Baylor
16-2,4-2Big 12
West Virginia
13-4,2-3Big 12
No. 5 MBB Bounces Back with Road Win at West Virginia
1/18/2022 6:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LJ Cryer Led the Bears with a Career-High 25 Points
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Matthew Mayer didn't even want to think about what the practices were going to be like if fifth-ranked Baylor lost its third-straight game.
Mayer and sophomore guard LJ Cryer made sure it didn't happen.
Playing without point guard James Akinjo and freshman forward Jeremy Sochan, Cryer and Mayer hit a combined 10 3-pointers and scored a career-high 25 and 20 points, respectively, as the Bears (16-2, 4-2) defeated West Virginia, 77-68, Tuesday afternoon before a crowd of 12,692 at WVU Coliseum.
"Three losses would have been pretty tough," said Mayer, who was 5-of-8 from outside the arc, adding four rebounds, four steals and two assists. "This does a lot for us. It just gives us confidence that we can get back on track and win the Big 12."
Despite being shorthanded, Baylor was able to snap a two-game losing streak after dropping back-to-back home games last week, beating West Virginia (13-4, 2-3) for the fifth time in the last six meetings and winning for the sixth time in 10 trips to Morgantown.
"Anytime you come to West Virginia, you've got the students out there an hour and a half beforehand, a packed arena," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. "You've got to earn a win here. As a staff, we couldn't be more proud of our team's effort. Win or lose, I thought we really prepared well and competed hard. We're proud of a lot of the things we did today."
They certainly shot it well, hitting 47% overall (28-of-60), 44% from 3-point range (12-of-27) and 82% from the free throw line (9-of-11).
After a slow start in Saturday's 61-54 loss to Oklahoma State, Baylor came out on fire, hitting 12 of its first 19 shots and jumping out to a 30-14 lead 12 minutes into the game.
"Definitely on the road, you have to get out to a good start," Drew said. "Credit the guys for making the tough plays and getting the rebounds and stops that allowed us to get in transition and get high-percentage shots and good execution on offense"
As Drew said, "you know West Virginia is going to make a run." And the Mountaineers did just that, capitalizing on five Baylor turnovers and going on a 14-0 run to make it a 37-33 game at the half.
Taking its first lead since early in the first half, West Virginia outscored the Bears, 15-8, to start the second half and went up 48-45 on a Sean McNeil 3-pointer.
"This is what happens in a game," Mayer said. "Runs happen. We didn't really get rattled. We just controlled what we can control."
The lead changed hands three times before Baylor took the lead for good, 56-54, when Mayer hit three-straight free throws after getting fouled by McNeil on a three-point shot.
"Matt had to be aggressive, knew he had to be assertive on the scoring front to make up for Jeremy and James being gone," Drew said. "Sometimes people try to press, try to do more, but they do the wrong thing, which leads to bad results. He just tried to be really effective and efficient, and he did that."
West Virginia got back within one, 60-59, on a three-point play by Gabe Osabuohien, but Mayer and Adam Flagler buried back-to-back 3-pointers and then Flagler drained another one that put the Bears up double digits, 71-61, with 3:22 left.
Filling in at point guard for Akinjo, who sat out the game with a lower back injury, Flagler bounced back from a four-turnover first half with zero in the second half and finished with 14 points and seven assists.
"I was telling him at halftime, 'Bro, I know you're playing point guard, but the best thing you do is shoot,''' Mayer said of Flagler. "Sometimes, he gets in a slump and your confidence can just go down. . . . I think he was hesitating on his shots, but I told him, 'You might be the best shooter here besides me. So, just let 'em rip.'''
Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua gave Baylor its fourth double-figure scorer with 10 points and seven rebounds, hitting 5-of-6 from the floor. Malik Curry scored 19 points off the bench to lead the Mountaineers, while Taz Sherman and McNeil had 18 and 17, respectively.
"It's tough when you're a banged-up team," Drew said. "I look at the Oklahoma State game, and I put more of the blame on myself. James tried to go, and I wanted him to have that opportunity. We want him back when he can be effective. You love his toughness, but I thought we put the team and him in a bad situation last game. So, I didn't want to make that mistake again."
The Bears go back on the road to face Oklahoma (12-6, 2-4) at 2 p.m. Saturday in Norman. OU dropped its third-straight and fourth in its last five games, losing a late lead in falling at home to seventh-ranked Kansas, 67-64.
