By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider 
            LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas, which had an unprecedented 13-year run as Big 12 champions, kept No. 2 Baylor from winning its first. 
            Still feeling the effects of a three-week COVID pause, the Bears saw their program-best 18-0 start end with a 71-58 loss to 17^th-ranked Kansas Saturday night with a chance to clinch their first conference title in 71 years.
            Baylor (18-1, 10-1) shot just 35 percent from the field overall, hit 6-of-26 from outside the arc, missed 10 of 16 from the line and got pounded on the boards, 48-28, in falling to the Jayhawks (18-8, 12-6) for the 18^th time in 19 trips to Lawrence.         
            "We had three weeks where we got worse," Baylor coach Scott Drew said of the Bears' three-week quarantine earlier this month, "and they had three weeks where they got better, so we've got to catch up."
            When it returned from the pause on Tuesday, the Bears had to overcome an early 17-point deficit in rallying for a 77-72 win over last-place Iowa State. This time, they couldn't overcome their second-straight halftime deficit and trailed in the last four minutes of a game for the first time all season. 
            MaCio Teague, who had a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds, said the Jayhawks "out-toughed us on the glass." After winning a tight rebounding battle in beating Kansas, 77-69, last month in Waco, Baylor had no answer this time, giving up 14 offensive boards and 17 second-chance points. 
            "We lost the glass by 20. We've got to be tougher than that," Teague said. 
            After falling behind by as many as seven early, the Bears clawed back in the game and took a 30-26 lead with under two minutes in the first half when Adam Flagler found Flo Thamba for a layup. Thamba was 4-of-4 from the floor and scored all nine of his points in the first half. 
            Marcus Garrett hit bookend layups in a closing 7-0 run to give Kansas a 33-30 halftime lead that they stretched to double digits in the first five minutes of the second half. 
            Teague hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions and added an and-one free throw on the second one to pull the Bears back within three, 45-42, with 12:41 left. The decisive run came when the Jayhawks scored six unanswered points and closed the game on an 8-2 run after Teague was whistled for a foul on a play when Davion Mitchell appeared to take a charge from Christian Braun. 
            "We didn't quit, we were right there," Drew said. "They drew a foul, and that was the turning point as far as the comeback."
            David McCormack had a monster first half for the Jayhawks, hitting his first five shots and scoring 14 of his game-high 20 points. Garrett (14) and Braun (11) also scored in double figures, with Jalen Wilson grabbing 14 rebounds. 
            "He did a great job finishing around the rim," Teague said of McCormack. "I feel like he was the difference tonight."
            Kansas coach Bill Self also credited his defense: "We weren't good tonight defensively, we were terrific. When we played them the first time, they got anything they wanted."
            Garrett, a finalist for National Defensive Player of the Year along with the Bears' Mitchell and Mark Vital, made it tough all might on All-American guard Jared Butler. He was 1-of-7 from outside the arc and scored five points before fouling out with 43.9 seconds left. 
            "First, you've got to give credit to Marcus," Drew said. "Second, our staff, we've got to do a better job of putting him in better positions. And third, you're going to have nights where you don't shoot it as well. That was tonight."
            Baylor is faced with another tough road test, playing No. 10 West Virginia (17-6, 10-4) at 4 p.m. Tuesday in Morgantown. The Mountaineers, the only other team still alive in the conference race, won their third in a row with a 65-43 blowout of Kansas State.