The Baylor Bears have been one of the best teams in all of College Basketball over the past few years. They are coming off of a National Championship season in 2020-21 and have started the 2021-22 season nearly perfect.
Coming into the second week of 2022 they were on a 21 game winning streak and a 20 game win streak at home. Additionally, they were one of two remaining undefeated teams at 15-0. Let’s take a look at how this past week treated the Baylor Bears.
Jan. 11 vs. Texas Tech
The Texas Tech Red Raiders came to Waco having just taken down the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks 75-67 in a statement win at home. This big win pushed them up from No. 25 to No. 19 in the AP Poll as they headed to take on the best team in the country. They were ready for a battle.
Baylor came into this game after three close conference games beating No. 8 Iowa State 77-72, Oklahoma 84-74 and TCU 76-64. They looked to add to their dominance by taking down another extremely strong conference opponent.
First Half
The Bears broke away to a 9-0 lead in the first 2:17, but the Red Raiders quickly responded and cut the lead to 9-7. Unfortunately, Baylor stomped that comeback out in a blink and went on a 12-0 run to make it 21-7 just before the midpoint of the half.
At the 6:13 mark the Bears had reached their largest lead of the game as they went up 31-16. The Red Raiders kept on coming though and at half time had cut the lead down to 31-26. The final 6:13 saw the Red Raiders shoot 5-8 (62.5%) while the Bears did not make a single shot in six attempts. This was only their third time trailing at half (Oregon and TCU).
Second Half
The Bears entered the second half with a lead, but the Red Raiders came in with all of the momentum. After 1:31 Texas Tech tied the game up at 33, but the Bears would quickly retake the lead and every time the Red Raiders tried to come back the Bears would push the lead up.
Just after the midpoint of the half a free throw by Clarence Nadolny put Texas Tech up 47-46 for their first lead of the game. Baylor would then come back to take a 52-51 lead which would last until 4:52 when Bryson Williams hit a huge three pointer to retake the lead at 54-52. This was an extremely pivotal moment because the Red Raiders would hold this lead for the final minutes.
The Bears had the final shot down by three with the chance to tie, but James Akinjo missed the three and Texas Tech claimed a spectacular 65-62 victory.
Final Notes
The only way Texas Tech could come away with a win this big would be with a great all around team effort and it was exactly that. They had five players finish with double digit points Nadolny (11), McCullar (12), Williams (13), Obanor (13) and Arms (14).
The Bears had four more rebounds (six more offensive), made four more three pointers and made three more free throws. Yet, despite making more free throws it was the area that hurt them the most which makes sense since they are averaging only 66% as a team. They shot 8-13 which is not terrible, but in a game this close those five shots came back to hurt them a ton.
Texas Tech may have had a rough start, but they out dueled the best in the country in the final 27 minutes snapping a few winning streaks held by the Baylor Bears. They also ensured that no team would have a chance to attempt a perfect season.
Jan. 15 vs. Oklahoma State
The Bears looked to bounce back from their first loss since the final game of 2021 Big 12 tournament. They welcomed in an 8-7 Oklahoma State Cowboys team for their second straight home game. Ironically enough the Cowboys came into this game following a 78-57 loss to Texas Tech.
The Cowboys also came in having lost six of their last eight including three losses to ranked opponents (No. 14 Houston, No. 6 Kansas and No. 19 Texas Tech). In those three games they lost by an average of 14.3 points. They did have a little hope as they had recently battled against No. 14 Texas where the Cowboys walked away with a dominant 64-51 victory.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys looked to prove they are still a solid Big 12 team while the Baylor Bears aimed to get back to their winning ways.
First Half
The Cowboys could not have asked for a better start to a game, especially against the No. 1 team in the country. At the 13:58 mark Avery Anderson III made a layup to give the Cowboys a 15-4 lead. Yes, the Bears were down 11 just over six minutes in. The Cowboys were outshooting the Bears 6-11 (54.5%) to 2-9 (22.2%).
The Bears attempted to come back as they brought it to 21-11, but an 8-0 Cowboys run gave them their largest lead at 29-11 with 4:57 to go before half. Baylor would however cut the lead down enough to go into half only down 34-22. Of their four times trailing at half this was their biggest halftime deficit by six points.
Second Half
The second half started exactly as the first half progressed with all the momentum on the side of Oklahoma State. At the 11:58 mark Bryce Thompson made a jumper to give the Cowboys a 46-29 lead. It was at this point that the tides started to turn. An LJ Cryer three pointer at 9:26 brought the Bears within single digits at 47-38 for the first time since Cryer hit a three to bring them within eight at 17-9.
At the 5:10 mark Adam Flagler made a three to make it a 51-45 deficit, but it was at 2:07 when Matthew Mayer hit a three to make it 55-52 and set it up to be a wild finish. Less than a minute later Cryer was fouled and calmly made both free throws to make it 55-54 with 1:20 to go.
Unfortunately for the Baylor faithful the joy stopped there. In the final 27 seconds Flagler turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions leading to four made free throws for the Cowboys and a Thompson final second dunk sealed a 61-54 victory for the Cowboys over the No. 1 team in the country.
Final Notes
The Cowboys absolutely dominated the Bears for all but five minutes in the second half. When faced with a situation where it all seemed to be going the way of the Bears they kept battling and finished with a ginormous win.
This will be a tough one for the Baylor Bears to swallow as they were ice cold all over the court. As a team they made only 18 shots meaning they shot 31% from the field (They average 49.1%). Of their four players who average double digit points only Cryer finished over the mark with a team leading 18. The other three, Akinjo, Flagler and Brown scored three, four and five respectively, a combined 12.
Oklahoma State played aggressive offensively, shooting 44.6% from the field, but dominated defensively with nine steals (plus five over Baylor) and five blocks (plus four over Baylor). To hold a team that averages almost 82 points per game to 54 is an incredible feat for any team, especially a Cowboys team that has allowed an average of 71.9 points during their rough eight game stretch.
To Wrap Up
To say it was a rough week for the defending champs is probably an understatement. They went from undefeated to two straight losses in a five day span. The last time they lost two straight games was when they dropped four straight to end the regular season of the 2018-19 season.
To make matters even worse for Baylor they made some brutal history. They became the first AP No. 1 team ever to lose two home games in the same week. The new AP Poll releases on Monday and there is a high likelihood their time as No. 1 has come to an end for now.
Looking ahead they have back-to-back road games. First they will go to play the West Virginia Mountaineers (13-4) who are coming off of a hideous performance against Kansas. Then they will head to play the Oklahoma Sooners (12-5) who will be looking for revenge.
The road to redemption for the Baylor Bears will not be easy but if they get back to their usual shooting ways they should be ready to dominate.
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