Omier, Edgecombe lead MBB to 76-61 road win over Utah

Saturday, January 25

Salt Lake City, Utah

3:30 PM

Baylor

13-6,5-3Big 12

Utah

11-8,3-5Big 12

Baylor

Utah

Omier, Edgecombe lead MBB to 76-61 road win over Utah

1/25/2025 6:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Bears secure second road victory of the season

BaylorBears.com

LOGAN, Utah – Maybe seven really is enough.

Playing shorthanded for the seventh-straight game, and strapped with foul trouble to boot, the Baylor Bears got a combined 43 points from Miami transfer Norchad Omier and freshman VJ Edgecombe in beating the Utah Utes, 76-61, Saturday afternoon at the Jon Huntsman Center to complete a season series sweep.

"It's a double whammy, shorthanded and foul trouble," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team improved to 13-6 overall and 5-3 in league play with its second conference road win. "That's not a recipe for success. But I thought our guys really competed and battled. Really proud of them."

When Baylor opened conference with a 25-point blowout victory over Utah (11-8, 3-5) in a New Year's Eve matinee, the Bears were at full strength for the last time, splitting the majority of the minutes among a rotation of eight and using all 12 active players in the game.

But redshirt junior guard Langston Love has been out the last seven games with an ankle injury, and Duke transfer Jeremy Roach missed his second in a row in concussion protocol. That leaves a seven-man rotation that includes three freshmen and two transfers.

"Man, I'm tired," said Edgecombe, who scored 14 of his 21 points in the first half, going 3-for-3 from outside the arc. "This altitude is killing me. Proud of our team. We played hard, stayed together on the road, which is tough."

The game could not have started much worse for the Bears. Utah hit five of its first six shots and jumped out to a seven-point lead in the first three minutes, going up 9-2 on a dunk by Ezra Ausar, who led the Utes with 19 points and seven rebounds.

"We didn't want them to get off to a quick start. And it is different playing at altitude," Drew said. "Probably, if we would have practiced the day before, maybe we could have started off a little bit different. But after that first media, we did a great job in adjusting and playing."

Baylor hit four of its next six shots coming out of the first timeout and went on a 9-0 run, taking its first lead, 13-11, on back-to-back buckets by Omier, who had a double-double with a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds.

Cal transfer Jalen Celestine then scored five of his seven points off the bench in a 13-0 run that gave the Bears the lead for good and pushed it out to 26-14 on a Josh Ojianwuna dunk.

"I thought we got a lot more aggressive offensively, defensively," Drew said of the extended 22-3 run. "We started playing more physical. I thought the first four minutes, they were aggressor, and that changed."

During that Baylor run, Omier also grabbed his fourth rebound of the game and 1,500^th of his career, becoming just the 13^th player in NCAA history with 2,000-plus points and 1,500-plus rebounds.

"We practice rebounding every day just because that's something that's so big," said Omier, who helped the Bears win the rebounding battle, 39-33, and score 18 second-chance points off 15 offensive boards. "That's one of the three keys to win the game: more offensive and defensive rebounds. And we did the job today and came out with the (win)."

After leading by as many as 16, Baylor didn't score in the last two minutes of the first half and went into the break up by seven, 38-31.

Utah was able to stay within striking distance until a late 9-2 run by the Bears that included seven points by Omier and a layup by Edgecombe off an out-of-bounds play with 1.4 seconds left on the shot clock.

"We did that play in practice for the first time two days ago," said Edgecombe, who got a lob pass from fellow freshman Robert O. Wright III over 7-foot-1 Utah center Lawson Lovering, "and it worked out well. Shout out to Rob for making that pass over a 7-foot-1 kid, and shout out to Coach for drawing it up."

Wright gave Baylor its third double-figure scorer with 14 points and three assists, going 8-for-8 from the line. As a team, the Bears were 17-of-20 (85%) from the line, with Omier going 8-for-10.

Baylor transfer Miro Little had 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists off the bench as the Utes' only other double-digit scorer. Caleb Lohner, another former Bear, added four points, two blocks and a rebound against his former team.

Drew called Omier, who's averaging a double-double, "an unbelievable teammate."

"Sometimes, people like Norchad come in, and it's about their points or their numbers," Drew said. "When you've got guys that just care about winning and playing, it's fun."

Completing a two-game swing through the state, Baylor will play BYU (13-6, 4-4) at 8 p.m. CT Tuesday in Provo. The Cougars bounced back from a 73-72 loss at Utah to beat fellow Big 12 newcomer Colorado, 83-67, and then blew out Cincinnati, 80-52, late Saturday night in Provo.