No. 21 Duke Downs No. 10 Baylor in the Garden, 78-70
NEW YORK — The No. 10 Baylor Men’s Basketball team (9-2) suffered a second consecutive loss, this time to No. 21 Duke (8-3) in Madison Square Garden by a score of 78-70.
RayJ Dennis led the Bears with 17 points to go along with his seven rebounds and four assists, but he turned the ball over six times as well.
Duke rode outstanding performances from Jared McCain (21 points) and Jeremy Roach (18 points) to the win. Their star center, Kyle FIlipowski also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds despite some foul trouble.
The holiday matchup was the first chance Scott Drew’s Bears have had at repaying Duke for a 2010 Elite Eight loss, but they could not get the job done.
The turnovers were a key that Scott Drew honed in on after the game saying, “An outstanding feat for them [limiting turnovers] and that was a big difference in my opinion. Our 14 turnovers versus their eight.”
The two halves were rather different in many ways. Half number one saw Duke build a 10-point lead on the back of two 7-0 runs before giving it up. The Bears responded with a 12-0 run to take a 28-26 lead before being neck and neck for the rest of the period.
Yves Missi was also key in the first frame, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven boards on his way to a double-double with five blocks. It was a highly physical half and Yves thrived … until he didn’t.
The second half saw the Duke defense hold Missi scoreless and the refs tightened things up themselves, calling the freshman center for four fouls in the half.
Across the board, the refs were more strict in the second period. They called 21 of the 33 total fouls in the last frame. There was not much disparity between the teams though.
In fact, many stats were close, and accordingly, fans were treated to a back-and-forth game for much of the night.
Baylor just didn’t execute at either end when they really needed to.
This was a step in the right direction after the Michigan State debacle, but the Bears are not playing up to their potential right now with Big 12 play just a few weeks away.
After the game, Scott Drew said, “Really proud of how our guys bounce back from Michigan State and we played a much tougher game. From there, execution comes in.”
Aside from Dennis and Missi, Ja’Kobe Walter notched 15 points and Jalen Bridges scored 10.
Baylor will look to get back in the win column before Christmas with Mississippi Valley State coming to the final basketball game at the Ferrell Center on Friday. That game tips at 6 PM CT and will be available on ESPN+.