No. 10 Horns End No. 11 Bears' Winning Streak, 76-71 in Austin

AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 11 Baylor Men’s Basketball team (16-6, 5-4) lost their first game since January 7th, dropping a 76-71 contest to the No. 10 Texas Longhorns (18-4, 7-2).

LJ Cryer led the green and gold yet again with 19 points on 7-for-17 shooting. Keyonte George added 17 and missed a game-tying three in the final minute from 30+ feet out.

Jalen Bridges and Adam Flagler both reach double figures as well with 13 and 11 respectively. Flagler also saw a go-ahead three of his rim out with just over a minute left in a two-point game.

Overall it was a tough shooting night for the Bears, who hit just 36.8% from the field and 30.8% from deep. Those figures are good for their third and fifth worst marks of the year respectively.

Early in the first half, Baylor struggled to shoot the ball well, going 1-for-10 from inside the arch in the first eight minutes. Thankfully, the Bears started 4-for-5 from deep. 

The defense struggled though, with Flo Thamba, picking up two early fouls that limited him to just eight minutes. 

His backup, Josh Ojianwuna, fared no better, picking up three fouls in his 11 minutes. 

Baylor’s three star guards kept things close and clawed the score to 38-36 at halftime though. Cryer led the Bears with 10 points in the period, while Flagler and George both hit timely threes to keep the fight going.

After the break, which included a shoe change for George, the freshman did perform better, scoring 12 of his 17 points. 

And the Bears kept things close by making difficult, well-contested shots inside the arch and using a matchup zone curveball on defense to stymie Texas for a brief period.

The Bears truly hung tough through the night despite the shooting struggles. 

Each time the Longhorns looked to blow the game open and the roof off of their new arena with a big bucket, the green and gold had an answer. 

Sir'Jabari Rice hits a three to take a seven-point lead? LJ Cryer answered with his own.

Rice hits another on his way to 21 points? Flagler answered with an and-one and a bucket for a 5-0 run. 68-66 Horns.

Dylan Disu and Timmy Allen nail their free throws? Keyonte George gets a tough bucket and then an and-one. 71-72 Texas.

But the Bears just could not hit the final shot to get over the hump. 

Baylor did not get outrebounded or blown out in points in the paint. Both teams only turned the ball over nine times.

The Bears just did not shoot well enough to make up for giving up a 47% shooting performance on the road to the No. 10 team.

Missing Langston Love with a hip contusion looks to have had a real impact on this game as well. But the magnitude of that impact can’t be known for certain. The Bears had every chance to take the game but they could not complete the comeback.

Now Baylor will look to rebound against a tough, but bottom-of-the-standings Texas Tech team this Saturday in Waco. Tip-off for that contest will be at Noon CT, and the game will be televised on CBS.