
            "When you don't (rebound or make free throws down the stretch), you set yourself up to saying a prayer on that last shot," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team is off to its first 6-0 start in conference since going 10-0 in the Southwest Conference in 1948. "Thank goodness, it was answered."
            Bandoo grabbed the backside rebound off the miss, was instantly fouled and hit the clinching free throws with 3.5 seconds left as Baylor ran its winning streak to 15 in a row, the second-longest in program history and second-best active streak in the nation behind San Diego State (19). 
            After hitting four second-half 3-pointers and scoring 16 points in Baylor's 75-68 comeback win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, the senior guard scored five points and matches his career highs with eight rebounds and five assists. 
            "He's been huge the last two games," Drew said of Bandoo. "I know tonight, he didn't really get going shooting-wise, but he hit one big 3 and had eight rebounds and five assists. That's important, because you look at the guard spots, and usually one guard's off. That's why you have to have a lot of guys to pick you up. I thought Jared was just a step off tonight, and Devonte really did a great job helping him and played some great minutes, and especially when Davion picked up his third foul."
            Teague and Mitchell had it going in the first half, combining to hit five 3-pointers and 23 points to help the Bears take a 35-24 lead into the break. 
            "Guys on the team just kept me uplifted all week and just kept finding me and telling me to shoot the ball," said Teague, who scored a team-high 16 points after hitting just two of 16 shots and scoring 11 points total in the previous two games. "And when I made shots tonight, they just kept telling me to step into shots with confidence, even the guys on the bench."
            Dominated on the boards in the first half, the Sooners turned it around in the second half and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds to get back in the game. 
            The 6-foot-9 Manek drained one of his three second-half 3-pointers to pull Oklahoma back within three, 42-39, with 13:10 left, capping a 10-2 run. Baylor seemed to withstand that run and stretched it back to a three-possession game, 59-51, when Bandoo fed Gillespie for the dunk on a perfectly executed pick and roll. 
            "He's a great pocket passer. He gets it to me right in stride," said Gillespie, who recorded his seventh double-double of the season and eighth of his career with 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. "He was telling me, 'We should do that more. I need to get you some points on that.' He came off (the screen) and payed it just perfect."
            That seemingly safe lead all but disappeared when Reaves and Manek hit the back-to-back 3-pointers that cut the Sooners' deficit to 59-57 with 41 seconds left. 
            But, then Baylor's prayers were answered. 
            "In the Big 12, if you want to win a championship, you've got to win your close games," Drew said. "You've got to win your home games, and we did, and that's all that matters. Thanks to everyone for praying on that last shot."
            Manek had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Sooners, who fell to 7-13 all-time in matchups against No. 1 teams and 0-8 in games against top-ranked teams in true road games. 
            "When you look at them, you try to identify where there's a little shortcoming," Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. "Really great guard play and great defensively, great rebounders, real good low post play. I mean, they've got all the ingredients to be what they are. They're the best team in the country right now, and deserving fo that."
            Baylor goes back on the road to face Florida (12-5) in the Big 12/SEC Challenge at 7 p.m. CST Saturday in Gainesville. The Gators play LSU on Tuesday in Baton Rouge, La.