Baylor
4-0,0-0Big 12
Kansas City
2-1,0-0Summit League
No. 15 MBB Rolls Over Kansas City, 99-61
11/14/2023 11:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bears hit 13 three-pointers on the way to blowout win
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – On Sunday, the Baylor men couldn't buy a 3-pointer, failing to hit a shot from outside the arc for the first time in 33 years.
After seeing a streak of 1,032 consecutive games with at least one made 3-pointer snapped two days earlier, the 15th-ranked Bears (4-0) knocked down 13-of-23 treys in a 99-61 blowout of the visiting Kansas City Roos Tuesday night before a crowd of 7,903 at the Ferrell Center.
The exclamation point came with 1:41 left, when senior walk-on Austin Sacks hit his first bucket in three years. Senior walk-on Austin Sacks hit his first bucket in three years, knocking down a 3-pointer from the wing with 1:41 left, as the bench and crowd erupted.
"He got the cold shower in the locker room," Baylor coach Scott Drew said of Sacks, "and that was really exciting to see the guys be excited for him. . . . The bench, they get the assist. They did a great job calling that out. We had something else, and (the bench) came up with that one. And that was money. They might start giving more advice now."
Sacks was actually the eighth different Bear to hit a 3-pointer in Tuesday's game after the team went a combined 0-for-7 in Sunday's 77-62 win over Gardner-Webb.
"Man, the happiest, love that," said Nunn, who scored a game-high 25 points, hitting 8-of-9 overall, 4-of-5 from 3-point range and 5-for-5 from the line. "We had Coach change the play, the out-of-bounds play."
Nunn and 6-10 sophomore forward Josh Ojianwuna were already standing up off the bench before Sacks even took the shot.
"He's a good shooter in practice," Drew said of Sacks, who was a combined 0-for-6 coming into the game, "but it's tough sitting the whole game and then come out and shoot a 3. Hence, why it's taken three years. I think it was a game ago he had two opportunities. So, it was a matter of time. I'm glad it was tonight, glad we all got to celebrate with him."
Nunn and freshman Ja'Kobe Walter knocked down four 3-pointers apiece and scored 25 and 23 points, respectively.
Baylor was 0-for-9 from outside the arc in Sunday's 77-62 win over Gardner-Webb, but Jalen Bridges knocked one down just 67 seconds into the first half.
"We know our guys are better shooters than what we've shown," Drew said. "But you play a lot of games in a short period of time, legs go. And when legs go, it is harder to shoot. And I thought we had better legs tonight. I thought we had better legs tonight. Guys get used to it. This is the second time now we've played after a day off. So, that's good."
Nunn was near-perfect in the first half, hitting 6-of-7 overall, 3-for-4 from 3-point range and 4-for-4 from the line to score 19 of his game-high 25 points. Scoring in double-figures for the third time in his first four games, Walter had 15 points in the first half, helping the Bears take a 51-33 lead at intermission.
Bridges had 12 points and RayJ Dennis added 11 for Baylor, which had a late 21-4 run to push it out to a 39-point lead.
"I think in practice, we just got a lot of reps up," said Walter, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week. "Coach just told us, step up and make the shot. And that's what we did. We all put the work in. After we saw a couple go in, everybody got the confidence built up. The more we cheer each other on, the more shots that fell."
Grad student Anderson Kopp scored 15 points and JC transfer Jamar Brown added 11 for the Roos, who dropped to 2-1 and evened the all-time series with the Bears, 4-4.
The Bears will play Oregon State (3-0) at 6 p.m. CT next Wednesday, Nov. 22, in the NIT Season Tip-Off at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Baylor will face either Pitt or Florida two days later to close out the NIT Tip-Off.
