Ice-Cold Shooting Dooms No. 25 Bears Against No. 3 Cyclones, 74-55

AMES, Iowa — The No. 25 Baylor men’s basketball (9-4, 1-1) team was doomed to fall 74-55 to the No. 3 Iowa State Cyclones (12-1, 2-0) with a bad shooting night and a limited bench. The Bears shot 30% from the field and 7-for-29 from three while not having Langston Love (RJr.) or Jalen Celestine available.

The Cyclones fought to hold a lead of eight-to-10 points through the first half before blowing things open to as large as a 25-point lead in the second frame. 

Junior forward Joshua Ojianwuna led the way for Baylor with 13 points and 10 rebounds on 5-for-6 shooting. Guard Jeremy Roach (5Sr.) dropped 16 points but on a less efficient 5-for-14 shooting on a night where more offensive efficiency was needed.

Fifth-year forward Norchad Omier had a strong first half but went scoreless in the second half, finishing with nine points and 10 rebounds. This matched with the Bears winning the battle on the boards in the first half 21-18 and earning a 10-3 advantage in offensive rebounding before losing the 40-minute battle 42-35. 

Missing good looks from deep was half of the shooting issues for Baylor, with the guards in green and gold struggling to finish over or through sound defensive shot contests from Iowa State in the paint. 

The Bears' defense showed great effort for most of the day, though key mental lapses and missed rotations ate away at the already thin margin for error against one of the top-ranked teams in the nation.

Unfortunately, the cold shooting would not start to turn around until the outcome was free of doubt. The final four minutes of game time saw Roach and Wright knock down a handful of threes, though not enough to save Baylor from finishing with their lowest point total of the season thus far.

The Bears now return to Waco to face No. 16 Cincinnati on Tuesday. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. with streaming available on ESPN+.