By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
One of the traits of the NCAA tournament is to expect the unexpected.
For Baylor, that turned out to be Caleb Lohner. The BYU transfer and current role player provided a spark the South No. 3 seed Bears needed when they sputtered in the first 30 minutes.
His Baylor-high 13 points kept the Bears hanging around and then allowed the dangerous backcourt heat up at the end. The Bears used that and strong defense to beat the No. 14 Gauchos (27-8) in the Round of 64 Friday at Denver’s Ball Arena.
“I was ready when my number was called,” said Lohner, who matched his scoring output from his previous 15 games combined. “And I think my role on this team is just to do whatever I can to help win.”
The Bears move on to the Round of 32 Sunday to face No. 6 Creighton, which defeated No. 11 North Carolina State, 72-63. A time will be released later. The winner advances to the South Regionals next week at the YUM Center in Louisville.
Baylor’s defense struggled in the first half as the Big West regular season and tournament champions shot 61.5 percent. The Bears trailed, 36-35. But the script flipped in the second half. The Bears limited the Gauchos to just 30.7 percent in the second half, held UCSB to just 20 points and for the game, forced 14 total turnovers, which led to 19 points.
In the final 10 minutes, the experienced back court put this one away. Adam Flagler finished with 18. LJ Cryer had 15.
“The players deserve all the credit,” Baylor coach Drew said. “I thought our bench did a really good job, especially at altitude. Having a deep bench helps in an early morning game. And I thought in the second half they had some good looks but they were just short on shots. We were short on shots, too. But I really credit the guys for locking in defensively.”
Tied 41-41 early in the second, the Bears put together what turned out to be the deciding 10-2 run to hold a 51-43 edge. UCSB would get as closed as six the rest of the way. The Bench of Lohner, Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Dale Bonner combined for 23 points.
Baylor hasn’t lost in the first round of the tournament since 2013 when it fell to Yale.
This will be the fourth all-time meeting between the Bears and Blue Jays. Baylor leads the series, 2-1. They met in the 2014 NCAA tournament when the Bears won, 85-55. They last met in 2017 in a preseason tournament in Kansas City, Baylor won that one, 65-59.
Postgame Notes
Publisher
One of the traits of the NCAA tournament is to expect the unexpected.
For Baylor, that turned out to be Caleb Lohner. The BYU transfer and current role player provided a spark the South No. 3 seed Bears needed when they sputtered in the first 30 minutes.
His Baylor-high 13 points kept the Bears hanging around and then allowed the dangerous backcourt heat up at the end. The Bears used that and strong defense to beat the No. 14 Gauchos (27-8) in the Round of 64 Friday at Denver’s Ball Arena.
“I was ready when my number was called,” said Lohner, who matched his scoring output from his previous 15 games combined. “And I think my role on this team is just to do whatever I can to help win.”
The Bears move on to the Round of 32 Sunday to face No. 6 Creighton, which defeated No. 11 North Carolina State, 72-63. A time will be released later. The winner advances to the South Regionals next week at the YUM Center in Louisville.
Baylor’s defense struggled in the first half as the Big West regular season and tournament champions shot 61.5 percent. The Bears trailed, 36-35. But the script flipped in the second half. The Bears limited the Gauchos to just 30.7 percent in the second half, held UCSB to just 20 points and for the game, forced 14 total turnovers, which led to 19 points.
In the final 10 minutes, the experienced back court put this one away. Adam Flagler finished with 18. LJ Cryer had 15.
“The players deserve all the credit,” Baylor coach Drew said. “I thought our bench did a really good job, especially at altitude. Having a deep bench helps in an early morning game. And I thought in the second half they had some good looks but they were just short on shots. We were short on shots, too. But I really credit the guys for locking in defensively.”
Tied 41-41 early in the second, the Bears put together what turned out to be the deciding 10-2 run to hold a 51-43 edge. UCSB would get as closed as six the rest of the way. The Bench of Lohner, Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Dale Bonner combined for 23 points.
Baylor hasn’t lost in the first round of the tournament since 2013 when it fell to Yale.
This will be the fourth all-time meeting between the Bears and Blue Jays. Baylor leads the series, 2-1. They met in the 2014 NCAA tournament when the Bears won, 85-55. They last met in 2017 in a preseason tournament in Kansas City, Baylor won that one, 65-59.
Postgame Notes
- BU is 2-1 all time against UCSB.
- Scott Drew is 19-9 all time in NCAA Tournament games.
- Baylor is 22-15 all time in the NCAA Tournament.
- BU is 9-5 all time as a No. 3 seed.
- Baylor is 8-4 (five-straight wins) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
- The Bears shot 54.9% from the field, the fourth-best shooting percentage in an NCAA Tournament game in program history.
- Nine made three-point field goals tied for the ninth-most in an NCAA Tournament game in program history.
- BU is now 20-0 this season when holding opponents to 72 points or less.
- Adam Flagler scored a game-high 18 points, the 20th time in his BU career that he led the team in points.
- Flagler’s five assists were also a game-high, the 22nd time this season he led the team in assists.
- Caleb Lohner scored a season-high 13 points, which also set a new NCAA Tournament career high.
- Lohner shot 100% (5-for-5) from the field, setting a new program record for field-goal percentage in an NCAA Tournament game (min. 5 attempts).
- LJ Cryer set a NCAA Tournament career high with 15 points, his 16th game of 20-points or more this season.
- Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua’s nine rebounds led the team and were his second-most in an NCAA tournament game in his career.
- Flo Thamba appeared in his 11th career tournament game passing Matt Mayer for the most in program history.
- With his ninth NCAA Tournament start, Thamba tied Jared Butler for the most in program history.
- Keyonte George, Langston Love, Josh Ojianwuna made their NCAA Tournament debut’s on Friday.
- Austin Sacks made his season debut against UCSB.
