Bears takedown Longhorns for first Big 12 win of season

As has become the norm the last two games, Baylor entered the second half losing to Texas but turned on the jets to rewrite that narrative and win 69-60. The win helped Baylor avoid losing the first three Big 12 game since the 2005-2006 half-season.

Acuil measures up with the conference’s biggest bigs

If there’s a knock against the Big 12’s double-double leader, it’s that his size is difficult to match up against. 

Texas isn’t in such a position with freshman phenom Mohamed Bamba. Matched up with Bamba, it was Horns down when Big Jo was lined up against him. It wasn’t until Bamba was moved around in the second half that he had one of his five blocks of the afternoon.

Acuil has been on a tear recently with multiple career-high games so his 17 points and six rebounds are minor in comparison. But he remains a fixture that can control the lane and rhythm of the game. With four blocks and three steals (a season-best), he was able to flash another muscle to push Texas out of range and was a big reason Baylor won 44-30 inside the paint.

Lecomte comes alive when it matters again

There’s still work to be done around the perimeter — Baylor still shooting 25 percent from three — but Manu Lecomte turned around in time to pull Baylor out of its hole after halftime.

On the afternoon, Lecomte shot 2-of-7 from range and added a team-best 17 points total. While only a shade of his abilities he’s shown before, it was twice as good as he had been the past two games. He was 2-of-11 shooting deep balls the past two games. Even sinking one more would have helped overcome TCU.

Against Texas, his two makes came right on cue. As the game clock ran past the shot clock to close the first half, Lecomte lined up for an NBA-range shot with the assist from Jake Lindsey. It was his third attempt of the game but with five seconds left, prevented Texas from expanding its two-point lead.

Next, Lecomte drained a trey to go up 47-44 following a run spurred by Acuil and Mark Vital. Texas was on the verge of taking back momentum but Lecomte’s shot swung the rest of the game in Baylor’s favor, holding the lead until 0:00.

Mark Vital continues to make his mark

Excuse the pun. But the redshirt freshman has been playing above expectations since he’s seen more work in the wake of absences from Acuil and Terry Maston.

He not only left the game with his fourth double-digit point game (11) in six games but continues to show a devotion and cognizance that pulls Baylor up at the right time.

Vital was Texas’ target in the closing minutes to try to get out of the hole and only ended up flying in their face, with a block, rebound, and two free throws to move Baylor out of danger.

Of note, he also had just one personal foul and turnover. It’s the first time he’s done that while playing over 20 minutes (he played 28).