You gotta play every night. Baylor knows that since it needed a Lester Medford buzzer-beater 3-pointer to win in Lubbock, 63-60 on Jan. 16.
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Post game thoughts
When the story of the Baylor 2015-16 men's basketball season is written, it should include how difficult of a time this team had in defending the 3-point field goal.
For whatever reason, solid teams from the arc are really good and poor shooting teams have season-best performance. Texas Tech, which came into Saturday's game at the Ferrell Center shooting a pretty ordinary 32 percent for the year, went 9-of-16 from long distance and shot 64 percent in the second half to stun the Bears, 84-66.
Why does Baylor (18-7, 7-5) have this problem? If Scott Drew knew the answer, it would have already been fixed. Baylor didn't do a bad job guarding the Red Raiders from there. They just knocked them down. And it wasn't just one shooter. Texas Tech had five different players with a made 3-pointer. Keenan Evans led with three.
Obviously, the last four minutes of the game were a nightmare when Drew gets a technical (he said he deserved it), Ish Wainwright gets called for an intentional foul and Rico Gathers is thrown out with 1:46 to play for a Flagrant 2. Baylor's lack of poise was really surprising. But it also showed the frustration. It's not an excuse because you can't do that, especially if you're hoping to make a rally. Contributes to Texas Tech shooting 28 free throws and Baylor shooting 11.
That isn't why Baylor lost, of course. I'm just going to say this was a situation where Texas Tech played really hard, shot the ball incredibly well and won. That's sports. That happens.
Look at No. 2 Maryland. The Terps are about to go to No. 1 and very average Wisconsin comes to College Park and wins, 70-57. Why? Teams shoot well, don't turn over and play smart. When you play more than 30 games in a season, you'll just run into this. Sometimes, you lose. Sometimes, you get beat. I just think Baylor got beat. We do not have an elite team in college basketball. We have about 15-20 solid teams.
Now, I'm not trying to minimize this. Baylor is in a funk. Since starting 6-1 in the Big 12, the Bears have lost four of their last five and really struggled to shut people down. Oklahoma, West Virginia and Texas Tech all scored at least 80 points. Texas didn't but the Longhorns were pretty efficient offensively at the end of that Big Monday win.
You can't fault Baylor's offense too much. The Bears shot nearly 45 percent, Taurean Prince had a solid offensive game (17 points, 7-11 shooting) and on-again, off-again Johnathan Motley was pretty important with 10 points. Lester Medford was fine but he I think he was a little tentative because he was battling fouls. Coming off his illness, Rico Gathers was ok but he hasn't very good offensively lately either.
But it still comes down to getting stops and making teams work for shots. When Tech started the second half quickly, it was a sign that the Red Raiders were feeling it.
It's a time to be concerned. It's not a time to panic. I can't see where Baylor stays in the polls next week. But that's the last of this team's concerns. It has to find a way to play well Tuesday night against Iowa State. That game may be coming at the right time since the Bears have a good matchup against the Cyclones.
Baylor better have a short memory.
Story link
Post game thoughts
When the story of the Baylor 2015-16 men's basketball season is written, it should include how difficult of a time this team had in defending the 3-point field goal.
For whatever reason, solid teams from the arc are really good and poor shooting teams have season-best performance. Texas Tech, which came into Saturday's game at the Ferrell Center shooting a pretty ordinary 32 percent for the year, went 9-of-16 from long distance and shot 64 percent in the second half to stun the Bears, 84-66.
Why does Baylor (18-7, 7-5) have this problem? If Scott Drew knew the answer, it would have already been fixed. Baylor didn't do a bad job guarding the Red Raiders from there. They just knocked them down. And it wasn't just one shooter. Texas Tech had five different players with a made 3-pointer. Keenan Evans led with three.
Obviously, the last four minutes of the game were a nightmare when Drew gets a technical (he said he deserved it), Ish Wainwright gets called for an intentional foul and Rico Gathers is thrown out with 1:46 to play for a Flagrant 2. Baylor's lack of poise was really surprising. But it also showed the frustration. It's not an excuse because you can't do that, especially if you're hoping to make a rally. Contributes to Texas Tech shooting 28 free throws and Baylor shooting 11.
That isn't why Baylor lost, of course. I'm just going to say this was a situation where Texas Tech played really hard, shot the ball incredibly well and won. That's sports. That happens.
Look at No. 2 Maryland. The Terps are about to go to No. 1 and very average Wisconsin comes to College Park and wins, 70-57. Why? Teams shoot well, don't turn over and play smart. When you play more than 30 games in a season, you'll just run into this. Sometimes, you lose. Sometimes, you get beat. I just think Baylor got beat. We do not have an elite team in college basketball. We have about 15-20 solid teams.
Now, I'm not trying to minimize this. Baylor is in a funk. Since starting 6-1 in the Big 12, the Bears have lost four of their last five and really struggled to shut people down. Oklahoma, West Virginia and Texas Tech all scored at least 80 points. Texas didn't but the Longhorns were pretty efficient offensively at the end of that Big Monday win.
You can't fault Baylor's offense too much. The Bears shot nearly 45 percent, Taurean Prince had a solid offensive game (17 points, 7-11 shooting) and on-again, off-again Johnathan Motley was pretty important with 10 points. Lester Medford was fine but he I think he was a little tentative because he was battling fouls. Coming off his illness, Rico Gathers was ok but he hasn't very good offensively lately either.
But it still comes down to getting stops and making teams work for shots. When Tech started the second half quickly, it was a sign that the Red Raiders were feeling it.
It's a time to be concerned. It's not a time to panic. I can't see where Baylor stays in the polls next week. But that's the last of this team's concerns. It has to find a way to play well Tuesday night against Iowa State. That game may be coming at the right time since the Bears have a good matchup against the Cyclones.
Baylor better have a short memory.
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