We have video interviews with Scott Drew, Taurean Prince and Lester Medford. Should be a good one. Really hope a good crowd files into the building. Spring Break may have some influence.
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(POST GAME ANALYSIS)
There was no storybook finish to the home schedule for Baylor.
Actually, this more read like one of Stephen King's novels. Baylor suffered from poor shooting (36.5 percent), poor ball handling (16 turnovers) and poor free throwing (14-24). Add it all together and that's how Baylor fell to West Virginia, 69-58, Saturday at the Ferrell Center.
Baylor will go to the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City as the No. 5 seed and will play No. 4 Texas in the quarterfinals at 11:30 am Thursday (ESPN2).
I'm not going to analyze Baylor's chances until the NCAA bracket is released on March 14. This tournament is all about the matchups and where Baylor fits into it. Yet this conference season didn't have the finish Scott Drew would have wanted. After starting 6-1, Baylor went 4-7 and went 4-5 at home in league play.
Credit West Virginia's defense, which has been really good all season because the players immediately get to the spot where the ball is and pressure it. Bob Huggins has the personnel to do it.
However, what it did do is expose where No. 17 Baylor (21-10, 10-8) is going to have a problem in the NCAA tournament. It's going to come down to decisions made at the point guard position. Another rough day for Lester Medford who had only two assists and three turnovers. He had one where he got double teamed in the backcourt, tried to make a pass through it and carelessly threw it away. A second one was where he lost control of the ball and watched it go out of bounds in front of the Baylor bench.
It was a spread the pain type of day. Taurean Prince had three miscues. Jake Lindsey had three. Ish Wainright had two. Baylor simply didn't take care of the ball very well. That led to easy transition opportunities. When a Mountaineer 30-27 halftime lead grew to double figures pretty quickly, this was going to a mountain to climb.
The Bears missed their first nine 3-pointers before getting hot and hitting five straight before cutting the deficit to five.
Prince scored a game-high 19 point but really had to work to get it because he was 5-of-17 from the floor. He'll regret his free throw shooting at 6-14.
And this front court - the key to this Baylor offense - was no factor. Gathers was pretty emotional when he fouled out. But he wasn't very good with five points and three rebounds. He hasn't been right for the last month because of his health. There have been whispers whether he is really trying to finish strong because of him looking to the NFL. I don't think that's true. I just think he's not playing well and teams know he's not a very good offensive player and know he can't hurt them.
As for Johnathan Motley, I thought he had turned a corner following that incredible week against Iowa State and Texas. But he was held scoreless on two attempts. So he scored two points this week. Maybe it will be a different story when he is a junior. I'll rephrase that. It has to be a different story when he's a junior. Terry Maston had six.
The defense was too streaky. There were too many times where Baylor defenders were beaten on the first dribble. Those plays led to baskets or free throw opportunities. West Virginia was 23-29 at the line.
This was just a really bad day. The energy you hoped Baylor would have found from its comeback against Oklahoma never materialized. West Virginia was simply the better team.
Maybe the bright side is that official visitor Markus Howard knows he has an opportunity to come in right away in 2016-17 and make a difference with Manu Lecomte.
Baylor has five days to think about this. A lot of work must be done before the trip north.
Story link
(POST GAME ANALYSIS)
There was no storybook finish to the home schedule for Baylor.
Actually, this more read like one of Stephen King's novels. Baylor suffered from poor shooting (36.5 percent), poor ball handling (16 turnovers) and poor free throwing (14-24). Add it all together and that's how Baylor fell to West Virginia, 69-58, Saturday at the Ferrell Center.
Baylor will go to the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City as the No. 5 seed and will play No. 4 Texas in the quarterfinals at 11:30 am Thursday (ESPN2).
I'm not going to analyze Baylor's chances until the NCAA bracket is released on March 14. This tournament is all about the matchups and where Baylor fits into it. Yet this conference season didn't have the finish Scott Drew would have wanted. After starting 6-1, Baylor went 4-7 and went 4-5 at home in league play.
Credit West Virginia's defense, which has been really good all season because the players immediately get to the spot where the ball is and pressure it. Bob Huggins has the personnel to do it.
However, what it did do is expose where No. 17 Baylor (21-10, 10-8) is going to have a problem in the NCAA tournament. It's going to come down to decisions made at the point guard position. Another rough day for Lester Medford who had only two assists and three turnovers. He had one where he got double teamed in the backcourt, tried to make a pass through it and carelessly threw it away. A second one was where he lost control of the ball and watched it go out of bounds in front of the Baylor bench.
It was a spread the pain type of day. Taurean Prince had three miscues. Jake Lindsey had three. Ish Wainright had two. Baylor simply didn't take care of the ball very well. That led to easy transition opportunities. When a Mountaineer 30-27 halftime lead grew to double figures pretty quickly, this was going to a mountain to climb.
The Bears missed their first nine 3-pointers before getting hot and hitting five straight before cutting the deficit to five.
Prince scored a game-high 19 point but really had to work to get it because he was 5-of-17 from the floor. He'll regret his free throw shooting at 6-14.
And this front court - the key to this Baylor offense - was no factor. Gathers was pretty emotional when he fouled out. But he wasn't very good with five points and three rebounds. He hasn't been right for the last month because of his health. There have been whispers whether he is really trying to finish strong because of him looking to the NFL. I don't think that's true. I just think he's not playing well and teams know he's not a very good offensive player and know he can't hurt them.
As for Johnathan Motley, I thought he had turned a corner following that incredible week against Iowa State and Texas. But he was held scoreless on two attempts. So he scored two points this week. Maybe it will be a different story when he is a junior. I'll rephrase that. It has to be a different story when he's a junior. Terry Maston had six.
The defense was too streaky. There were too many times where Baylor defenders were beaten on the first dribble. Those plays led to baskets or free throw opportunities. West Virginia was 23-29 at the line.
This was just a really bad day. The energy you hoped Baylor would have found from its comeback against Oklahoma never materialized. West Virginia was simply the better team.
Maybe the bright side is that official visitor Markus Howard knows he has an opportunity to come in right away in 2016-17 and make a difference with Manu Lecomte.
Baylor has five days to think about this. A lot of work must be done before the trip north.
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