By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
THE RECAP: In Austin, a strong Baylor defensive effort in the second half coupled with huge offensive performances by Adam Flagler and James Akinjo carried the Bears past the Longhorns for the 12th time in the last 13 meetings.
The Bears also won the final game in the Erwin Center and will wait until Saturday to see where they stand in the Big 12 race. Kansas plays three times this week, at TCU Tuesday, home to TCU Thursday and then home to Texas Saturday.
If Baylor and Kansas were to finish in a tie, they would share the regular season championship. However, Kansas would earn the No. 1 seed because it split with third-place Texas Tech. Baylor was swept by the Red Raiders.
Down 30-27 at the break, the Bears got hot in the second half especially Flagler who scored 16 of his 19 including. Flagler finished 5-7 from the arc. He also had navigate through the game with foul trouble. He played the last several minutes with four.
Stifled by Texas’ defense to keep him from diving, Akinjo got the space he needed for several patented high off the window layups and also finished with 19. It really was a stat stuffer game for Akinjo. He actually led Baylor with eight rebounds and had seven assists and scored 15 in the second 20 minutes.
Baylor’s defense really clamped down on Texas in the second half. The Longhorns finished the game just 4-23 on triples and just 40 percent (37.5 second half).
The Bears placed four in double figures. Kendall Brown scored 12 of his 13 in the first half. Flo Thamba added 12.
Baylor won this game with its bench not scoring a field goal. Jeremy Sochan had three free throws. That was it.
Texas, which was officially eliminated from the Big 12 race Monday, has locked in the No. 4 seed in the Big 12 tournament.
LJ Cryer missed his ninth game in the last 10 with a foot injury. Baylor went 7-2 in Big 12 road games.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Flagler is one of those shooters that when you know he’s in a rhythm you better find him. He made a dagger 3-pointer in the early stages of the second half when Texas defended the Bears into a forced missed shot. But the Bears got the rebound found Flagler on the wing who drilled it. Flagler is hovering around 40 percent for the arc this season.
He then put it away in the final six minutes. After Texas worked to tie the game, 54-54, with 6:23 Flagler had five quick ones on a fast break layup and a transition 3-pointer.
NOTABLE I: Baylor won the rebounding battle, 39-36, and also outrebounded Kansas on Saturday, 40-38.
NOTABLE II: Texas may have scored 18 points on 12 Baylor turnovers. However, the Bears outscored the Longhorns in second chance opportunities, 21-9.
NEXT GAME: The regular season and home finale along with Senior Day for the Bears who play host to Iowa State at 5:00 p.m. Baylor and Iowa State met in the conference opener Jan. 1 in Ames, IA.
Postgame Notes
Publisher
THE RECAP: In Austin, a strong Baylor defensive effort in the second half coupled with huge offensive performances by Adam Flagler and James Akinjo carried the Bears past the Longhorns for the 12th time in the last 13 meetings.
The Bears also won the final game in the Erwin Center and will wait until Saturday to see where they stand in the Big 12 race. Kansas plays three times this week, at TCU Tuesday, home to TCU Thursday and then home to Texas Saturday.
If Baylor and Kansas were to finish in a tie, they would share the regular season championship. However, Kansas would earn the No. 1 seed because it split with third-place Texas Tech. Baylor was swept by the Red Raiders.
Down 30-27 at the break, the Bears got hot in the second half especially Flagler who scored 16 of his 19 including. Flagler finished 5-7 from the arc. He also had navigate through the game with foul trouble. He played the last several minutes with four.
Stifled by Texas’ defense to keep him from diving, Akinjo got the space he needed for several patented high off the window layups and also finished with 19. It really was a stat stuffer game for Akinjo. He actually led Baylor with eight rebounds and had seven assists and scored 15 in the second 20 minutes.
Baylor’s defense really clamped down on Texas in the second half. The Longhorns finished the game just 4-23 on triples and just 40 percent (37.5 second half).
The Bears placed four in double figures. Kendall Brown scored 12 of his 13 in the first half. Flo Thamba added 12.
Baylor won this game with its bench not scoring a field goal. Jeremy Sochan had three free throws. That was it.
Texas, which was officially eliminated from the Big 12 race Monday, has locked in the No. 4 seed in the Big 12 tournament.
LJ Cryer missed his ninth game in the last 10 with a foot injury. Baylor went 7-2 in Big 12 road games.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Flagler is one of those shooters that when you know he’s in a rhythm you better find him. He made a dagger 3-pointer in the early stages of the second half when Texas defended the Bears into a forced missed shot. But the Bears got the rebound found Flagler on the wing who drilled it. Flagler is hovering around 40 percent for the arc this season.
He then put it away in the final six minutes. After Texas worked to tie the game, 54-54, with 6:23 Flagler had five quick ones on a fast break layup and a transition 3-pointer.
NOTABLE I: Baylor won the rebounding battle, 39-36, and also outrebounded Kansas on Saturday, 40-38.
NOTABLE II: Texas may have scored 18 points on 12 Baylor turnovers. However, the Bears outscored the Longhorns in second chance opportunities, 21-9.
NEXT GAME: The regular season and home finale along with Senior Day for the Bears who play host to Iowa State at 5:00 p.m. Baylor and Iowa State met in the conference opener Jan. 1 in Ames, IA.
Postgame Notes
Baylor improved to 12-1 in its last 13 games against Texas (5-0 in Waco, 6-1 in Austin, 1-0 in Kansas City).- Baylor has won its last 6 games when facing a ranked Texas team (tonight’s 7-point victory was the first of those closer than 14 points).
- Baylor closed down the Erwin Center with wins in its last 3 and 6 of its last 7 trips to Austin.
- BU is now 21-8 against UT since snapping a 24-game series losing streak in 2009.
- Baylor has swept the round-robin season series vs. Texas in 6 of the last 12 seasons after doing so only once in the Big 12’s first 13 years.
- Baylor held Texas without a point for 4:45 in the final 7 minutes (6:21 to 1:36).
- Baylor has trailed at halftime in each of its last 3 games and come back to win all 3 (out-scoring opponents 129-97 in those 2nd halves).
- Baylor finished 7-2 in Big 12 road games this season, the league’s best record in conference road games. BU is 21-5 in Big 12 road games over the last 3 seasons.
- Baylor improved to 22-6 against ranked opponents over the last 3 seasons, including a 13-4 record away from home.
- Baylor is now 79-6 over the last 3 seasons when taking a holding a 2nd-half lead.
- Baylor played without three injured scholarship players – LJ Cryer, Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, Langston Love.
- Baylor’s 41-8 Big 12 record over the last 3 seasons is the nation’s best league record among Power-5 teams.
- The Bears forced only 9 turnovers. BU has forced 12+ turnovers in 26 of 30 games this season.
- Baylor is 53-7 over the last 2 seasons, the nation’s best record by a Power-5 team.
- Baylor is 79-11 over the last 3 seasons, the nation’s best record by a Power-5 team.
- Kendall Brown (13 points) scored 12 first-half points and reached double-figure scoring for the 18th time this season. It tied his most points in a Big 12 game.
- Flo Thamba (12 points) had his 6th double-figure scoring game of the season (8th of career) and his 4th in the last 6 games – he has as many double-figure scoring games in his last 6 games (4) as his previous 106 games combined (4).
- Adam Flagler (19 points) scored in double-figures for a team-high 22nd time this season, 36th time in his BU career and 68th time in his collegiate career.
- Flagler has scored in double-figures in 11-straight games and 19 of his last 20 games played.
- James Akinjo (19 points) scored in double-figures for the 19th time this season and 68th time in his collegiate career.
- Akinjo also had a career-high 8 rebounds along with 7 assists in 38 minutes.
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