Baylor
3-0,0-0Big 12
Illinois
3-1,0-0Big Ten
No. 2/1 MBB Tops No. 5 Illinois in Jimmy V Classic
12/2/2020 11:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Four Bears finish in double figures
INDIANAPOLIS – After a pair of blowouts in the Vegas Bubble, the No. 2/1 Baylor Bears got pushed by No. 5 Illinois in Wednesday's Jimmy V Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
And they pushed back.
Sparked by a stifling defense and an offense that came alive in the second half, Baylor (3-0) used a 9-0 second-half run to pull away late for an 82-69 victory.
"It started off with the defensive end, getting stops and getting in transition and then sharing the ball," said junior guard Davion Mitchell, one of four double-figure scorers with 15 points, seven assists and two steals. "It really hurt them when we started getting dunks and sharing the ball, getting open 3's and just getting steals. We knew they would tap out eventually."
Quarantined for a positive COVID test when the Bears dominated Louisiana and Washington, head coach Scott Drew was back on the bench for Wednesday's game against the Fighting Illini (3-1).
"First half, our defense kept us in it. Second half, our offense came alive and played a lot more like we're capable of," Drew said. "Normally, how we share the basketball and when both ends of the court are working in tandem, we're a fun team to watch."
Leading by just one at the break, 31-30, Baylor dominated the boards in the second half, 20-10, while shooting 54.5 percent from the field (18-of-33), knocking down five 3-pointers and turning it over just twice. Illinois came in as the No. 1 rebounding team in the country, but Baylor finished with a 38-35 edge on the boards.
"I was very proud of how we did on the glass, because Illinois is a tremendous rebounding team, one of the best in the country," Drew said. "To beat them on the glass was a great accomplishment."
On the defensive end, the Bears held preseason All-American Ayo Dosunmu and freshman Adam Miller to a combined 22 points on 8-of-29 shooting. Kofi Cockburn, a 7-footer who came in averaging a double-double, was plagued with foul trouble and finished with just seven points and four rebounds in 18 minutes.
Baylor's bench produced 34 points, including a game-high 18 points from sophomore transfer Adam Flagler. Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua rotated with Flo Thamba and finished with nine points and nine rebounds, while Matthew Mayer had seven points, seven boards, two blocks and a steal.
"That's one blessing we have is depth," Drew said. "When you have depth, that means you have multiple guys that can step up. That's when you know you have a good team. Not everyone is always going to have their 'A' game. Some nights, you're just going to be off . . . or maybe you're a step slower. That's the great thing about having depth is you have different people that can step up at different times."
In a back-and-forth game that featured 10 ties and 14 lead changes, Baylor took the lead for good, 45-43, on a pair of free throws by Tchamwa Tchatchoua with 12:51 remaining. Dosunmu, who scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half, buried a 3-pointer that kept the Illini within reach at 56-51.
The Bears' decisive 9-0 run started with a five-point possession. Mitchell fed Thamba for a dunk and then drained a 3-pointer after rebounding Thamba's free throw miss, pushing the lead to double digits for the first time, 61-51.
Capping off the run, Mayer had a steal that led to a Teague layup and then hit a pull-up jumper after blocking a shot on the defensive end, making it 65-51.
"Defensive rebounding is one area that our staff was impressed with, that we felt like he'd improved on, and we're excited for that," Drew said of Mayer. "That allows him, when he's on offensively, to be even that much better. He's obviously capable on the offensive end, but the defensive end and rebounding, you want (those areas) to be consistent. And he's giving us that."
Illinois fought back to within single digits four times, the last coming on a pair of free throws by Andre Curbelo, but a Mitchell 3-pointer with 1:07 remaining ended any comeback hopes.
Dosunmu (18), Curbelo (11) and 6-9 forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (15) scored in double figures for the Illini, while Jared Butler and Teague had 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Bears.
"It wasn't just me," Mitchell said of Baylor holding Dosunmu to 6-of-18 shooting. "It was our other guards, too. We really locked into him. We listened to the scout, we made sure he didn't get to that right hand. Our guards, we all locked up."
Wrapping up the season-opening, four-game road trip, Baylor will face No. 2/1 Gonzaga (3-0) at noon CST Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. In the first half of Wednesday's Jimmy V Classic, the Zags defeated 11th-ranked West Virginia, 87-82.
"This gives us a lot of confidence, because we know we can play with anyone," said Mitchell, who was 4-of-5 from 3-point range. "We know we can play defense and we can score the ball, so we just have to play with each other."
