Edgecombe, Celestine Lead MBB Past K-State, 70-62

Wednesday, January 22

Waco, Texas

8 PM

Baylor

Kansas State

Edgecombe, Celestine Lead MBB Past K-State, 70-62

1/22/2025 10:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)

Rookie sensation scores career-high 30, sharpshooter adds 18 in victory

Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – At least a half-dozen passes for NBA scouts were still sitting on the credential table near the media entrance of Foster Pavilion Wednesday night long after the Baylor-Kansas State game ended.

Those guys missed one heck of a show.

Projected to be a top-five pick in the NBA Draft, Baylor freshman VJ Edgecombe scored 20 of his career-high 30 points in the second half to help the Bears (12-6, 4-3) overcome a double-digit deficit in beating the visiting Kansas State Wildcats, 70-62, Wednesday night before a sellout crowd of 7,500.

"I think VJ showed tonight why he's so full of potential and somebody that the draft boards have so high," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team snapped a two-game losing streak while beating his longtime assistant, Jerome Tang, for the first time in four tries since he took the K-State job nearly three years ago.

While the 6-foot-4 freshman looked like he had a chip on his shoulder, aggressively taking the ball to the rim, Drew said Edgecombe "did a great job playing with poise."

"He was the one guy getting to the rim and finishing for us," Drew said, "and then, that led to him creating for others. But why we recruited VJ is he's a winner."

That's what was eating at Edgecombe after Sunday's 74-71 loss at home to TCU, when the Bears let a 12-point first-half lead slip away in a game they controlled most of the way.

"I don't think I carried anything on my back," he said. "I had my teammates beside me the whole time."

Not even letting Edgecombe finish that thought, Cal transfer Jalen Celestine chimed in, saying, "He had 30! I don't know what he's saying, he had 30."

"I just want to win," said Edgecombe, whose previous high was 20 points against Tennessee in his native country of the Bahamas. "I do whatever it takes. That took scoring tonight. And I definitely wanted to give Coach Drew his W against Coach Tang, who has a great program over there, and he's a great coach. Coach loves him. I just want to win, man. That's the main thing."

Things certainly weren't looking that good four minutes into the second half, when K-State (7-11, 1-6) pushed a four-point halftime lead out to 40-28, capping off a 10-2 run with a 3-pointer by Dug McDaniel.

It was right about then that Drew switched to a trapping 1-3-1 zone defense and put the ball in Edgecombe's hands to pull the Bears out of the fire.

"Great adjustment by Coach (Drew) going to the zone there in the second half," said Tang, who coached at Baylor for 19 years, helping the Bears win the 2021 national championship. "I thought our guys executed our offensive game plan early and made them switch to the zone. We scored more points in the second half than we did in the first, so it wasn't a matter of scoring. We just had to figure out how to get stops down the stretch."

In losing their sixth-straight game and 15^th in a row on the road, the Wildcats had a 10-0 first-half run and led by as many as 10 before the Bears pulled back within four at the break, 30-26, on back-to-back 3-pointers by Celestine and Miami transfer Norchad Omier.

Answering K-State's quick strike, Edgecombe scored eight-straight points and then capped a 13-2 run overall with a 3-pointer that gave the Bears a 55-50 lead with 6:01 left in the game.

"I just think I was in the zone," said Edgecombe, who was 8-of-13 overall, 3-of-7 from outside the arc and a near-perfect 11-of-12 from the free throw line. "I didn't show that much emotion during that stretch, I was just in the zone, just hooping, having fun, being able to play the game of basketball. It's just a blessing."

Part of that run was a drive to the basket by Edgecombe that got the crowd involved with a rim-rattling dunk.

"The whole run," Drew said. "I think the dunk was huge, but the stops that led to us getting back in it and getting the crowd involved. I thought the crowd really gave us a great lift today. And you've got to have that to win your home games."

Holding the Wildcats off down the stretch, Baylor took care of business at the line, making 11 of its last 14 and 17-of-21 for the game.

Edgecombe, whose previous best was 20 points versus Tennessee, became the first Baylor player with a 30-point game since Jalen Bridges scored 32 versus Texas last year and the first freshman since Keyonte George scored 32 against West Virginia in 2023.

Celestine finished two points off his season high with 18 points and seven boards, hitting 4-of-7 from distance. Freshman Jason Asemota also gave the Bears a lift, hitting a couple of buckets early when nobody was scoring, and providing defense, rebounding and screening to create space for Edgecombe.

"I've got to give a big shout-out to Jason," Edgecombe said, "because we started off a little slow, and he had five quick points. Gave us a spark, helped us stay in the game. His energy, his effort, crashing the glass, all of that."

David N'Guessan recorded a double-double for the Wildcats with 13 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks, with McDaniel and Brendan Hausen scoring 12 points apiece.

Freshman Robert O. Wright III, making his second-straight start for the Bears and fourth of the season, added eight points and five assists with only one turnover in 33 minutes.

Drew, who considers Coach Tang family, visited the K-State locker room after the game "and told the guys to keep fighting and keep believing," Tang said.

"He told them about the time we started 2-8 (in conference), and everybody gave up on us," Tang said of the 2014 season at Baylor, when the Bears won seven of their last eight in conference, had a run to the Big 12 Tournament final and upset third-seeded Creighton to reach the Sweet 16 for the third time in five years.

"This thing can turn. You just have to keep fighting. We're healthy physically, and I feel like we're healthy mentally and spiritually. They've got a lot of fight in them."

Going on the road for their next two, the Bears will face Utah (11-7, 3-4) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Logan and BYU (12-6, 3-4) at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Provo. Baylor blew out the Utes, 81-56, in the conference opener on New Year's Eve, while this is the first matchup of the season with the Cougars.