No. 4 MBB Falls in Morgantown, 76-64

Saturday, March 7

Morgantown, W.Va.

12 p.m.

Baylor

West Virginia

Photo by: USA Today Sports Images

No. 4 MBB Falls in Morgantown, 76-64

3/7/2020 2:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Postgame Notes

Baylor locks in the two-seed for the Big 12 Championship

          MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Fourth-ranked Baylor entered the day needing some help to win its first conference championship in 70 years.
            While the help never came – Texas Tech lost a down-to-the-wire game against top-ranked Kansas – the Bears didn't help themselves, either.
            Going through extended scoring droughts in both halves, the Bears (26-4, 15-3) ended the regular season with a 76-64 loss at West Virginia (21-10, 9-9) on Saturday, becoming the first team in league history to win 15 conference games and not win the title.
            After a one-year absence, the Jayhawks (28-3, 17-1) won the league championship for the 15^th time in 16 years and wrapped up the outright title with a 66-62 win at Tech.
            "We did everything it normally takes to win conference and we came up short," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team has lost three of its last five after a school- and Big 12-record 23-game winning streak.
            "All year long, we've been banged-up and we've been able to overcome. We'll get regrouped, refocused for the conference tournament and then the NCAA Tournament. But, it does hurt, especially since you haven't won a conference championship since 1950 and you've got a chance to do something like that."
            Already playing shorthanded with 6-10 junior Tristan Clark sidelined by a nagging knee injury, the Bears' interior defense was also affected by constant foul trouble. Mark Vital and Flo Thamba both fouled out, 6-9 senior Freddie Gillespie picked up his fourth foul with 13 ½ minutes to go and sophomore Matthew Mayer didn't return after a first-half injury.
            That led to the Mountaineers dominating the boards, 42-28, getting 15 second-chance points off 16 offensive rebounds and outscoring Baylor, 24-10, from the foul line.
            "Second half, I thought we were in a good position, and that fourth foul on Freddie really hurt," Drew said. "I thought that was a big momentum changer at that point."
            Down by two at halftime, Baylor had just gone up 37-30, on a Devonte Bandoo fast break layup when Gillespie was called for his fourth foul. With Baylor's best rim protector sitting on the bench, West Virginia took control of the game and went on a 12-0 run to go up 49-42.
            The Mountaineers hit their last seven shots from the floor, and the league's worst free-throw shooting team hit 16-of-19 in the last two minutes to seal the victory.
            "They got in the paint a lot, they shot a lot of free throws and their guards did a good job feeding the big man," said Baylor sophomore guard Davion Mitchell, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. "We kept fouling, and we couldn't get clean looks."
            When Baylor beat West Virginia, 70-59, three weeks ago in Waco, the Bears matched the Mountaineers on the boards and scored 16 fast-break points. This time, West Virginia dominated the rebounding battle and gave up just eight points in transition.
            "They didn't allow us to get into transition like we did in the first game," Drew said. "And if you don't do that, then you're facing them in the half-court. They're a big, physical team that's hard to score on, and that's why they're third in the nation in defensive efficiency."
            With West Virginia missing its first eight shots, Baylor jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first five minutes. Mitchell fed Mayer for a layup that gave the Bears their biggest lead of the game.
            The Mountaineers came roaring back, though, going on a 19-2 run as Baylor scored just one bucket in a dreadful nine-minute stretch.
            MaCio Teague had a three-point play at the end of a shot clock, then knocked down a tough bank shot that made it a two-point game at the break, 24-22.
            It was the second-half drought that proved to be too much to overcome. Baylor went almost nine minutes without a field goal as West Virginia went from seven down to a double-digit lead, 65-55, with under two minutes to play.
            For the second time in the last three games, Baylor's defense gave up 50-plus points in the second half. The Mountaineers shot 57.7 percent from the floor and 22-of-30 from the line to outscore the Bears, 52-42, in the second half.
            Sophomore Emmitt Matthews Jr. scored 18 points in his first double-digit scoring effort in conference play, while 6-9 freshman Oscar Tshiebwe had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Jared Butler scored 14 of his game-high 21 points in the second half for the Bears, who also got seven points and 12 rebounds from Vital before both of them fouled out.
            The No. 2 seed for the Big 12 Championship that starts Wednesday at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Baylor has a first-round bye and will play the 6 p.m. game Thursday versus the winner of Wednesday's first-round matchup between seventh-seeded TCU and No. 10 seed Kansas State.