Baylor Basketball Falls to Frogs 69-63 in James Nnaji's Debut, Big 12 Opener

FORT WORTH, Texas — Baylor Men’s Basketball (10-3, 0-1 Big 12) lost its Big 12 conference opener at TCU on Saturday by a score of 69-63.

The Bears fell behind by as many as 12 points before mounting a late comeback to cut the deficit to 66-63, but fell short in the end.

Cameron Carr led the Bears with 17 points, but that was overshadowed by the collegiate debut of James “The Existential Threat” Nnaji. The 21-year-old freshman and former 31st overall pick in the NBA draft played 16 minutes, scoring five points on 2-3 shooting and grabbing four rebounds. He also committed four fouls.

“I thought they did a better job getting in transition,” Scott Drew said of TCU after the game, “I thought they did a better job on the glass and down the stretch. We had too many, too many points to overcome…we knew it was a tough game, and then adding James, we knew that was going to be tough, but I thought he did a lot of positive things, and I thought our team did a good job blending him in in a short period of time.”

The first half saw the Frogs open up a 14-6 lead in the first eight minutes before the Bears fought back for a 19-18 lead. TCU responded with an 8-0 run that saw them into the locker room with a 29-23 lead.

“They're really good defensively,” Coach Drew noted after the game, “Coach Dixon has done a great job with them. I thought we got a lot better as the game wore on. And the first road game in the Big 12, they're never easy, let alone against a top 25 defense in the country.”

A mid-second-half run by the hosts expanded their lead to 59-45 before the Bears tightened things up on defense and started chipping away.

A 16-5 stretch for Baylor from 5:02 to 18 seconds left in the ball game had some nerves frayed, but the Frogs iced the game with free throws. 

When asked about what spurred the late comeback bid, Cameron Carr said, “I think we took a step up defensively. You’ve got to finish possessions with rebounds. Can't give up second chance points. But that's ultimately what started our run, was getting stops and getting in transition.”

On the final stat sheet, Dan Skillings and Tounde Yessoufou joined Carr in double figures with 13 points and 10 points, respectively. 

More figures from the final box include 37% shooting from the field for Baylor and a 5-21 shooting performance from deep. 

Back to James Nnaji, the TCU crowd loudly made their feeling about his presence on the Bears’ roster known throughout the afternoon.

After the game, Coach Drew was asked both about the TCU crowd reaction and the larger national reaction to the addition of Nnaji.

“It was a little more than I thought, but again, as a head coach to one of the players … James did nothing wrong. Baylor did nothing wrong. And I know he's human, and just making sure he doesn't feel that. And again, if James was an NBA player today, he would be in the NBA.”

Coach Drew went on to say, “We'd like to get to the to a place where I think everybody isn't shocked about anything, because everyone knows what is what.”

But that will take changes from the NCAA or possibly even higher powers. For now, the Bears have Nnaji and need him to keep integrating with the team.

“He did a great job in a short period of time,” said Drew, “I mean, he hadn’t played a competitive game in seven months, he’s been recovering from an injury.”

Baylor now buses back to Waco with a gauntlet ahead of them in the form of home games against No. 3 Iowa State and No. 8 Houston on Wednesday and next Saturday, respectively. 

Tip-off for Bears vs. Cyclones is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be available on Peacock.