No. 1 MBB Books Elite Eight Spot Over No. 5 Villanova

Saturday, March 27

Indianapolis, Ind.

4:15 pm

Baylor

Villanova

No. 1 MBB Books Elite Eight Spot Over No. 5 Villanova

3/27/2021 6:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Bears overcome seven-point halftime deficit with 39-21 effort in second half

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            INDIANAPOLIS – Villanova did something that few if any teams have been able to do to top-seeded Baylor this season.
            Not only did the Wildcats hold the Bears to a season-low 23 first-half points, Baylor had its worst 3-point shooting percentage (.158) and fewest made 3-pointers (3-of-19) of the season.
            All the Bears did was turn the tables, forcing fifth-seeded Villanova into an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers and outscoring the Wildcats by 18 points in the second half in coming back from a seven-point deficit for a 62-51 win in Saturday's Sweet 16 matchup at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
            "Every team in the country wants to go to a Final Four. We're on the verge of that," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose 25-2 team will face third-seeded Arkansas (25-6) at 8:57 p.m. CDT Monday at Lucas Oil Stadium with a Final Four berth on the line. "Experiences always teach you lessons. And hopefully, our staff will be able to prepare our guys and put them in a good position through the two experiences in the Elite Eight."
            Baylor struggled to get anything going offensively in the first half, hitting just 2-of-12 from outside the arc and 10-of-29 overall. The Bears did score 10-straight points, capped by a Jared Butler 3-pointer, to go up 18-11.
            Caleb Daniels and Justin Moore answered with back-to-back 3-pointers in a 13-0 run that put Villanova up 30-23 at the halftime break.
            "Going in at halftime, Coach told us we could get to the paint anytime we wanted," said Davion Mitchell, who was 0-for-3 from 3-point range but one of only two double-figure scorers with 14 points. "All of our missed 3's off the dribble, we were basically bailing them out. We weren't making them guard. We were shooting contested 3's. But, I think we did a great job the second half getting to the paint."
            After scoring just 12 points in the paint in the first half, the Bears' first 24 points of the second half came on layups or short jumpers in the lane. Starting with quick buckets by Flo Thamba and Mark Vital, Baylor opened the second half on a 16-9 run and tied it at 39-39 on a driving layup by MaCio Teague.
            Cranking up the pressure on the defensive end, the Bears forced turnovers on five-consecutive possessions and took the lead for good, 43-41, on a driving layup by Butler with 9:34 left. Villanova's Brandon Slater went out with an ankle injury right before that, with Baylor going on another extended run that pushed the lead to 56-47.
            "Really credit to Davion," Drew said. "We've got three guys who are all top-15 defenders – Jared, Davion and Mark. But, Davion sets the pace up top. To force Villanova into 16 turnovers, I don't know when the last time they had 16 turnovers. Normally, they're in the sixes and sevens and eights. So, our guys really did a great job."
            The Wildcats had turned it over just six times in their previous two NCAA Tournament games and led the nation with 8.8 turnovers per game. But, they had nine in the second half alone.
            "They really got into our guards and prevented us from initiating offense," said Villanova coach Jay Wright, who lost senior point guard Chris Gillespie five games ago to a season-ending knee injury. "They just contested every pass, every cut. It actually took us out of running our offense, and we had to try to just drive the ball and get some post-ups, but we didn't do a very good job of that. But, I think the credit goes to their defense."
            On a day when the rest of the team struggled from 3-point distance, Adam Flagler knocked down two of them and then sealed it with six-straight free throws in the last minute, finishing with a game-high-tying 16 points.
            Jermaine Samuels and Chris Moore had 16 and 15 points, respectively, for the Wildcats, who had won two of the previous four NCAA championships in 2016 and 2018. Third-team All-American Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had eight points and 12 rebounds, helping Villanova match the Bears on the boards, 31-31, and finish with a 16-10 edge in second-chance points.
            Baylor turned it over just once in the second half and six times for the game, shooting 53.3 percent over the last 20 minutes to rally from that halftime deficit.
            Butler, a Wade Trophy finalist and first-team All-American, had one of his toughest games of the season. He scored nine points, hitting just 1-of-9 from 3-point range and missing all three free throws, including the front end of a one-and-one late in the game.
            Advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2012 and the third time in the last 11 tournaments, Baylor will face former Southwest Conference-rival Arkansas (25-6) in Monday's South Region final. The Razorbacks came back from a 12-point second-half deficit to defeat 15^th-seeded Oral Roberts and former Baylor assistant Paul Mills, 72-70.
While Arkansas is playing in its first Elite Eight since a loss to UCLA in the 1995 national championship game, the Bears are trying to make their first Final Four in 71 years.
            "Our whole life, we've been working for this moment," Mitchell said. "We love to win. We love to keep playing and we love being in the Elite Eight, obviously. So, we're going to keep playing our hardest and go 1-0 each day."