
No. 9 MBB Takes Down Nicholls, 108-70
11/28/2023 9:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas –Langston Love is the kind of confident shooter that never thinks he's going to miss.
Nicholls State had to feel like he never would.
The Baylor sophomore guard came off the bench to hit eight of his first nine shots and a career-high five 3-pointers in helping the ninth-ranked Bears roll over the visiting Colonels, 108-70, Tuesday night before a Ferrell Center crowd of 7,166.
"Every shot I take, I think it's going in, especially with the confidence that my teammates give me and that we give each other and the coaching staff has in us," said Love, who scored a career-high 23 points. "Why would I not think it's going in?"
On a rare off night for lfreshman Ja'Kobe Walter, who scored just two points and missed seven of his eight shots, Love and the rest of the Baylor (7-0) bench more than picked up the slack, scoring 62 points.
Caleb Lohner added 12 points, and Dantwan Grimes finished with eight points, four assists and three steals. Even walk-on senior forward Austin Sacks got into the act, making his second 3-pointer of the season and scoring the Bears' final points with 22 seconds left.
"We always say you get rewarded if you play the right way," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team has scored at least 88 points in six of its first seven games. "(Love) actually came in and passed up a couple of shots to get better shots. You love it as a coach when guys play the right way and then get rewarded for it. What was really good was when he got going, our players really looked to him. And he did a great job of that."
Facing a Nicholls (3-5) team that had already beaten LSU and lost to then-No. 25 Mississippi State by 13, the Bears got out to a slow start and were clinging to a two-point lead, 15-13, almost 10 minutes into the game.
But sparked by the backcourt combo of Toledo transfer RayJ Dennis and VCU transfer Jayden Nunn, Baylor strung together a pair of 8-0 runs and outscored the Colonels, 11-2, in the closing minutes in pushing the lead to 50-25 at intermission.
"(We're) 7-0 and so blessed to coach this team, how they celebrate each other," Drew said. "I've said it before, their biggest strength can be their biggest weakness. Our depth allows people to have off nights and other people pick them up. They're not used to losing big, but our guys really did a great job, especially defensively in the first half, and taking care of the basketball. Finishing with 25 assists and nine turnovers was phenomenal."
After a relatively quiet first half, Love heated up to score 17 second-half points. During one stretch, he hit a driving layup and back-to-back 3-pointers as the Bears went up 77-44 with just under 10 minutes to play.
Lohner calls Love "a warrior, because there's a lot of people who would be in Langston's position after going through what he's gone through just the last few years with the little injuries and the things going on."
"And then, coming into this year thinking, 'Oh, I'm going to start,' or 'I'm going to play more minutes,' or whatever it may be," Lohner said. "I think Langston's gone about it with such a good attitude. That just shows the chemistry we have, and I think that's going to take us a long way."
With the student section chanting "We want 100," the Bears were more than happy to oblige. Lohner had one of his three second-half dunks, then knocked down a 3-pointer, before Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua made a layup off an assist from Grimes to top the 100-point mark.
While Walter struggled, the rest of the Bears' starting backcourt came through in a big way. Dennis had his first double-double in a Baylor uniform with 14 points and 10 assists, while Nunn added 13 points, giving the Bears four double-figure scorers.
Nicholls had four double-figure scorers as well, led by Robert Brown III with 17 points. Jamal West Jr. had 15 points and eight rebounds before fouling out, while Micah Thomas and Byron Ireland had 16 and 11 points, respectively.
In the middle game of a three-game homestand, Baylor will host Northwestern State (1-6) at 5 p.m. Saturday before facing Seton Hall in the Big 12/Big East Battle at 8 p.m. next Tuesday, Dec. 5. The Bears have just three remaining games in the Ferrell Center before moving into the new Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion in January.
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas –Langston Love is the kind of confident shooter that never thinks he's going to miss.
Nicholls State had to feel like he never would.
The Baylor sophomore guard came off the bench to hit eight of his first nine shots and a career-high five 3-pointers in helping the ninth-ranked Bears roll over the visiting Colonels, 108-70, Tuesday night before a Ferrell Center crowd of 7,166.
"Every shot I take, I think it's going in, especially with the confidence that my teammates give me and that we give each other and the coaching staff has in us," said Love, who scored a career-high 23 points. "Why would I not think it's going in?"
On a rare off night for lfreshman Ja'Kobe Walter, who scored just two points and missed seven of his eight shots, Love and the rest of the Baylor (7-0) bench more than picked up the slack, scoring 62 points.
Caleb Lohner added 12 points, and Dantwan Grimes finished with eight points, four assists and three steals. Even walk-on senior forward Austin Sacks got into the act, making his second 3-pointer of the season and scoring the Bears' final points with 22 seconds left.
"We always say you get rewarded if you play the right way," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team has scored at least 88 points in six of its first seven games. "(Love) actually came in and passed up a couple of shots to get better shots. You love it as a coach when guys play the right way and then get rewarded for it. What was really good was when he got going, our players really looked to him. And he did a great job of that."
Facing a Nicholls (3-5) team that had already beaten LSU and lost to then-No. 25 Mississippi State by 13, the Bears got out to a slow start and were clinging to a two-point lead, 15-13, almost 10 minutes into the game.
But sparked by the backcourt combo of Toledo transfer RayJ Dennis and VCU transfer Jayden Nunn, Baylor strung together a pair of 8-0 runs and outscored the Colonels, 11-2, in the closing minutes in pushing the lead to 50-25 at intermission.
"(We're) 7-0 and so blessed to coach this team, how they celebrate each other," Drew said. "I've said it before, their biggest strength can be their biggest weakness. Our depth allows people to have off nights and other people pick them up. They're not used to losing big, but our guys really did a great job, especially defensively in the first half, and taking care of the basketball. Finishing with 25 assists and nine turnovers was phenomenal."
After a relatively quiet first half, Love heated up to score 17 second-half points. During one stretch, he hit a driving layup and back-to-back 3-pointers as the Bears went up 77-44 with just under 10 minutes to play.
Lohner calls Love "a warrior, because there's a lot of people who would be in Langston's position after going through what he's gone through just the last few years with the little injuries and the things going on."
"And then, coming into this year thinking, 'Oh, I'm going to start,' or 'I'm going to play more minutes,' or whatever it may be," Lohner said. "I think Langston's gone about it with such a good attitude. That just shows the chemistry we have, and I think that's going to take us a long way."
With the student section chanting "We want 100," the Bears were more than happy to oblige. Lohner had one of his three second-half dunks, then knocked down a 3-pointer, before Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua made a layup off an assist from Grimes to top the 100-point mark.
While Walter struggled, the rest of the Bears' starting backcourt came through in a big way. Dennis had his first double-double in a Baylor uniform with 14 points and 10 assists, while Nunn added 13 points, giving the Bears four double-figure scorers.
Nicholls had four double-figure scorers as well, led by Robert Brown III with 17 points. Jamal West Jr. had 15 points and eight rebounds before fouling out, while Micah Thomas and Byron Ireland had 16 and 11 points, respectively.
In the middle game of a three-game homestand, Baylor will host Northwestern State (1-6) at 5 p.m. Saturday before facing Seton Hall in the Big 12/Big East Battle at 8 p.m. next Tuesday, Dec. 5. The Bears have just three remaining games in the Ferrell Center before moving into the new Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion in January.
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