No. 14 MBB Falls in Triple Overtime to TCU

Saturday, January 27

Waco, Texas

3 pm

Baylor

102

105

TCU

Ja'Kobe Walter sends game with TCU to second-overtime with three-pointer

No. 14 MBB Falls in Triple Overtime to TCU

1/27/2024 6:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Bears have two players finish with a double-double

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – No, this wasn't Christmas in July. More like March Madness in January.

In a classic battle that had all the makings and atmosphere of an NCAA Tournament game, 15^th-ranked Baylor and TCU went at it for 55 minutes before Jameer Nelson Jr. rebounded his own miss and scored on a putback to lift the Horned Frogs to a 105-102 triple-overtime stunner Saturday before a sellout crowd at Foster Pavilion.

After Nelson's go-ahead bucket with 10 seconds left, RayJ Dennis tried to drive inside and draw a foul or finish at the rim, but 6-11 TCU center Ernest Udeh Jr. held his ground and blocked the shot as the Frogs (15-5, 4-3) beat Baylor (14-5, 3-3) for the second-straight time in Waco.

"We just didn't close it out," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team dropped its third in a row by a total of nine points. "The crowd was awesome and gave us a great opportunity. So many close plays that lead to winning or losing. I know it takes a spark to start a fire, and we're at that point where we need to get a win and get some confidence back."

The Bears have gone to overtime three times in their first six Big 12 games, with all six games decided by single digits. This was the first time Baylor went at least three overtimes for the first time since beating Texas A&M, 116-110, in five overtimes in College Station on Jan. 23, 2008.

"That's kind of been our game for the last three of them," said Dennis, who had a double-double with 24 points and 10 assists, giving Baylor its last lead, 102-101, with a driving layup with 39 seconds left. "It came down to one possession, three overtimes. That's kind of how it's been. . . . We've got to take away second-chance points. We gave them too many chances after getting stops."

TCU scored 13 second-chance points off 12 offensive boards, but none bigger than Nelson's putback off his only rebound of the game.

"I felt like it could have went anyone's way in any of those overtimes, honestly," said Nelson, who scored a game-high 30 points off the bench, hitting 11-of-18 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. "From what I've learned, that's the Big 12. It was like that versus Cincinnati. You've just got to be ready for the swings. It's high-level basketball, for sure."

Baylor got a career-high 25 points from freshman 7-footer Yves Missi, who added nine rebounds, one block and a steal while playing 42 minutes. Fellow freshman Ja'Kobe Walter knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left in the first overtime and finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

"Where I was really proud of Yves," Drew said, "when he first got here, we asked him to get tougher. He had strep throat and pinkeye yesterday, and he played today. So, hat's off to him."

Closing the first half on a 9-2 run, capped by a Missi layup off an assist from Dennis, the Bears were up 40-35 at the break. The lead ballooned to 52-42 on a three-point play by Dennis with 13:18 left in regulation.

"Defensively, I thought we did some really good things, and yet they still scored 102 points," TCU head coach Jamie Dixon said. "Their offense is so hard to guard because of their rollers and their shooters and their playmaker (Dennis)."

Baylor still led by eight with 7 ½ minutes to go, but the Horned Frogs reeled off seven unanswered points on a pair of free throws by Nelson, a Chuck O'Bannon 3-pointer and a Micah Peavy jumper to make it 64-63.

"I don't know if this is his season-high," Drew said of O'Bannon, a seventh-year player who scored in double figures for the fourth time this year with 11 points, hitting 3-of-4 from 3-point range. "But if he saw every game, he'd be an all-league dude, because he's a monster against us."

O'Bannon hit two more 3-pointers in the last three minutes of regulation in a stretch that saw TCU hit seven-straight shots before Emanuel Miller missed a pull-up jumper with four seconds left.

The Frogs had a five-point lead with under 1 ½ minutes left in the first overtime, but Miller missed a pair of free throws that left the door open for Walter's last-second trey that tied it up at 88-88.

Both teams struggled in the second overtime, missing a combined seven shots in the last three minutes. The Bears had a shot to win it, holding it for a last shot, but Dennis missed a fade-away 3-pointer as time expired with a 94-94 tie.

"We didn't really get a good look," Drew said. "We ran the same play, and they were having trouble stopping it, and we had some really good looks from there. But we were hoping to get more of a kick, and it was the same ball-screen action that RayJ had been so effective on."

Baylor scored the first four points in the third OT period and led by three with two minutes to play. But TCU scored off a turnover and then took a one-point lead on a pair of Nelson free throws, closing the period with an 8-2 run.

"Three buzzer-beaters in a row really puts you in a great mood," Drew said. "We worked really hard get better in game-ending situations. And I think we've shown improvement. Our free-throw shooting is better, but not good enough. Our rebounding, we needed one more to win that second-chance battle."

Langston Love also had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for the Bears, who won a tight rebounding battle, 44-37.

TCU had four other players in double figures, including Miller with 21 points. Micah Peavy added 18, Trevian Tennyson 15 and O'Bannon 11.

Baylor will go back on the road to face UCF (12-7, 3-4) at 6 p.m. CDT Wednesday in Orlando, Fla. One of four league newcomers, the Knights lost to Cincinnati, 68-57, Saturday night on the road.