Baylor
7-0,0-0Big 12
Michigan State
5-2,0-0Big Ten
No. 6 MBB Captures Battle 4 Atlantis Crown with Win over Michigan State
11/26/2021 12:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bears Have Now Won Four of Last Five Regular-Season Tournaments
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – Dividing minutes pretty evenly among a rotation of eight players, the sixth-ranked Baylor Bears "just keep bringing waves at you."           Â
            Those were the words of Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who went so far as to say, "I kind of enjoyed watching them."
            Well, maybe at least until the second half.Â
            After scoring seven-straight points to take a two-point halftime lead, the Bears (7-0) started the second half on a 17-6 run and rolled to a 75-58 win over Izzo's Spartans (5-2) in Friday's championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis.Â
            "I thought second half today, you saw the best of Baylor basketball," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team won its 31st-consecutive non-conference game and improved to 26-4 in regular-season tournaments since 2013. This is the Bears' fourth title in their last five regular-season tournaments, including the 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis.Â
            "Couldn't be more pleased and proud of these guys. In college basketball, you win with great guards.  . . . I've got a lot of trust in (Adam Flagler and James Akino."
            Akinjo earned tournament MVP honors, scoring a game-high 15 points to go with five assists and three steals with only one turnover. In Baylor's first two games in the tournament, he had a combined nine turnovers and shot just 5-of-17 from the floor.Â
            "I wanted to just give (the MVP award) to the program," said Akinjo, a first-year transfer from Arizona, "because I struggled tremendously the first two games, turning the ball over. (Flagler) continued to trust me and continued to find me. Coach continued to dial me up for pick-and-rolls and be able to do what I do and have an opportunity to go out there and perform. So, it was a team award."
            Trailing by five with 2 ½ minutes left in the first half, Baylor closed on a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer by Flagler and layups by LJ Cryer and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua to go up 38-36 at the break.Â
            Capping off a 17-6 run at the start of the second half, Akinjo turned a steal on the defensive end into a transition 3-pointer that pushed the Bears' lead to 55-42 and forced Izzo to call a timeout.Â
            "Most of the things we do on offense is predicated on our defense," Akinjo said. "Once we're able to establish ourselves defensively, get some stops and get out in transition, we really become fun to watch and hard to guard. We have so many weapons with shooters and finishers."
            Turning up the defensive pressure in the second half, Baylor forced 10 turnovers and held the Spartans to just 22 points. They were 7-of-19 from the floor and 0-for-7 from outside the arc in the second half.Â
            "We know how we want to play out there," said Flagler, who knocked down three 3-pointers and had 11 points, five assists, four rebounds and a steal. "Once we asserted ourselves, we knew we'd get things going. And then from there, we just knew we had to control the game the way we wanted to as guards."
            Getting balanced scoring, Baylor also got 12 points from freshman Kendall Brown, 10 from Tchamwa Tchatchoua and eight points apiece from Matthew Mayer, freshman Jeremy Sochan and Cryer. Â
            "To win a tournament like this, you have to have depth," Drew said. "It's not your game every game. You have to have people that pick you up. Each and every game, we have guys step up and make plays. Definitely the depth is a big reason for our success."
            Gabe Brown and Jaden Akins had 13 and 12 points, respectively, for Michigan State, which had advanced to the championship game with wins over Loyola Chicago and 22nd-ranked UConn.Â
            Outrebounded 18-11 in the first half, Baylor turned it around with a 21-13 edge in the second half and won a tight rebounding battle, 32-31, scoring 16 second-chance points on 10 offensive boards.Â
            The Spartans' Gabe Brown was named to the all-tournament team along with Baylor's Kendall Brown, UConn's Adama Sanogo and Auburn's Jabari Smith. In Friday's other games, UConn defeated VCU, 70-63, in overtime; 19th-ranked Auburn beat Syracuse, 89-68, in the consolation final; and Loyola Chicago dominated Arizona State, 77-59.Â
            After playing four games in seven days, Baylor will take a seven-day break before hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-6) at 4 p.m. next Saturday, Dec. 4, at the Ferrell Center.Â
            "We want to make a long run in March Madness," said Flagler, one of the top returners from last year's national championship team. "And this is a semblance of how it's going to be like. As a team, we came out strong every game. Obviously, they're really good teams, so there are ups and downs. But, as long as we stayed together and put God first, we knew we were going to get the job done."
