Baylor
Hartford
No. 1 MBB Rolls to 79-55 Win over No. 16 Hartford to Open NCAA Tournament
3/19/2021 4:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MaCio Teague led the Bears with 22 points
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
INDIANAPOLIS – For MaCio Teague, it doesn't matter if it's an outdoor court, a domed stadium or a downtown rec center. Every gym is a shooter's gym.
While the top-seeded Baylor Bears struggled to find their rhythm in the first 12 minutes of Friday's NCAA Tournament opener at Lucas Oil Stadium, missing 13 of their first 18 shots, Teague knocked down 4-of-8 from outside the arc and scored 22 points in a 79-55 win over 16th-seeded Hartford (15-9).
"It's pretty different, but I feel like it's a mind thing," said Teague, who was 9-of-17 from the floor overall. "People will tell you that it's different. You get in your mind, 'it's not a shooter's gym,' but I feel like any gym is a shooter's gym, so just try to lock in and make shots."
Baylor (23-2) advances to face ninth-seeded Wisconsin (18-12) in Sunday's second-round game at a site and time to be announced. The Badgers blew out eighth-seeded North Carolina, 85-62, handing UNC head coach Roy Williams his first NCAA Tournament first-round loss.
"Coming into this tournament, I knew teams would be nervous," said Baylor coach Scott Drew. "A lot of guys, it was the first time in the tournament. We've been here for a little bit, and anticipation was high. I thought the beginning of the game, that was indicative, and maybe why teams got off to a slow start offensively."
Both teams struggled offensively through those first 12 minutes, combining to hit just 11-of-35 shots overall and 3-of-12 from 3-point distance and turning it over 13 times.
The upset-minded Hawks jumped out to an early four-point lead and then went back on top, 14-13, on a fast-break layup by Miroslav Stafl. But, coming out of a timeout, Jared Butler had an alley-oop pass to Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua that he flushed for Baylor's first points in over three minutes.
Adam Flagler drained a corner trey, then Tchamwa Tchatchoua dunked off a feed from Matthew Mayer to finish off the 7-0 run and give the Bears the lead for good.
"I thought the nerves kind of calmed down, and we were able to get into transition and the guards were really sharing the ball well, getting good looks," Drew said. "Once we got a couple breakaways – Jon had that dunk – I thought the guys started to relax and felt a lot more comfortable."
After the cold start, the Bears hit 10 of their last 13 shots and had a comfortable 37-21 lead at the break. Even with defensive stopper Mark Vital picking up two fouls in the first two minutes, Baylor's defense clamped down to hold the Hawks to just 8-of-27 shooting overall (29.6%) and 3-of-12 from outside the arc in the first half.
"Mark is such a great defender," Drew said. "Normally, when he goes out of the game, first and foremost, you worry about the loss of intensity and focus, and he covers up a lot of mistakes with his aggressiveness and toughness and rebounding. Matt (Mayer) did a really good job. And when MaCio played there, he did a great job. I thought the team really picked him up."
Baylor seemed to find its rhythm on the offensive end in the second half, knocking down seven 3-pointers and scoring 42 points. The lead quickly ballooned to 22 in the first 2 ½ minutes of the second half, but Hartford clawed back to within 43-30, going 4-for-4 from the line after Vital was hit with a foul and technical to foul out with 14:19 left in the game.
Answering right back, Baylor scored 10 unanswered points in a run that included 3-pointers by Teague, Mayer and Davion Mitchell. Baylor's four-guard rotation of Teague, Butler, Flagler and Mitchell combined for 59 points and 10 3-pointers.
"(Butler) didn't have a great shooting night, but we'll take nine assists and five steals," Drew said of Butler, who finished with 13 points, but was just 5-of-16 overall and 1-of-8 from 3-point range. "Jared did a great job knowing that Macio was starting to feel it, trying to find not only the open guy but the hot guy."
The Bears took their biggest lead of the day, 76-47, when Tchamwa Tchatchoua found an open Flagler for a 3-pointer after freshman LJ Cryer rebounded his own miss. Emptying the bench for the last 2:20 of the game, Baylor's last points came on a Cryer free throw and a reverse layup by senior walk-on guard Mark Paterson.
Flagler, who was just 1-of-13 from outside the arc in the previous six games, drained 3-of-5 against Hartford and finished with 13 points, four rebounds and two steals off the bench.
"Just because you miss shots doesn't mean you're playing bad," Teague said. "Flag, he made some shots tonight, and the average eye is going to say he's playing good now. But Flag, he does things for us other than score the basketball and make 3's. He's been doing just fine in my opinion."
Mitchell added 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Bears, who dominated points off turnovers, 22-7, and scored 17 second-chance points off 14 offensive boards. Mayer chipped in with eight points and nine rebounds, helping Baylor's bench outscore Hartford's reserves, 27-12.
Hartford, making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, was led by Austin Williams with 19 points and Traci Carter with 11 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
In the other half of the South Region bracket, former Baylor assistant Paul Mills led 15th-seeded Oral Roberts to an overtime upset of second-seeded Ohio State, 75-72. Video from the end of the game was being shown on the big scoreboard in Lucas Oil Stadium.
"I think I was the only one not sneaking a peak. I was talking (during a timeout)," Drew said. "All the guys are watching, our coaches are watching. I'm like, 'What's going on?' Then they told me Coach (Jerome) Tang was actually crying he was so excited. I think I was the only one on our team not watching. That's what you get for facing the wrong way."
Grant McCasland, another former Baylor assistant coach under Drew, led 13th-seeded North Texas to its first-ever NCAA Tournament win, knocking off fourth-seeded and 20th-ranked Purdue in overtime, 78-69.
Game times and sites for the next round will be announced following the completion of Friday's first-round games.
