By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
If this turned out to be the final game Baylor plays in the Big 12 at the Ferrell Center, the feel-good script never got past the cutting room floor.
Near flawless execution by Iowa State coupled by Baylor's lethargic overall performance on Senior Day at the Ferrell Center led to the ailing Cyclones stunning the No. 7 Bears, 73-58. Baylor's hopes for earning the No. 2 seed at next week's Big 12 tournament in Kansas City ended. The Bears likely are looking at the No. 4 seed depending on the outcome of Kansas State and Texas' games. A near capacity crowd of 10,105 watched in somewhat disbelief as the Cyclones swept the season series. Should construction for the Foster Pavilion hold, Baylor is expected to start Big 12 play in January 2024.
Iowa State, which had lost seven of eight and earlier this week dismissed third-leading scorer Caleb Grill, controlled the pace from the opening moments and never allowed the Bears to find any transition opportunities and turn it into a volume possession game. They also shot 54.8 percent (26-48) and were good enough from the arc (6-16) to keep Baylor's defense guessing. Jaren Holmes led ISU with 16. Tre King had 13 and Gabe Kalscheur added 12.
ISU followed the blueprint shown by Kansas and Kansas State by attacking the Bears in the paint. The Cyclones outscored Baylor inside, 36-14 and outrebounded the Bears, 36-24.
Dealing with a sprained ankle suffered last week against Texas, one-and-done Keyonte George played what should be his final game in Waco. But it was clear he wasn't himself finishing with seven points on 3-10 shooting (1-7 deep). And while Adam Flagler finished with a game-high 20 points, a healthy portion of those came with the outcome decided. Stunningly, he missed all three free throws after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt late in the game.
Iowa State used its methodical pace to take a 33-22 lead at the break. It was the lowest point total Baylor has had in any half this year. However, the Bears used a 10-0 run in the early part of the second half to cut the lead to 36-32. Flagler and LJ Cryer 3-pointers fueled it. The Cyclones responded with an 11-0 run to push it back to 47-32 to regain command. The closest Baylor ever came again was 49-40 with 8:10 to play on a George three.
Baylor finished the game shooting 35.8 percent and 35.7 from deep (10-28) and only 55.7 from the foul line (10-18). The Bears were missing Langston Love (cornea abrasion). He is considered day-to-day.
Baylor will learn its quarterfinal opponent later on Saturday.
Postgame Quotes
Scott Drew
First, I want to thank the seniors for all their contributions. Second, I want to thank the fans at spring break those that chose to come to the game. Third, sorry we couldn’t give them anything to cheer about. It’s one of those games that anytime we got something going we couldn’t sustain it. As a coach, the only good news was that hopefully everyone had a bad game at once and got it out of the system and has a chance to refocus and reset for the conference tournament. At the same time, I want to give Iowa State a lot of credit. I think TJ did a great job with his team. They were motivated, prepared. The No. 1 defense in conference for a reason, so they do a great job. Obviously, we didn’t play our best game. Even as good as their defense was, they didn’t guard us at the free throw line and we haven’t shot 55 percent from the free throw line I think all year. It was one of those days where it just wasn’t happening.
(ISU different defenses) They’re pretty unpredictable in their unpredictability, meaning every time at dead ball they’re going to switch defenses. They do a good job keep you on your heels. But their primary defense is their primary defense and that’s really good.
(Grill dismissed) Sometimes that really rallies a team, and I think definitely you saw a real inspired team and a really focused, motivated team. And again credit TJ and those guys for competing and playing like they did.
(ISU pushing Baylor away from perimeter) They’re a physical defense and defenses in the Big 12 are physical. We didn’t do a good enough job running our offense and fighting to get our offense lower and executing, we didn’t hit the roller, our bigs enough when they put two on the ball. When we did get good looks, and we didn’t have enough of them, we didn’t make them. It looked like everything was short today. The things that have made us a good team we didn’t do. I mean we gave up 54 percent, we got outrebounded 36-24. It’s one of those games that the only blessing was that nobody got injured today. So I guess there’s always a silver lining.
Postgame Notes
Publisher
If this turned out to be the final game Baylor plays in the Big 12 at the Ferrell Center, the feel-good script never got past the cutting room floor.
Near flawless execution by Iowa State coupled by Baylor's lethargic overall performance on Senior Day at the Ferrell Center led to the ailing Cyclones stunning the No. 7 Bears, 73-58. Baylor's hopes for earning the No. 2 seed at next week's Big 12 tournament in Kansas City ended. The Bears likely are looking at the No. 4 seed depending on the outcome of Kansas State and Texas' games. A near capacity crowd of 10,105 watched in somewhat disbelief as the Cyclones swept the season series. Should construction for the Foster Pavilion hold, Baylor is expected to start Big 12 play in January 2024.
Iowa State, which had lost seven of eight and earlier this week dismissed third-leading scorer Caleb Grill, controlled the pace from the opening moments and never allowed the Bears to find any transition opportunities and turn it into a volume possession game. They also shot 54.8 percent (26-48) and were good enough from the arc (6-16) to keep Baylor's defense guessing. Jaren Holmes led ISU with 16. Tre King had 13 and Gabe Kalscheur added 12.
ISU followed the blueprint shown by Kansas and Kansas State by attacking the Bears in the paint. The Cyclones outscored Baylor inside, 36-14 and outrebounded the Bears, 36-24.
Dealing with a sprained ankle suffered last week against Texas, one-and-done Keyonte George played what should be his final game in Waco. But it was clear he wasn't himself finishing with seven points on 3-10 shooting (1-7 deep). And while Adam Flagler finished with a game-high 20 points, a healthy portion of those came with the outcome decided. Stunningly, he missed all three free throws after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt late in the game.
Iowa State used its methodical pace to take a 33-22 lead at the break. It was the lowest point total Baylor has had in any half this year. However, the Bears used a 10-0 run in the early part of the second half to cut the lead to 36-32. Flagler and LJ Cryer 3-pointers fueled it. The Cyclones responded with an 11-0 run to push it back to 47-32 to regain command. The closest Baylor ever came again was 49-40 with 8:10 to play on a George three.
Baylor finished the game shooting 35.8 percent and 35.7 from deep (10-28) and only 55.7 from the foul line (10-18). The Bears were missing Langston Love (cornea abrasion). He is considered day-to-day.
Baylor will learn its quarterfinal opponent later on Saturday.
Postgame Quotes
Scott Drew
First, I want to thank the seniors for all their contributions. Second, I want to thank the fans at spring break those that chose to come to the game. Third, sorry we couldn’t give them anything to cheer about. It’s one of those games that anytime we got something going we couldn’t sustain it. As a coach, the only good news was that hopefully everyone had a bad game at once and got it out of the system and has a chance to refocus and reset for the conference tournament. At the same time, I want to give Iowa State a lot of credit. I think TJ did a great job with his team. They were motivated, prepared. The No. 1 defense in conference for a reason, so they do a great job. Obviously, we didn’t play our best game. Even as good as their defense was, they didn’t guard us at the free throw line and we haven’t shot 55 percent from the free throw line I think all year. It was one of those days where it just wasn’t happening.
(ISU different defenses) They’re pretty unpredictable in their unpredictability, meaning every time at dead ball they’re going to switch defenses. They do a good job keep you on your heels. But their primary defense is their primary defense and that’s really good.
(Grill dismissed) Sometimes that really rallies a team, and I think definitely you saw a real inspired team and a really focused, motivated team. And again credit TJ and those guys for competing and playing like they did.
(ISU pushing Baylor away from perimeter) They’re a physical defense and defenses in the Big 12 are physical. We didn’t do a good enough job running our offense and fighting to get our offense lower and executing, we didn’t hit the roller, our bigs enough when they put two on the ball. When we did get good looks, and we didn’t have enough of them, we didn’t make them. It looked like everything was short today. The things that have made us a good team we didn’t do. I mean we gave up 54 percent, we got outrebounded 36-24. It’s one of those games that the only blessing was that nobody got injured today. So I guess there’s always a silver lining.
Postgame Notes
- BU is 24-22 all time against the Cyclones.
- Baylor is 17-3 and 9-1 in the last 10 against the Cyclones in Waco.
- Iowa State swept the season series from Baylor for the first time since 2013.
- BU had its seven-game home winning streak snapped.
- Baylor is 12-8 on Senior Day under Scott Drew.
- Saturday marked BU’s first Senior-Day loss since 3/6/19 against Oklahoma State.
- Baylor is 54-15 in Big 12 play over the last four years.
- BU’s 22 points in the first half were a season low. The previous low was 24 against Northwestern State.
- 58 points ties a season low (58 against Northwestern State).
- BU is 20-4 when holding teams under 80 points this season.
- Baylor used the starting lineup of Adam Flagler, Keyonte George, LJ Cryer, Jalen Bridges and Flo Thamba for the 26th time this season.
- That lineup combo is 18-8 this season
- Flagler, Thamba, Dale Bonner, Zach Loveday, Jordan Turner and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua all participated in Senior Day ceremonies before the game.
- Flagler scored a game-high 20 points. The ninth 20+ point game of the season and the 16th of his career.
- The senior tied a season high with five made threes, the 14th game of his career with 5+ three pointers.
- LJ Cryer scored 13 points to notch his 20th double-figure scoring game this season.
- Tchamwa Tchatchoua tied a game high with seven rebounds.
- Saturday marked the fourth time in 8 games that Tchamwa Tchatchoua led the Bears in rebounds.
- Dale Bonner led the team in bench points for a third-straight game.
- Keyonte George returned to the starting lineup after missing a game with a mild ankle sprain.
