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Saturday, January 28

Waco, Texas

3 PM

Baylor

16-5,5-3Big 12

Arkansas

14-7,3-5SEC

Arkansas

Baylor

1/28/2023 10:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

George wins 'emotional game' against Black, Razorbacks

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Despite being rivals in high school and the AAU circuit, Baylor freshman Keyonte George and Arkansas' Anthony Black are best friends.
            "Outside of basketball, outside the lines, we're brothers, we love each other," George said. "A lot of people don't know that we're best friends. I go over to his house, he goes over to my house, we stay at each other's house. So, it was a real emotional game for both of us."
            In the first matchup of the Dallas-area five-star prospects on the collegiate level, the 6-4 George scored seven points in a late two-minute stretch to lift 17^th-ranked Baylor to a hard-fought 67-64 win over the Razorbacks in Saturday's Big 12/SEC Challenge before a season-high crowd of 10,627 at the Ferrell Center.
            "We talked a lot leading up to the game, and we had a lot of fun going at each other," said George, who had 14 of his team-high 24 points in the second half, going 8-of-20 overall and 2-for-5 outside the arc. "But at the end of the day, we're not going to take anything personal that we say to each other in between the lines."
            The son of Baylor Hall of Fame basketball player Terry Black, Anthony scored only seven points, but he contributed in other areas with six rebounds, three assists and one steal with two turnovers in 35 minutes.
            Rallying from an eight-point second-half deficit, Baylor took a 45-44 lead a little over eight minutes into the second half when George finished through contact and completed a three-point play with a layup and free throw when he was fouled by the Razorbacks' Jalen Graham.
            "He's one of the best guards we've ever had as far as finishing through contact," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team won its sixth-straight in improving to 16-5 overall and 8-2 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. "There's an adjustment in high school to college – what's a foul, what's not, and the size and strength. When he's going through chests, he's really good. When he's fading away, obviously, he struggles more."
            Bill Peterson, Baylor's assistant to the head coach and a former NBA assistant coach, advised George about "staying on his feet."
            "He told me that if you land on your feet while you get hit, people are going to say, 'He stays on his feet strong, good body control,''' George said. "He's been helping me with that thus far. . . I feel like I've always had body control, but I really took the time to work on my body and get in shape."
            The Bears took the lead for good on a pair of free throws by Flo Thamba with 3 ½ minutes left, then George had his decisive run with a jumper in the lane, a driving layup and a 3-pointer that gave Baylor its biggest lead of the game, 62-55.
            "In the back of my mind, I know the coaching staff and my teammates, they have a lot of confidence in me," he said. "And I feel like I've proven myself to be able to take those shots in the last couple of minutes. Anybody can do it, it was just me tonight. . . . We're all going to have our turn, and I was able to out there and make some big-time shots to close the game."
            Joking at first that all those plays at the end of the game were designed plays, Drew said, "Nah, it's our guys recognizing who's hot, running good action and him taking advantage of reads."
            With his team-best ninth 20-point game of the season, George bumped his scoring average up to 17.7 per game.
            "We had to gut that one out," he said. "Shots aren't going to fall all the time. We preach controlling what you can control. That's your effort, going to rebound, playing defense. We take care of those things, and ultimately, we should come out with the win. We played hard, fought hard and got a good home win."
           In a quick turnaround, the Bears (16-5, 5-3) will return to conference play to face 10th-ranked Texas (17-4, 6-2) at 8 p.m. Monday at Moody Coliseum in Austin. One of five ranked teams that lost in Saturday's Big 12/SEC Challenge, the Longhorns fell to No. 4 Tennessee, 82-71, in Knoxville.