Baylor Basketball Falls at Cincinnati 69-67, Drops Below .500 in Big 12 Play
CINCINNATI — The Baylor Men’s Basketball team (16-12, 8-9 Big 12) lost 69-67 to the Cincinnati Bearcats (17-11, 7-10 Big 12) to drop the Bears to 2-5 in the last seven games. Baylor is now under .500 in conference play for the first time this season and is quickly falling into NCAA Tournament bubble territory.
VJ Edgecombe and Jizzle James led their respective teams in scoring, both netting 18 points. Edgecombe largely scored from distance and in the second half. The Bears’ freshman went 5-for-8 from three and scored 14 points in the second period to aid the Green and Gold’s comeback bid. However, his last-second, highly-contested layup attempt missed the mark and left the Bears down two with under two seconds to go.
Norchad Omier registered another double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, but he dealt with both foul trouble and turnover issues. The fifth-year forward picked up his fourth foul midway through the second half and his four turnovers (of the Bears’ 12) were joint highest with Robert Wright. The effort was there for Omier, who almost grabbed Edgecombe’s late miss, but he fumbled the ball a bit in the scuffle and Cincinnati’s Day Day Thomas earned a jump ball.
Overall, the game flipped on its head for the Bears at halftime. In the first twenty minutes, the Bears gave up 1.3 points per possession to the Bearcats while scoring just 0.867 for themselves. The Green and Gold went through a truly brutal quarter of the game where they made just one field goal during the last ten minutes of the first frame, digging themselves a 13-point hole with poor showings at both ends of the court. Specifically, the 13-2 run by Cincinnati during the final six minutes of the half took what had been a 26-24 home lead and expanded it to the 39-26 halftime gap.
The halftime break did the Bears some good, allowing them to reset and assert themselves early in the second period with a 5-0 run. While the lead would grow back to 12 points, Baylor was fighting and holding out for an opening. Around the 14-minute mark, the Bears found the ray of daylight and made a 10-2 run to get within two points at 50-48.
After three straight Edgecombe threes later in the half, Baylor even took a 57-56 lead. That lead lasted all of 33 seconds before the Bearcats used a 7-0 run to get back on top and the Green and Gold would not recover.
This was a game of fine margins with neither team blowing the other out in any area. Baylor won the boards by two but lost the turnovers by five. Baylor made one more three than Cincinnati but five fewer free throws. The Bears scored 1.117 points per possession when all was said and done while they allowed Cincinnati to score 1.211.
These are the games that superior talent and/or star players are expected to make the difference in. The Bears' talent did not prove superior and star VJ Edgecombe’s final attempt could not force overtime.
Baylor now returns home for a Saturday matchup with Oklahoma State in the Foster Pavilion at 7:00 p.m. which will be streamed on ESPN+.