Baylor
14-4,3-2Big 12
Texas
13-5,2-3Big 12
No. 9 MBB Topped By Texas in Close Battle
1/20/2024 1:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bears fall by a shot in Austin
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
AUSTIN, Texas –Scott Drew walked out of the Moody Center Saturday afternoon with a timeout in his pocket that the Baylor coach wished he had used.
Ending a drought that had stretched to nine minutes without a field goal for the Bears, Jalen Bridges knocked down a contested, game-tying 3-pointer with 5.1 seconds left.
But Texas guard Tyrese Hunter had a full head of stream as he got to the basket and put up a shot off the glass over Langston Love as time expired, lifting the Longhorns to a stunning 75-73 win over the ninth-ranked Bears before a crowd of 11,603.
"Hindsight, I should have called timeout with five seconds (left) to make sure we set our defense," said Drew, whose team dropped its second-straight on the road after getting back into the top-10.
"We didn't want to give them a chance to draw something up, but obviously anything would have been better than a layup. So, that's on me. Proud of how our guys fought, how they play with a culture of JOY, but we've got to get better."
Texas (13-5, 2-3), which snapped a two-game losing streak, also had a timeout left. But coach Rodney Terry decided to let it play out.
"Don't over-coach," Terry said. "Let those guys do what they do in practice. We got downhill and won the game."
Inbounding the ball after Bridges' 3-pointer, Hunter passed it to Dylan Disu, got the ball back at the top of the key on the far end and then drove it all the way before getting the shot off just before the final buzzer and barely out of the reach of Love's outstretched right hand.
"I knew I had to get down the court," said Hunter, who scored 14 of his team-high 21 points in the first half. "I had already looked at the clock. . . . Get a foul or make a layup."
It was the second-straight punch in the gut for the Bears (14-4, 3-2), who lost to Kansas State, 68-64, in overtime Tuesday night in Manhattan.
"We're just trying to stay positive in the locker room, stay together," said freshman Ja'Kobe Walter, who hit three 3-pointers and scored a game-high 22 points to go with seven rebounds and two steals. "No negative thoughts. Just going to get back to Waco, get back in the lab. Just get better and learn from it."
In a back-and-forth game that featured 10 ties and 21 lead changes, Texas pulled it out despite going 0-for-8 from 3-point distance in the second half after hitting 9-of-11 from distance in the first half in taking a one-point lead, 42-41.
Both teams sizzled in an explosive first half, with Baylor shooting 55.6% overall (15-of-27) and 7-of-12 from 3-point range.
The Longhorns built up an eight-point lead, 36-28, on a Disu 3-pointer late in the first half, but Walter and Jayden Nunn drilled 3-pointers in a 13-4 run that made it a one-point game, 42-41, at the break.
"In games like this, when it's a big matchup, everybody is going to perform," Walter said. "I think that showed in the first half, going back and forth, back and forth. But I think it was fun. It was fun playing in that environment. Bud I'd rather come out with a win."
The Bears took their biggest lead of the game, 58-52, on a three-point play by Bridges with 12:25 left in the game. But they missed six shots in a row down the stretch until Bridges' step-back 3-pointer from the left wing.
"I know we got to the line, so that's a good possession," Drew said. "We had a couple decent looks. But a lot of it is a game of seconds. Yves (Missi), shot clock violation, they get an and-one. It's an inch here, an inch there, and everything's different.
"But we've got to do a better job of executing down the stretch. We're 5-3 in close games, so it's not like we haven't been good in close games. But on the road, you've got to be better."
Bridges was 5-of-9 from distance and scored 17 points, while Nunn and Love had 15 and 10 points, respectively. RayJ Dennis scored only two points, but he had eight assists and only two turnovers in 34 minutes.
Disu added 19 points, Max Abmas 15 and Kalin Shedrick 10 for the Longhorns, who scored 12 second-chance points and finished with a 13-2 edge in fast-break points. Baylor won a tight rebounding battle, 26-24, and shot 50% from outside the arc, hitting 11-of-22.
"One-possession games, you've got to get the 50-50 balls, you've got to get rebounds," Drew said. "They had 12-7 second-chance points. That's normally something that we do. To me, that's the biggest thing that hurt us today. If we do what we normally do on the glass, then it's a different story. So, credit to them."
With third-ranked Kansas upset by West Virginia, 91-85, the Jayhawks (15-3, 3-2) and Bears fell into a five-way tie for third in the Big 12 behind league leaders Texas Tech (15-3, 4-1) and Kansas State (14-4, 4-1).
After a midweek bye, Baylor will host No. 19/22 TCU (13-4, 2-2) at 3 p.m. next Saturday, Jan. 27. The Horned Frogs dropped their second-straight, losing at home to No. 24 Iowa State, 73-72, and will play on the road at Oklahoma State on Tuesday before traveling to Waco.
