BaylorBears.com
 
LUBBOCK, Texas – No other coach in the Big 12 has a better scouting report on Texas Tech guard Chance McMillian than Baylor's Scott Drew.
 
That's what made it even tougher when McMillian drained three straight deep 3-pointers in a second-half run that helped the 13^th-ranked Red Raiders (18-4, 9-2) hand the Bears a 73-59 loss Tuesday night at United Supermarkets Arena to run their winning streak to a Big 12-best seven in a row.
 
McMillian, who scored a game-high 19 points to pace three players in double figures, played three seasons for Scott's brother, Bryce Drew, at Grand Canyon before transferring to Tech.
 
"We knew coming in, you can't let Chance get a look. And he did," said Drew, whose team fell to 14-8 overall and 6-5 in the Big 12. "If you let great shooters get looks, you pay the price."
 
Despite the return of Duke transfer guard Jeremy Roach, who had missed the previous four games in concussion protocol, the Bears were still shorthanded with freshman VJ Edgecombe out with an ankle injury that he suffered in the second half of Saturday's 81-70 comeback win over 12^th-ranked Kansas.
 
"In this league, it's hard when you're playing six, seven guys," said Drew, whose used a six-man rotation other than the three minutes that freshman Jason Asemota played. "Hopefully, we get VJ and Langston (Love) back, and that will really help with things. Us coaches, our plays really work a lot better when we have more players."
 
Similar to Saturday's game, when Baylor overcame a 19-point halftime deficit to beat the Jayhawks, the Bears came from 10 points down to pull within 45-42 on a bucket by Norchad Omier with 11:12 left in the game.
 
But that's when a first-half issued reared its ugly head again. Tech, which scored nine points off 10 offensive boards in the first 20 minutes, grabbed another one that led to the first of the three-straight 3-pointers by McMillian that pushed it back to a 10-point game, 54-44.
 
"First half, I thought Texas Tech really handed it to us," Drew said of getting beat on the boards, 27-17, including 10-1 on the offensive glass. "I thought second half, we competed a lot harder on the glass. But when Chance got hot, that was huge for them."
 
Sparked by Roach's return, the Bears did get off to a better start in this one, going up 12-7 when Jayden Nunn knocked down the first of his two 3-pointers. But the Red Raiders answered with a 10-2 run that included a McMillian trey and a pair of putbacks by JT Toppin that gave them the lead for good.
 
Miami transfer Norchad Omier scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the second half and grabbed 12 rebounds to record his 11^th double-double of the season and 79^th of his career, the 10^th-most in NCAA history.
 
Coming off Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors, freshman Robert O. Wright III scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half and played all but 51 seconds in the game, adding four rebounds and three assists. Roach had 12 points and seven rebounds in his return, while Josh Ojianwuna gave the Bears their fourth double-digit scorer with 10 points.
 
Even after McMillian's shooting barrage, Baylor closed to within five, 62-57, at the 3:35 mark when Ojianwuna hit both free throws in a one-and-one situation. But Tech closed on an 11-2 run that included nine of Darrion Williams' 17 points.
 
"Williams was a monster on the glass," Drew said. "Seven offensive rebounds (eight total), he deserves a lot of credit. That's hard to do in the Big 12, especially when you go in, you're trying to block him out."
 
Elijah Hawkins added 13 points for the Red Raiders before fouling out late. Toppin, who was ejected with a flagrant 2 foul in Saturday's 82-81 upset of sixth-ranked Houston, finished with eight points and was limited after hobbling off with an injury late in the first half.
 
"Proud of our guys' fight to cut it to five twice," Drew said. "I don't know if anyone has gone through what we've gone through as far as the injury bug, but hopefully the rest of the year we can be a little deeper. And hopefully, that'll lead to the 20 minutes where we don't compete as hard, at least we have some other options to go to."
 
Returning home, Baylor will host UCF (13-8, 4-6) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Foster Pavilion as part of a split doubleheader that has the BU women hosting BYU at 7 p.m. UCF, which handed Tech one of its two conference losses, will host Cincinnati on Wednesday before coming to Waco.