Cougars Bully Bears, Baylor Falls to No. 6 Houston 76-65

HOUSTON — The Baylor Men’s Basketball team (15-9, 7-6 Big 12) fell to the No. 6 ranked Houston Cougars (20-4, 12-1 Big 12) by a score of 76-65 in a physical contest at the Fertitta Center.

The Bears turned the ball over 15 times — 10 in the second half alone — resulting in 28 Houston points. Combine that with Baylor’s trouble rebounding in the first half, and the end result was a 25-point lead whittled down to the final deficit of 11 points in what can only be called garbage time. On the board in the first half, Houston earned six more rebounds and won the offensive rebounding battle 6-1 resulting in 10 second-chance points.

Norchad Omier did lead all scorers with 19 points, but he only grabbed five rebounds. Langston Love notched 15 points while VJ Edgecombe scored 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting. The freshman did turn the ball over five times, however.

The Houston defense, one of the best in the country by any metric, also spurred the home team on killer runs in both halves. 

An 8-0 run in the middle of the first frame took a one-point game and gave the Cougars the breathing room they needed to settle into control. 

The real game-ending run was a 17-1 streak from the 10:00 mark to the 5:43 mark. This run took a 57-45 lead for the Coogs up to a 71-46 blowout. That run coincided with a field goal drought of seven minutes and 25 seconds.

The Bears fought till the end, finishing on a 13-2 run to make the final score less brutal to the eye.

With just two days to figure out how to cope without Joshua Ojianwuna for this game, the Bears have room to grow and plenty to learn from this defeat.

Baylor now has the rest of the week to prepare for a Saturday contest against West Virginia back in the friendly confines of the Foster Pavilion. That game tips off at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN 2.