Texas Tech Outshoots, Outlasts Baylor 73-59 in Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas — The Baylor Men’s Basketball team (14-8, 6-5 Big 12) dropped a hard-fought road contest against the No. 13 Texas Tech Red Raiders (18-4, 9-2 Big 12) by a score of 73-59.
Norchad Omier led the Bears with 16 points and 12 rebounds while Robert Wright chipped in 15 points.
Chance McMillian of Texas Tech led all scorers with 19 points while Darrion Williams added 17 of his own.
Jeremy Roach returned to action for Baylor and scored 12 while Joshua Ojianwuna added 10 points on 4-for-4 from the field.
The Bears got off to a rare good start with an early 7-0 run, but their hosts responded with a 15-4 run to make it 22-16. From that point, the Red Raiders would not relinquish the lead.
Robert Wright scored 10 points in the first frame to keep Baylor from a deficit as large as they faced on Saturday against Kansas, but a 9-3 run by Tech to end the half put the Bears in a 34-24 hole heading into the locker room.
The key differences in the first 20 minutes were offensive rebounds and second-chance points. Tech grabbed 10 offensive rebounds to Baylor’s one and converted those extra chances into nine points.
Baylor flipped that script in the second half making both offensive rebounds and and total rebounds an almost even affair by the end of the game.
However, three-point shooting became the difference-maker in the second frame.
Much like the first half, the Bears made a good early push in half two with a 10-0 run to make it 37-34. The teams then traded 6-0 spurts before Chance McMillian delivered the kill shot for the Red Raiders. On three straight possessions, the senior guard nailed three-pointers of increasing length to put the Bears back in a double-digit hole.
The last gasp for Baylor came when Jeremy Roach knocked down a three and Joshua Ojianwuna hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead back to five. Sadly for Bears fans, Norchad Omier would miss the front end of a 1-and-1, have a three hit in his face and then miss his attempt at answering with a three of his own. Tech turned that into a 7-0 run and that was that.
The Bears fell to 6-5 in Big 12 play after a game they were not expected to win.
Baylor kept its rotation very tight without VJ Edgecombe in this game. Jason Asemota played just three minutes and four of the five starters saw 33+ minutes.
The Bears now return home for a Saturday contest against the UCF Knights. That game is set to tip off at 1:00 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.