Baylor
6-2,0-0Big 12
Gonzaga
5-3,0-0WCC
No. 6 MBB Edges No. 14 Gonzaga, 64-63
12/2/2022 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Flagler hits pair of late three's to propel Bears over Bulldogs
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Just three days after getting shredded for 96 points in a blowout loss at Marquette, sixth-ranked Baylor held the nation's No. 1 offense to a season low in beating 14th-ranked Gonzaga, 64-63, Friday night in the inaugural Peacock Classic before a sellout crowd at the Sanford Pentagon.
"I think we bought into what we needed to do," said freshman Keyonte George, who scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the first half, "and it showed."
In a rematch of the 2021 national championship game that Baylor dominated, 86-70, the Bears (6-2) held the Zags (5-3) to 36.1% shooting from the field and 27.3% from outside the arc (6-for-22). All-American forward Drew Timme, who came in averaging 20 points per game, didn't hit his first bucket of the game until the final six minutes and finished with nine points and five boards before fouling out.
"Drew is one of the best players to ever play college basketball," Baylor coach Scott Drew said of Timme, who was also shut down in the national championship game. "I thought Flo (Thamba) and Josh (Ojianwuna) did a great job, but really you focus your team defense. . . . I thought the rest of the guys on the court had great Timme awareness and made everything tough for him."
In a second half that featured 12 lead changes, Gonzaga had a late 8-0 run to go up 63-56 on a Malachi Smith dunk with 1:41 left in the game. But Adam Flagler, who missed nine of his first 11 shots, drained back-to-back 3-pointers in a 24-second stretch that got the Bears back within one, 63-62.
"Adam's a great leader, a great winner," Drew said of Flagler, who scored 11 points for his 10th-straight double-digit effort, "but no one knew that he wasn't feeling well today. To be honest, some players wouldn't have played. But he played for his team, and he left it all out on the court. I know as a coach, I appreciate that. I think Keyonte and the other guys tried to pick it up and help cover him, but I thought he was a real warrior today."
After a shot-clock violation by Gonzaga, Flagler missed a contested 3-pointer, but Jalen Bridges grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Timme with 16.2 seconds left. On a night when he was just 2-for-8 from the field and finished with nine points, Bridges calmly sank both free throws to give the Bears the lead back.
"He's had a rough start, and he was able to come down and make two big free throws," George said. "That was kind of the game-winning play for us."
There was a lot of game packed into those final 16.2 seconds. Dale Bonner tipped a Rasir Bolton pass off the fingertips of the Zags' Nolan Hickman that gave Baylor the ball back with 6.2 ticks left, but Bridges' inbounds pass went off George to give Gonzaga one more chance with 4.6 seconds remaining.
Taking the inbounds pass near the foul line on the opposite end, Bolton drove by Flagler but missed a wild shot off the glass at the buzzer when George provided help-side defense.
"No one felt good about our performance, we were embarrassed at Marquette," Drew said. "The staff worked hard to change some things and players did a great job buying in, carrying out the game plan. At the end of the day, they're responsible for holding the No. 1 offense to 63 points."
One of the key changes, Drew said, was trying to "help each other out a little more, not leave defenders on an island as much."
"I thought the help-side awareness, the aggression, guarding the ball, I thought all of that was really improved," he said.
Baylor jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the first six minutes and was up by as many as 12, at 30-18, thanks mainly to the hot hand of George.
"I was trying to get to the goal at times, and it freed up my shot, and I was able to knock them down," said George, who added six rebounds, two assists and two steals. "My teammates believe in me each and every day. So, that gave me a lot of confidence to make big shots in a big game like this."
Gonzaga whittled the deficit to five by halftime, 38-33, and went up 41-40 on a layup by Anton Watson, who recorded a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Zags dominated the boards, 47-32, and got 16 second-chance points off 16 offensive rebounds.
There were 10 more lead changes over the next 15 minutes before Bridges provided the game winner with his free throws with 16.2 seconds left.
"I think that's the rule of sports, right?" Drew said. "You get two great offenses, and it's supposed to be a high-scoring game, and it ends up being a defense fest. I think (Gonzaga coach Mark Few) probably realizes for his program that's an area they need to improve, because they're elite offensively. Same thing with us. Both of our defenses haven't been as good as our offenses. And for us to do what we normally do, that has to improve. Tonight, both of us took a big step forward."
Baylor returns home to host Tarleton (4-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Ferrell Center. Under the direction of Billy Clyde Gillispie, a former Baylor assistant (1994-97) who has also been the head coach at Kentucky, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and UTEP, Tarleton defeated Boston College, 79-54, in the Paradise Jam semifinals for its first-ever win over a Power 5 opponent.
