No. 14 MBB Posts 10-Point Win Over Oklahoma

Wednesday, February 8

Waco, Texas

8 PM

Baylor

18-6,7-4Big 12

Oklahoma

12-12,2-9Big 12

Oklahoma

Baylor

Langston Love shoots the three against OU

No. 14 MBB Posts 10-Point Win Over Oklahoma

2/8/2023 10:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Guard trio of George, Flagler and Love combine for 62 points

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Just when it looked like 14^th-ranked Baylor was back to full strength with the return of Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, the Bears battled through the adversity of being down two players in the second half to pull out an 82-72 win over the Oklahoma Sooners Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.
            With LJ Cryer missing the second half with a foot injury and Caleb Lohner limited to three second-half minutes with a similar injury, redshirt freshman guard Langston Love stepped up in a big way with 19 points, hitting 7-of-9 from the floor 2-for-2 from outside the arc.
            "That's why you've got to have depth, because every day is not your day," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team improved to 18-6 overall and 7-4 in the Big 12.
            Coupled with 11^th-ranked Iowa State's 76-71 loss on the road at West Virginia, the Bears moved into a four-way tie for second place in the league, just a game behind fifth-ranked Texas (19-5, 8-3).
            "Y'all hear it all the time, but we just focus on controlling what we can control," said freshman guard Keyonte George, who scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the first half. "That's playing hard, finding each other, running the floor, playing defense. . . . Just go out there and play for each other. We talk about playing for an audience of one, and we try to show that each and every night."
            George, who finished with just 11 points in last month's 62-60 road win over the Sooners (12-12, 2-9), scored 12 in the first 10 minutes of Wednesday's game and had 15 by halftime, helping the Bears take a 41-35 lead.
            "That's a good OU team," George said. "If you stay flat, they can come out and beat you. So, we were just trying to find ways to be efficient and get to the paint. That was really my main focus, and just to make winning plays. That's what I was trying to do in the first half."
            Oklahoma, which lost its sixth-straight conference game, hit its first two shots and got out to a 5-3 lead in the first minute. But George drained a 3-pointer and then finished off a fast break with a dunk to give the Bears a lead they held until the 13:52 mark in the second half.
            Hitting four-straight shots and 6-of-8 during a second-half stretch, the Sooners took a 48-47 lead on a rebound and putback by Tanner Groves. But that lead lasted all of 41 seconds, when Adam Flagler knocked down a jumper.
            After a rough first half, Flagler scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half, hitting 4-of-8 shots from the floor, 2-for-5 from 3-point range and 4-of-4 from the line.
            "They're just really hard, when you've got Langston Love coming off the bench, scoring 19," OU coach Porter Moser said. "You've got those three guards, then you've got guys playing roles like Lohner, who gets offensive rebounds. (Flo) Thamba's stats don't show much of an elite screener he is. He is an elite screener."
            In his second game back from a devastating knee injury that sidelined him for 11 months, Tchamwa Tchatchoua hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to cap off a 6-0 run and then drained another one 2 ½ minutes later in helping the Bears stretch their lead out to seven.
            "God has really blessed him," Love said of Tchamwa Tchatchoua, who has hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points in his two games back. "It's great having him back. He just brings a whole new type of energy. His vibe is just different for us, and I feel like that's what we needed at this point in the season."
`           The Sooners twice got back within four, but they had two costly turnovers late that thwarted their comeback bid. George made four-straight free throws to get it back to a double-digit lead and Jalen Bridges sealed it with two more with 21.6 seconds left.
            "Getting a win is all that matters in the Big 12," Drew said. "So, good, bad, ugly, you can play well and get losses in this league. Winning is what matters most. The crowd tonight, we needed that energy. I know the student section was tremendous."
            Ultimately, Baylor's guards proved to be the difference, scoring 69 of the Bears' 82 points. While George and Flagler both had 20-point games and Love added 19, Cryer scored seven points in the first half.
            Asked if Cryer would be back for Saturday's game against 17^th-ranked TCU, Drew said, "Hopefully, it's something with his foot."
            The Sooners had four double-figure scorers, led by Grant Sherfield with four 3-pointers, 15 points and seven assists. Milos Uzan hit three 3-pointers and added 11 points, with Otega Oweh and Joe Bamisile each scoring 10.
            Baylor goes back on the road to face the Horned Frogs (17-7, 6-5) at 3 p.m. Saturday in Fort Worth. TCU won the first matchup, 88-87, in Waco, but has lost three of its last four, including Tuesday's 82-61 loss at Kansas State.