Hill: George goes for career night in TCU clash

WACO, Texas – Keyonte George poured in a career-best 27 points but his driving layup as time expired missed as No. 17/17 TCU posted an 88-87 comeback win over No. 19/16 Baylor, on Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center. 
 
Baylor (10-4, 0-2 Big 12) saw TCU (13-1, 2-0 Big 12) erase a 17-point first-half lead midway through the second half, and after a back-and-forth final four minutes, the Frogs used a base-line jumper with four seconds left from Chuck O'Bannon Jr.  to take an 88-87 lead. 
 
After a successful inbounds pass got the Baylor ball past halfcourt, George drove to the rim, with his attempt at a game winner just missing as the Horned Frogs held on for the one-point win. 
 
George, a native of Lewisville, Texas, set a new career high with 27 points, doing so on just 13 shots. He made his first four 3-point attempts and his first five shots to open the game and was 11 of 12 from the free-throw line. George added six rebounds and two assists. 
 
Baylor also got 13 points each from LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler, with Cryer returning from a pair of missed games due to concussion protocol. Flagler led the team with six assists. Langston Love went for 10 points, while Josh Ojianwuna added a career-high equaling 11 points with seven rebounds. Jalen Bridges also chipped in seven rebounds with eight points. 
 
The Bears shot 44.4 percent in the game and went 11 for 24 from range. Baylor owned a 17-point lead late in the first half and took a 49-39 lead into half after shooting 61.5 percent in the first stanza, which featured the Bears making nine of their first 11 shots from range and 16 of their first 23 efforts from the field. 
 
The loss snapped a 13-game home winning streak for the Bears, which ranked tied for the fourth-longest in program history. 
 
THE RUNDOWN
The Bears came out bombing in 3-pointers, as Keyonte George sank a trio of triples and LJ Cryer hit the fourth BU 3-point attempt of the game, with the Frogs owning a 13-12 lead at the first media timeout. The Bears used a 16-6 run – featuring six straight points and a fourth George 3-pointer – to take a 25-17 lead midway through the half. 
 
Jalen Bridges gave the Bears the first double-digit lead in the game with a corner 3-pointer to take a 36-26 lead with just over five minutes left in the first half. After Bridges swatted a shot at the rim on the ensuing possession, Flagler sank a wing 3-pointer in transition to give the Bears a 39-26 lead and force a second first-half timeout from TCU coach Jamie Dixon. Langston Love gave the Bears a 48-31 lead with his second 3-pointer of the game. The Bears owned a 49-39 lead at the half, shooting 62 percent on 16 of 26 from the field, while holding TCU to 41 percent, with 19 misses over 13 makes. The Bears were 9 of 13 from behind the arc and owned a 19-11 margin in rebounds. George led all scorers with 16 points. 
 
TCU began a steady comeback to open the second half and used a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 61-56 with 13:18 left in the game and then cut it to one point with an 11-1 run with just 10 minutes left. The Bears missed 11 of their first 13 shots as the Frogs outscored BU 22-13 to open the second half. 
 
Damion Baugh evened the game at 72 with a pair from the charity stripe – part of a 6-0 run – and the Frogs took their first lead since a 13-12 margin with 14:55 left in the first at 76-74. 
 
Flagler then scored five straight, including two at the line and a transition trey to put the Bears back up 79-76 at the final media timeout of regulation. 
 
Emanuel Miller cut the lead to 79-78 with a jumper and George regained the lead for the Bears with a pair at the line. He then swiped a steal and finished at the rim for a five-point lead with 1:52 left. 
 
Eddie Lampkin completed an and-1 with 1:45 left to cut the lead to two but Ojianwuna gave the Bears an 85-81 lead with 1:21 after cleaning up the offensive glass. Lampkin answered with a putback to cut it to two with 64 seconds left and George got the two back at the line with 47.9 remaining for an 87-83 lead. 
 
Miles sank the big shot with 40.2 left, a 3-pointer off the dribble from the wing to cut the lead to 40.2. After a Bridges missed wing triple, TCU got the ball back with 10.9 seconds left, with O'Bannon finding room for the game winner along the baseline with four ticks remaining. 
 
The Bears in-bounds pass and timeout then set up the potential game winner from George, whose drive and attempted finish at the basket narrowly missed. 
 
STAT OF THE GAME
TCU shot 55.6 percent in the second half and held the Bears to 28.6 – with BU going 8 of 28 from the field and 2 of 11 from deep in the final half. The Horned Frogs used a 52-24 margin in points in the paint and a 23-2 advantage in fast-break points to secure the win. 
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will return to action on Saturday, hosting Kansas State at 5 p.m. at the Ferrell Center. The game will be televised live on ESPN and broadcast on the Baylor Sports Network from Learfield. 

No. 17/17 TCU 88, No. 19/16 Baylor 87
Waco, Texas (Ferrell Center)
Jan. 4, 2023
 

• Baylor is now 10-4 on the season, 0-2 in conference play. TCU is 13-1, 2-0 in the Big 12. 
• Baylor had its 13-game home winning streak snapped, the fourth-longest in program history. 
• The top eight Ferrell Center winning streaks have all come under Coach Scott Drew and five of the top eight have come in the last seven seasons. 
• The Bears are 80-5 in the last 85 home games.
• Baylor leads the series with TCU, 105-86, including a 57-40 mark in games played in Waco. 
• BU is 8-2 vs. TCU in Waco since the Frogs joined the Big 12. 
• Coach Scott Drew is 16-5 vs. TCU. 
• Baylor is 24-8 against AP top-25 teams over the last four seasons. 
• Baylor is 42-10 in the Big 12 over the last three seasons, the best league record among power five conference teams. 
• Baylor is 156-91 in Big 12 play in the last 13+ seasons since 2010, after going 54-149 in the league's first 13 seasons
• Drew is 427-237 in his 21st season as a head coach and a school-record 407-226 in his 20 years at Baylor. Since playing without scholarship limitations, Baylor is 373-157 (since 2007-08) under Drew.
• The Bears are 105-10 when leading at halftime over the last six seasons and 74-7 over the last four years.
• Baylor's 49 first-half points are the second-most in 2022-23 and the most since going for 61 vs. Mississippi Valley State in the season lid-lifter. It is the most for BU in a half vs. a league foe since scoring 50 in the second stanza vs. West Virginia in 2021. 
• The Bears started Adam Flagler, Keyonte George, LJ Cryer, Jalen Bridges and Flo Thamba for the team-leading 10^th time on the year, going 7-3 with this starting lineup. 
• Adam Flagler had 13 points, six assists and two rebounds in 31 minutes without a turnover. It was his 13th-straight double-figure scoring effort, including each game of the year, and has scored in double figures in 51 career games, with the Bears going 42-9 in those contests.  
• Flagler has now scored in double figures in 13-straight games.
• Keyonte George had a career-high 27 points on just six made baskets, going 4 of 7 from deep and 11 of 12 from the free-throw line, adding six rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes. 
• George notched a double-figure scoring effort for the 12th time this season. He had 16 first-half points, his season-best for points in a first half. 
• George reached 20+ points for the team-leading fifth time on the year. 
• LJ Cryer finished with 13 points and two assists. He scored in double figures for the eighth time on the year and the 23^rd time in his career, with the Bears going 18-5 in those games. 
• Langston Love had 10 points in 15 minutes. He scored in double figures for the sixth time on the year, with BU owning a 5-1 record in those games. 
• Jalen Bridges made his 66th-consecutive start (14th at Baylor).
• Josh Ojianwuna had a career-high tying 11 points with seven rebounds in 21 minutes, adding a block, assist and a steal. He scored in double figures for the second time on the year and the second time in the last three games. 
• Caleb Lohner played in his 76th-consecutive game (14th at Baylor).
• The program's all-time winningest player, Flo Thamba made his 78^th-straight start and played in his 130^thcareer game, which ties him with Cory Jefferson for seventh most in program history.