Baylor
Oklahoma State
No. 2 MBB Rallies to 81-66 Victory at Oklahoma State
1/23/2021 3:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Mark Vital finished with a career-high 19 points
STILLWATER, Okla. – Even without freshman Cade Cunningham, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Oklahoma State led No. 2 Baylor most of the way through the first 28 minutes.
And then, in the blink of the eye – OK, it was actually five minutes – Jared Butler drained three-consecutive 3-pointers in a decisive 19-1 run as the Bears (14-0, 7-0) turned a two-point deficit into a 16-point lead and remained undefeated with an 81-66 road victory over the Cowboys (9-4, 3-4) Saturday afternoon at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
"Man, he's ridiculous," junior point guard Davion Mitchell said of Butler, who followed up his season-high 30 points in a Big Monday win over Kansas with 22 points and six assists, connecting on all five of his second-half attempts from 3-point range. "He can really play the game of basketball, and he's not cocky about it. When he was making those shots, he was telling us, good pass. He cared about his teammates more than himself."
While Butler recorded his 15th career 20-point game and moved to 28th on Baylor's all-time scoring list with 1,067 points, senior forward Mark Vital was a near-perfect 8-of-9 from the floor and finished with a career-high 19 points. He scored more second-half points (12) than his previous season high (9).
"Mark finished well today, and our guys did a great job finding him," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "In the first half, we had quite a few bunnies around the rim and couldn't finish. Credit Mark for really finishing inside."
Baylor, which had never trailed by more than four points all year, got down by as many as nine in the first half and faced just its second halftime deficit. Getting a big boost from 6-9 sophomore forward Kalib Boone (21 points, 7 rebounds), OSU went up 34-25 on a Bryce Williams 3-pointer with 2:22 left that capped an 8-0 run.
Adam Flagler knocked down a 3-pointer that took a little steam out of the Cowboys and helped the Bears close the half on a 7-2 run to pull within 36-32 at the break.
"They played a lot harder than us in the first half," said Mitchell, who had eight points, nine assists and only one turnover. "You could tell, they got a lot of 50-50 balls. In the second half, we tried to limit their 50-50 balls and we tried to get out in transition and get those easy shots that we didn't get in the first half."
From the jump, the second half just looked different. Mitchell fed Vital for a layup 14 seconds into the period, starting another 7-2 run that was capped by a Butler trey, putting the Bears back on top, 39-38.
Vital was 5-of-5 from the floor in the second half, oftentimes finishing in traffic, and added five rebounds, two blocks and a pair of steals. Butler said playing with two point guards in the lineup "makes the offense flow a little better."
"I think that's what we did late," Butler said. "Mark did a great job finishing, Jonathan (Tchamwa Tchatchoua) did a great job finish. (Macio Teague) made some good shots, Adam made some good shots. That's what we need, that's what makes our offense really dynamic."
Oklahoma State still didn't go away and took a 50-48 lead into the under-12 timeout when Keylan Boone buried a 3-pointer and Isaac Likekele made one of two free throws.
"They did a really good job of slowing the game down at the beginning," Butler said. "Our offense was kind of stagnant playing the 2-3 (zone), a lot of stoppages with fouls. It's just always slow at Oklahoma State, it's a tough place to play. They made some huge shots, but I don't think there was ever any panic. We knew we were going to find our groove."
In a game-deciding 19-1 run, Baylor's defense blocked three shots, forced two turnovers and kept the Cowboys off the offensive glass. Dominated on the boards in the first half (23-12), the Bears bounced back in the second half and closed the gap to 37-34, outscoring OSU, 20-16 in second-chance points.
After Baylor took the lead for good on a fast-break layup by Mitchell, Butler hit three-consecutive 3-pointers in a 75-second spurt that pushed the lead to double digits. Finishing off the 15-0 run, Teague knocked down a baseline jumper and Mitchell fed Tchamwa Tchatchoua for a layup that extended it to 67-51 with 6:49 left.
"The depth of our team is ridiculous," Butler said. "We've got guys like Adam Flagler (and Tchamwa Tchatchoua), who would be go-to guys on any other college basketball team. . . . Sometimes, we just wear tams down. I think Oklahoma State only had like seven guys. And by the eight-minute mark, we were still in full throttle because we have so many guys who are just elite-level guys."
Matthew Alexander-Moncrieffe had a double-double for the Cowboys with 13 points and 10 rebound, with Williams hitting three 3-pointers and chipping in with 11 points. Likekele, who came in averaging 12 points, was just 1-of-8 from the floor and finished with nine points and seven assists.
Home for its next two games, Baylor will host Kansas State at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Auburn next Saturday in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
