By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Baylor’s Round of 32 loss to Creighton went against its own offensive rules.
A team built outside in actually had to stay in this game inside out.
While the South Region No. 3 Bears ruled the paint, their long-distance shooting escaped them. Conversely, the No. 6 Blue Jays were balanced and never cooled off. They shot 47 percent for the game nearly 46 percent from the arc (11-24) and never trailed for the final 37 minutes in an 85-76 victory at Ball Arena in Denver. Baylor's season concludes at 23-11.
The Bears received a program NCAA tournament record 30-point performance from LJ Cryer, while Adam Flagler added 15. However, their season ended in the same round for the second consecutive season.
“Nobody likes losing, but our coaching staff is really proud of this group," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “Disappointed we couldn’t keep playing, but proud of them.”
Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard flashed for 30 points on 4-6 from the arc. Trey Alexander added 17 as the Blue Jays placed four in double figures. And the Blue Jays never missed at the foul line: 22-22. They advance to the Sweet 16 and meet No. 15 Princeton at the KFC YUM! Center Friday in Louisville.
Following an early trade of baskets, Creighton (23-12) went on an 11-2 run take a 20-12 lead. From there, the Blue Jays methodically maintained that and took a 39-29 lead to the intermission.
While the Bears won the battle of the paint, 38-16, the deep shooting made the difference. Baylor struggled at 2-15 and finished 5-22 (22.7). Creighton was 7-16 for the first 20 minutes.
While it was reported that Baylor head coach Scott Drew used a hard core halftime speech to get his team’s attention, it meant little to start the second half as the Blue Jays actually built and kept the lead to consistently 12-14 points.
“We weren’t able to get enough stops to pull off the game,” Flagler said.
Baylor just didn’t have any answers on the crisp ball movement. One-and-done Keyonte George also sat extended minutes in the second half before returning.
Creighton built it to as big as 18 (77-59) with six minutes remaining. That would have been the time for them to run clock and drain the game. However, they allowed the Bears to climb back in with some wasted offensive possessions.
Baylor chipped to 79-70 with 3:01 to play. The Bears had two possessions where it could have been more interesting. However, Josh Ojianwuna was whistled for an illegal screen and Jalen Bridges followed with a bad pass to end any hopes.
The question now for the Bears is what will happen with George. He suffered a sprained ankle Feb. 25 against Texas and missed the following game at Oklahoma State.
George returned for the final four games – two against Iowa State, UC-Santa Barbara and Creighton and wasn’t the same player. He shot just 23 percent (9-39) and 19 percent from the arc (5-26). George said in the postgame that he felt like he could move like he wanted. However, he just was missing before finally changing his approach by driving the ball to the basket.
Baylor’s offseason now begins with a roster that may lose a lot more than likely George and Flo Thamba.
More to come as the creation of the 2023-24 roster unfolds.
Postgame Notes
Publisher
Baylor’s Round of 32 loss to Creighton went against its own offensive rules.
A team built outside in actually had to stay in this game inside out.
While the South Region No. 3 Bears ruled the paint, their long-distance shooting escaped them. Conversely, the No. 6 Blue Jays were balanced and never cooled off. They shot 47 percent for the game nearly 46 percent from the arc (11-24) and never trailed for the final 37 minutes in an 85-76 victory at Ball Arena in Denver. Baylor's season concludes at 23-11.
The Bears received a program NCAA tournament record 30-point performance from LJ Cryer, while Adam Flagler added 15. However, their season ended in the same round for the second consecutive season.
“Nobody likes losing, but our coaching staff is really proud of this group," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “Disappointed we couldn’t keep playing, but proud of them.”
Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard flashed for 30 points on 4-6 from the arc. Trey Alexander added 17 as the Blue Jays placed four in double figures. And the Blue Jays never missed at the foul line: 22-22. They advance to the Sweet 16 and meet No. 15 Princeton at the KFC YUM! Center Friday in Louisville.
Following an early trade of baskets, Creighton (23-12) went on an 11-2 run take a 20-12 lead. From there, the Blue Jays methodically maintained that and took a 39-29 lead to the intermission.
While the Bears won the battle of the paint, 38-16, the deep shooting made the difference. Baylor struggled at 2-15 and finished 5-22 (22.7). Creighton was 7-16 for the first 20 minutes.
While it was reported that Baylor head coach Scott Drew used a hard core halftime speech to get his team’s attention, it meant little to start the second half as the Blue Jays actually built and kept the lead to consistently 12-14 points.
“We weren’t able to get enough stops to pull off the game,” Flagler said.
Baylor just didn’t have any answers on the crisp ball movement. One-and-done Keyonte George also sat extended minutes in the second half before returning.
Creighton built it to as big as 18 (77-59) with six minutes remaining. That would have been the time for them to run clock and drain the game. However, they allowed the Bears to climb back in with some wasted offensive possessions.
Baylor chipped to 79-70 with 3:01 to play. The Bears had two possessions where it could have been more interesting. However, Josh Ojianwuna was whistled for an illegal screen and Jalen Bridges followed with a bad pass to end any hopes.
The question now for the Bears is what will happen with George. He suffered a sprained ankle Feb. 25 against Texas and missed the following game at Oklahoma State.
George returned for the final four games – two against Iowa State, UC-Santa Barbara and Creighton and wasn’t the same player. He shot just 23 percent (9-39) and 19 percent from the arc (5-26). George said in the postgame that he felt like he could move like he wanted. However, he just was missing before finally changing his approach by driving the ball to the basket.
Baylor’s offseason now begins with a roster that may lose a lot more than likely George and Flo Thamba.
More to come as the creation of the 2023-24 roster unfolds.
Postgame Notes
- BU falls to 2-4 all time against Creighton.
- Scott Drew is 19-10 all time in NCAA Tournament games.
- Baylor is 22-16 all time in the NCAA Tournament.
- BU is 9-6 all time as a No. 3 seed.
- Baylor is 4-3 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
- LJ Cryer scored a career-high 30 points.
- Cryer’s 30 points set a new school record for points in an NCAA Tournament game.
- Cryer’s 13 made field goals are also set a new school record.
- Sunday marked the first time in Cryer’s career Baylor lost a game when he scored 20+ points.
- Cryer finished the season shooting .894 from the free-throw line, a new single-season program record.
- Adam Flagler passed Jared Butler for the most minutes played in an NCAA Tournament Game in program history.
- With 6 made field goals today, Flagler now has 44 for his career in the NCAA Tournament, a new program record.
- Jalen Bridges scored in double-figures for a 19th time this season with 12 points.
- Bridges led the team with six rebounds, the 14th time he led the team in rebounds this season.
- Flo Thamba started his 10th-career NCAA Tournament game passing Jared Butler for the most starts in the NCAA Tournament in program history
