By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – Still young, Baylor's Foster Pavilion got to witness arguably the best solo performance in the 43-day history of the facility in Tuesday's nationally televised game that pitted a pair of top-25 teams.
 
VCU transfer Jayden Nunn holds that distinction, knocking down six 3-pointers and scoring a season-high 27 points to help the 12^th-ranked Bears cruise by No. 25 Oklahoma, 79-62, before another packed house of 7,500.
 
When Nunn couldn't remember what he had eaten for breakfast (and no, it wasn't Wheaties), freshman Ja'Kobe Walter answered for his junior teammate: "Buckets. He had buckets for breakfast."
 
Tuesday night, he wasn't eating buckets, he was making them from all over the court. Nunn was 6-for-9 from 3-point range, 5-of-6 from the line and added three steals and three rebounds with zero turnovers in 36 minutes.
 
"It was fun seeing Jayden getting hot from 3," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team improved to 18-6 overall and tied for third in the Big 12 at 7-4, a game behind third-ranked Houston and No. 10 Iowa State. "He's had practices like that, he's games, a few like that. But he's capable of that, and we need more of that moving forward."
 
Over the last four games, Nunn has averaged a team-high 16.3 points per game and is shooting a sizzling 52.4% from outside the arc. That happens to be the same thing Baylor did as a team against the Sooners (18-7, 6-6), hitting 11-of-21 from distance.
 
Late in the first half, Nunn hit three 3-pointers in a 16-3 run over a four-minute stretch that turned a tie ballgame into a 13-point halftime lead, 40-27. RayJ Dennis, who had 11 points and eight assists, fed Nunn for bookend fast-break 3-pointers in that pivotal run that also included a 3-pointer and second-chance layup by Jalen Bridges.
 
"I really appreciate my teammates," said Nunn, who was 8-of-12 overall, finishing four points shy of the career high that he had two years ago when he was at VCU. "They show that they trust me and they're looking to get me open and showing that they're not selfish. (OU's defense was) just trying to not let me shoot again. But my team is good enough to just create on their own as well."
 
Oklahoma's struggle was trying to contain any of Baylor's five starters, who all scored in double figures. Bridges had 14 points and five rebounds, freshman 7-footer Yves Missi chipped in with 12 points and Walter had 10 points and a game-high six boards.
 
"It just shows that we're unstoppable," Nunn said. "You can't just stop me. You stop me, you've got to stop the other four. I feel like we're unstoppable, and I feel like we have a lot of players to cover. We've got a bright future ahead of when we're all scoring."
 
Perhaps equally frustrating for the Sooners was a Baylor zone defense that held them to 33% shooting from distance and their second-fewest points of the season. It took a 3-pointer by Otega Oweh, basically at the buzzer, to score more than OU did in a 75-60 loss at Texas.
 
"The most simplistic answer I can give everybody is, I thought they were phenomenal, and we weren't," OU coach Porter Moser said.
 
It didn't help that the Sooners' leading scorer, Rivaldo Soares (17 points), had to leave the game with just under five minutes remaining with an apparent ankle injury. He had to be helped off the court and was taken immediately to the locker room after an awkward fall as he drove to the basket.
 
"He's a tough, tough kid, and he's not putting any weight on it right now," Moser said. "You've got to find answers. No one's going to feel sorry for anybody with injuries. But I feel for Rivaldo. He's been playing great; he has been an energy guy for us."
 
After matching their season high with 21 turnovers in Saturday's 64-61 loss at No. 4 Kansas, the Bears matched their season low with five turnovers against the Sooners, had nine steals and scored 22 points off OU's 12 turnovers.
 
"Hopefully, we left the turnover issue up there (at Kansas)," Drew said. "I feel like 16 (assists) and five (turnovers) is a lot more true to what we've been, taking care of the basketball, than the 21 (turnovers) we had at Kansas."
 
One of the biggest ovations of the night came with 30.6 seconds showing on the clock, when walk-on senior Austin Sacks entered the game. Rewarded with a scholarship during Saturday's College GameDay program, Sacks drained his third 3-pointer of the season.
 
"All of a sudden, it's like the dam broke and he's on fire," Drew said. "It's funny, he goes in and I've got four players on the court calling out what play to run for him. Obviously, the iso was the best one."
 
Playing their next two on the road, the Bears will face West Virginia (8-16, 3-8) at 5 p.m. CT Saturday in Morgantown, W. Va., and No. 19 BYU (18-6, 6-5) at 8 p.m. next Tuesday, Feb. 20, in Provo, Utah.