No. 12 Baylor Basketball Beat Up in Ames, Drop Big 12 Opener 77-62

AMES, Iowa — The No. 12 Baylor Men’s Basketball team (10-3, 0-1) lost its Big 12 opener for the first time since the 2018-19 season with a rough 77-62 performance at Iowa State. 

Adam Flagler and Keyonte George led the Baylor offensive efforts with 20 and 16 points respectively. However, the Cyclones found ways to pressure Baylor at both ends, particularly highlighting some defensive shortcomings for the green and gold.

Flagler came out of the gates on fire, scoring 14 of Baylor’s first 16 points and opening up an early seven-point lead on the Cyclones. However, after reaching 18 points in the first frame, the senior cooled off and so did the Bears.

Defensive miscommunications and mishaps aided a hot-shooting streak for the Cyclones and a 29-20 Baylor lead quickly vanished. Gabe Kalscheur and Caleb Grill hit back-to-back threes, and ISU was off to the races. In just over three minutes of game time, the hosts took the lead with a 10-0 run, 30-29. 

That run would not even end at halftime. After the break, already holding a 34-31 lead and a 14-2 run, ISU started the second period 9-1. That made it a 23-3 spurt over 7:40 of game time. Another prolonged rough patch for the Bears this year, and they would not recover.

Recovery meaning erasing the full deficit. The green and gold did claw things back to 43-40 with 16:28 to go in the game, thanks in large part to Keyonte George getting things going on offense. 

ISU had an answer though, with a quick 5-0 response in the form of a Grill three and a Tamin Lipsey layup. 

Grill, Lipsey and Kalscheur were standouts for the Cyclones with 18 points, 8 points and 8 assists, and 23 points respectively. 

Jalen Bridges was the only Bear aside from Flagler and George in double figures. He scored 12 points and made a lot of hustle plays throughout the game.

The Big 12 slate has no let-up for the Bears with No. 18 TCU visiting Waco on Wednesday (8 PM, ESPN 2) fresh off of a win against Texas Tech.