By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
That 0-3 Big 12 start seems like 100 hundred years ago. Baylor's veteran guards are heating up and the Bears are tied for 1st place in the Big 12.
LJ Cryer delivered 26 points on a blistering performance going 8-11 from long distance as Baylor knocked off West Virginia, 79-67 to win their 10th out of their last 11. Coupled with Texas Tech's 74-67 victory over Texas, the Bears and Longhorns share the top spot. Kansas can join them if it wins at Oklahoma State Tuesday.
Baylor has won 20+ games for the fifth consecutive season and 14 of the last 16. The Bears have also won the last five meetings from the Mountaineers.
Cryer, who had 23 Saturday against TCU, drilled seven of his first eight 3-point attempts. The Bears were 14-27 from the arc and finished at 51 percent. More importantly, the Bears hit the offensive glass better than they had in the previous two games as they finished with 14.
Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua played his best game of the four since he returned with 11 points and three rebounds. Jalen Bridges added 12.
West Virginia sprinted out to an early 7-point lead. But the Bears were able to whittle things down and then went on a run to close out the first half to take a 36-29 lead to the locker room.
And the break didn't deter them. They shot 55.6 in the second half and 8-16 from the arc. Baylor built a 15-point lead within the first 5:42 of the second half and never looked back. The Bears led by as many as 19.
While he was held to single digits for the second straight game with six points, one-and-done Keyonte George had a pretty solid floor game with a team-leading nine rebounds to go along with a team-leading seven assists and four steals.
Now, with the rest of the week off, the Bears travel to Lawrence, KS for the second meeting with No. 5 Kansas Saturday at the Allen Fieldhouse for a 3:00 p.m. ESPN's College GameDay will be there.
Postgame Quotes
Scott Drew
All’s well that ends well. After starting off 0-3, a chance to be tied for first place. Now the real fun begins. A lot of basketball left to be played. Tonight I could tell Jon was getting more comfortable out there. I thought the guards really did a great job. Coach Huggins is always going to have a couple of wrinkles, and I thought their trap bothered us early and I thought the guards did a great job, especially when Adam went out Key did a tremendous job running the point and handling the trap and letting us play four-on-three and get a lead and some separation. Second half, I thought the guys were really focused and dialed in. The way we shot the 3, maybe it’s better to play more games and less practice.
(3s opening things up) That definitely opens things up and allows driving lanes. What you love about the team being unselfish is at the end of the game Jon is like run a play for LJ because they knew he was close to the school record (for 3s). You love that unselfishness. I thought Keyonte was tremendous with nine rebounds and seven assists. He almost had a triple-double and really did a lot of unsung things tonight. Obviously LJ was on fire. I know it was an emotional game for Jalen, a lot of friends and people he respects and talks to. At the end of the day, you’ve got to win home court and I want to start by saying thanks to the students. I think it’s our fifth straight student sellout, and that’s so critical, especially with a quick turnaround you need that energy, you need that boost, and I thought the crowd really gave it to us, especially the second half and allowed us to extend it and put it in a comfortable margin.
(Holding WVU to long stretch in first half without a field goal) We needed to hold them to a field goal for a lot longer than that because at the end of the day they did shoot 45 percent and 54 in the second half. I thought they did a better job getting inside. We were mixing up our defenses and the zone changed the momentum tempo a little bit, but like all great programs Coach Huggins made some great adjustments and they did a job getting inside and hurting our zone. When we did get stops we didn’t get as many rebounds. That’s one of the weaknesses playing zone is the rebounding, that’s something if we continue to play zone we’ve got to work more on.
(being in 1st place after starting out 0-3) Well, first, it’s a monster playing anywhere in this league. You look at the analytics and it’s Big 12 team after Big 12 team, and it’s like it doesn’t matter where you are in the standings. Top-20 offense, top-40 defense, top in this, top in that. It’s really, really hard to win on the road. I know we’ve had a couple great road wins, and our crowd has really helped us defend home court. It’s late now, and we need to finish it out.
(LJ just had the hot hand in the first half) Hot hand. And you know what, he got some good looks. Our guys did a great job getting him the ball on time, on target. But they set some good screens. And then, when they were trapping and played zone, that allowed for some good looks. You give a good shooter good looks, they’re a good shooter. And 19 assists, guys were really unselfish. And it was great to see.
(Did they take Keyonte out, only took 4 shots) I think he did a great job taking what the defense gave him. First dime (assist) down there, he got going. And we kept feeding him. This game it was LJ that was going. And that’s the sign of a good team is when someone’s hot, you don’t freeze them out and say, ‘It’s my turn, I’ve got to get a shot up.’ But you feed the hot hand. At West Virginia, Keyonte went for 30-plus, and tonight LJ went for 26. Again, I think every coach would take a triple-double, and that’s basically what Key was close to tonight.
(How this team ranks in shooting) We do have the No. 1 offense out of 353 schools. That’s pretty hard to do. Defensively, we’ve gotten better, but that’s the area where we can make it easier for our offense if we can get more stops and get in transition. And then, I still think it’s going to take time for us to get used to Jon, Jon to get used to playing. But you saw his skill level in the post, he was able to get some buckets. And those are huge, because now all of a sudden, you’re not just depending on the 3’s. And it really makes people make decisions. Are you going to double him? What are you going to do. I saw someone put out that this time last year, Saint Peters was 12-11 and North didn’t know if they were going to make the NCAA Tournament. And we know what North Carolina ended up doing, and we now what Saint Peters ended up doing. There’s a lot of basketball left to be played. We’ve got to keep getting a lot better.
Postgame Notes
Publisher
That 0-3 Big 12 start seems like 100 hundred years ago. Baylor's veteran guards are heating up and the Bears are tied for 1st place in the Big 12.
LJ Cryer delivered 26 points on a blistering performance going 8-11 from long distance as Baylor knocked off West Virginia, 79-67 to win their 10th out of their last 11. Coupled with Texas Tech's 74-67 victory over Texas, the Bears and Longhorns share the top spot. Kansas can join them if it wins at Oklahoma State Tuesday.
Baylor has won 20+ games for the fifth consecutive season and 14 of the last 16. The Bears have also won the last five meetings from the Mountaineers.
Cryer, who had 23 Saturday against TCU, drilled seven of his first eight 3-point attempts. The Bears were 14-27 from the arc and finished at 51 percent. More importantly, the Bears hit the offensive glass better than they had in the previous two games as they finished with 14.
Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua played his best game of the four since he returned with 11 points and three rebounds. Jalen Bridges added 12.
West Virginia sprinted out to an early 7-point lead. But the Bears were able to whittle things down and then went on a run to close out the first half to take a 36-29 lead to the locker room.
And the break didn't deter them. They shot 55.6 in the second half and 8-16 from the arc. Baylor built a 15-point lead within the first 5:42 of the second half and never looked back. The Bears led by as many as 19.
While he was held to single digits for the second straight game with six points, one-and-done Keyonte George had a pretty solid floor game with a team-leading nine rebounds to go along with a team-leading seven assists and four steals.
Now, with the rest of the week off, the Bears travel to Lawrence, KS for the second meeting with No. 5 Kansas Saturday at the Allen Fieldhouse for a 3:00 p.m. ESPN's College GameDay will be there.
Postgame Quotes
Scott Drew
All’s well that ends well. After starting off 0-3, a chance to be tied for first place. Now the real fun begins. A lot of basketball left to be played. Tonight I could tell Jon was getting more comfortable out there. I thought the guards really did a great job. Coach Huggins is always going to have a couple of wrinkles, and I thought their trap bothered us early and I thought the guards did a great job, especially when Adam went out Key did a tremendous job running the point and handling the trap and letting us play four-on-three and get a lead and some separation. Second half, I thought the guys were really focused and dialed in. The way we shot the 3, maybe it’s better to play more games and less practice.
(3s opening things up) That definitely opens things up and allows driving lanes. What you love about the team being unselfish is at the end of the game Jon is like run a play for LJ because they knew he was close to the school record (for 3s). You love that unselfishness. I thought Keyonte was tremendous with nine rebounds and seven assists. He almost had a triple-double and really did a lot of unsung things tonight. Obviously LJ was on fire. I know it was an emotional game for Jalen, a lot of friends and people he respects and talks to. At the end of the day, you’ve got to win home court and I want to start by saying thanks to the students. I think it’s our fifth straight student sellout, and that’s so critical, especially with a quick turnaround you need that energy, you need that boost, and I thought the crowd really gave it to us, especially the second half and allowed us to extend it and put it in a comfortable margin.
(Holding WVU to long stretch in first half without a field goal) We needed to hold them to a field goal for a lot longer than that because at the end of the day they did shoot 45 percent and 54 in the second half. I thought they did a better job getting inside. We were mixing up our defenses and the zone changed the momentum tempo a little bit, but like all great programs Coach Huggins made some great adjustments and they did a job getting inside and hurting our zone. When we did get stops we didn’t get as many rebounds. That’s one of the weaknesses playing zone is the rebounding, that’s something if we continue to play zone we’ve got to work more on.
(being in 1st place after starting out 0-3) Well, first, it’s a monster playing anywhere in this league. You look at the analytics and it’s Big 12 team after Big 12 team, and it’s like it doesn’t matter where you are in the standings. Top-20 offense, top-40 defense, top in this, top in that. It’s really, really hard to win on the road. I know we’ve had a couple great road wins, and our crowd has really helped us defend home court. It’s late now, and we need to finish it out.
(LJ just had the hot hand in the first half) Hot hand. And you know what, he got some good looks. Our guys did a great job getting him the ball on time, on target. But they set some good screens. And then, when they were trapping and played zone, that allowed for some good looks. You give a good shooter good looks, they’re a good shooter. And 19 assists, guys were really unselfish. And it was great to see.
(Did they take Keyonte out, only took 4 shots) I think he did a great job taking what the defense gave him. First dime (assist) down there, he got going. And we kept feeding him. This game it was LJ that was going. And that’s the sign of a good team is when someone’s hot, you don’t freeze them out and say, ‘It’s my turn, I’ve got to get a shot up.’ But you feed the hot hand. At West Virginia, Keyonte went for 30-plus, and tonight LJ went for 26. Again, I think every coach would take a triple-double, and that’s basically what Key was close to tonight.
(How this team ranks in shooting) We do have the No. 1 offense out of 353 schools. That’s pretty hard to do. Defensively, we’ve gotten better, but that’s the area where we can make it easier for our offense if we can get more stops and get in transition. And then, I still think it’s going to take time for us to get used to Jon, Jon to get used to playing. But you saw his skill level in the post, he was able to get some buckets. And those are huge, because now all of a sudden, you’re not just depending on the 3’s. And it really makes people make decisions. Are you going to double him? What are you going to do. I saw someone put out that this time last year, Saint Peters was 12-11 and North didn’t know if they were going to make the NCAA Tournament. And we know what North Carolina ended up doing, and we now what Saint Peters ended up doing. There’s a lot of basketball left to be played. We’ve got to keep getting a lot better.
Postgame Notes
- BU is 16-8 against WVU in the Scott Drew Era.
- Baylor is 7-3 all time (four-straight) against WVU in Waco.
- BU is the only team in the Big 12 to have multiple 4+ game win streaks in conference play.
- The Bears are 52-12 in Big 12 play over the last four seasons.
- BU has now won 20 games for a 14th time in the last 16 seasons. They won 20+ games just three times prior to Scott Drew’s arrival.
- BU shot a season high .519 from three-point range.
- The Bears have won 75-straight games when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent.
- Baylor has won its 42nd-straight game when shooting over 50%.
- LJ Cryer became the ninth BU player to make 8+ threes in a game and the first since MaCio Teague had a school-record 10 against Texas Tech (3/7/21)
- Nine made field threes are a career high for Cryer.
- With 26 points on Monday, Cryer has six 20-point games this season, and the Bears are 6-0 in those games (11-0 in his career).
- Keyonte George pulled down a career-high nine rebounds, and tied a career high with seven assists.
- The Bears improved to 5-0 this season when George leads the team in assists.
- Jalen Bridges scored 12 points, his 10th double-figure scoring effort in his last 12 games.
- Adam Flagler scored 13 points in the win his 22nd double-figure game of the season.
- Flo Thamba moved past A.J. Walton and Rico Gathers for the most games played in program history (142).
- Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua scored 11 points, his first double-figure scoring game since he had 21 last year at Kansas State (2/9/22).
- Tchamwa Tchatchoua has led the bears in Bench points in two of his four games since his return (BU is 2-0 in those games).
