Wright, Bears Shock No. 11 Kansas with 21-Point Comeback, Win 81-70

WACO, Texas — The Baylor Men’s Basketball team (14-7, 6-4 Big 12) overcame a 21-point, first-half deficit to knock off the No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks (15-6, 6-4 Big 12) in the Foster Pavilion by a score of 81-70.

Robert Wright was massive for the Bears scoring a career-high 24 points to lead all scorers and dishing out six assists. 

After the game, Kansas head coach Bill Self admitted “We had no answer for him.” 

In the post, Norchad Omier rebounded from his performance at BYU to register a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds while nailing 13 of his 14 free throw attempts. The fifth-year player also managed his fouls well, closing out the last 10 minutes of the game with four fouls. 

Overall the Bears outscored the Jayhawks 60-30 in the second half. That is five more points than the Green and Gold scored in their entire game at Iowa State.

“I’ve been here 22 years and I don’t know if I’ve been more proud of a group,” said Baylor head coach Scott Drew after the game. 

The two halves could not have been more different, with Baylor scoring just 21 points while shooting 28% percent from the field and 10% from three in the first frame. 

The game was initially broken open when the Jayhawks made a 22-3 run in after the first media timeout to gain a 26-10 edge. The Bears’ offense could get nothing going and while the defense was getting shredded by the Kansas pick-and-roll.

Hitting the locker room down 40-21, Coach Drew said the Bears were embarrassed of their play.

The response? A 25-6 Baylor run in the first seven minutes of the second half, stealing a 47-46 lead for the Bears.

The only negative during that stretch of play was Baylor’s likely NBA lottery pick VJ Edgecombe leaving the game with an apparent ankle injury at the 14:38 mark. Coach Drew did not offer specifics on Edgecombe in the postgame press conference. The Bahamian finished with 14 points.

With the Foster Pavilion crowd rocking and the game in the balance, Kansas countered with a 13-2 run to take a new 10-point lead. 

However, the Bears made this look more like a breather before the final charge, ripping off a 17-0 kill-shot run.

Wright and Omier nailed their free throws after getting hard-earned trips to the charity stripe and Jalen Celestine nailed a dagger of a three to build the lead that would doom Kansas.

Celestine would finish with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from deep. He was joined in double-figure scoring by Joshua Ojianwuna who narrowly missed out on a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.

The Bears finished the game with a lower field goal percentage than the Jayhawks (43% vs. 46%), more turnovers (17 vs. 14) and fewer assists (11 vs. 14). But the Bears won the boards (40 to 27) and killed Kansas in transition with 15 fast break points to just four for KU.

The game could well be a turning point for Baylor, but the injury situation is precarious. With a trip to Lubbock coming up on Tuesday, good news on Jeremy Roach’s return or the status of Edgecombe would be welcome. The former Blue Devil was close to being available for this game.

If the Bears can get healthy and win enough games to make the NCAA Tournament though, Bill Self wouldn’t count them out.

“If they get right at the right time, they can seriously be dangerous,” said Coach Self.

Coach Drew surely just wants to get right for the game at Texas Tech right now. That matchup tips off at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday night on ESPN 2.