Baylor finishes non-conference play with statement win over Southern

With a 80-20 win, Baylor closes out non-conference play with a 10-2 record after winning the last five games. The Bears will first travel to Texas Tech in Big 12 play next Friday.

Three-point game takes over

Considering the three-point woes the team had earlier in non-conference play, tonight marks the fourth consecutive game the team has shot over 40 percent from range. That falls squarely on the shoulders of Manu Lecomte shooting 6-of-9. He was a special shooter against the Jags — a true spark for the team, especially in the second half to run away from a short comeback.

Takeaway Lecomte’s performance and the team shot 38 percent, right in line with its season average ranked in the top 50 in the nation. King McClure got to step up against one of his high school teammates and was the second-leading scorer behind Lecomte. Perhaps the success was a bit too infectious, as Mark Vital and Obim Okeke both put up bricks from deep but overall, it’s difficult to be upset with the team shooting 50 percent on the night from beyond the arc.

Move in closer to two-point range, Baylor made 20-of-27. That’s an astounding 74 percent. With 20 assists -- moving in and out of range-- everyone worked in true harmony.

S.W.A.T. Team pays a visit

Not many teams size up to Baylor’s height very well. Southern is one of the exceptions but that didn’t stop Baylor from racking up its blocks.

While Jo Lual-Acuil was locked up offensively, scoring just seven points after a string of amazing performances, he sent five balls into the stands. With Tristan Clark swatting three shots and two Mark Vital blocks, the Bears walked away with 10 blocks- the first double-digit performance of the season (twice last season).

Though Lual-Acuil has had bigger nights it’s most comforting to see that if an opponent ties him up in one area, he can still respond and thrive in another as tonight marks his best defensive performance of the season.

Uncharacteristic performance from Lindsey

Entering the night, Lindsey led the Big 12 with a 4:1 assist to turnover ratio. Tonight, he sat at four-to-three assists to turnovers. In a bigger game like the loss against South Carolina in the Sweet 16 when he had four turnovers, that’d be a bigger issue.

But even in the context of this game, Lindsey had three turnovers in a span of four minutes while Baylor was holding to a lead of 10 points or less in the second half. Only one Southern steal turned into points. If not for a block from Jo Lual-Acuil and overall pressure from Baylor’s defense, the game could have been tipped on its head with Lindsey’s surprising string of events.

His defense was up to par with his normal body of work, but for the team's resident technician, it's an odd performance he'll certainly be avoiding down the road.