Lecomte's career night pushes Baylor past Oklahoma State
Maybe this Baylor Lights thing should be a permanent fixture. With a reinvigorated crowd — which was told class was canceled tomorrow and was sent into mania from there — the Bears realigned themselves to take down the Cowboys 76-60.
As coach Scott Drew so eloquently and bluntly put it, “the last couple games we’ve been defending well, but tonight we made shots.”
Lecomte shines bright
Baylor heavily marketed this game with the university’s new “Lights Shine Bright” motto. There were a few shining moments but Lecomte was a beacon.
He was part of the problem in the first half, shooting 2-of-5 without spreading the ball. Missing his free throw didn’t help solve anything either. Maybe it was the no school announcement or he just found his groove after solving OSU’s defense. If it was because of no school, cancel the rest of the semester! Can’t imagine there are any NCAA violations….though Lecomte and Coach Drew said they couldn’t hear what the audience’s cheers were for, it just fed them more.
Either way, Lecomte left the Ferrell Center with a career-high 30 points. An absolute red-hot performance that spurred the win but Baylor best hope not it’s just a candle in the wind.
From his jumper off a Jake Lindsey steal or his shot directly after the school’s cancellation announcement, Lecomte was a man possessed. But his shots cut both way. A Jekyll and Hyde performance.
Having struggled to bury shots from the perimeter throughout conference play, the narrative looked the same for Lecomte in the first half. He shot just 1-of-3 from deep and didn’t inspire any more confidence from mid-range, right in line with the rest of the team’s shooting. OSU’s defense wasn’t clinging to the Bears offense, either. Open shots were bricks too.
After the game, Lecomte said that he’s been dealing with a bad shoulder that was re-injured from the summer. Coach Drew said he’s been getting better the past couple weeks and tonight was proof he’s found his normal state again.
“I still believe in myself. I’m still a good shooter,” Lecomte said. “I think we’re doing really well as a team that whoever’s getting hot during the game, we keep feeding him so it makes it easier for whoever’s getting hot.”
But “Him” was Lecomte tonight.
Flash to the second half, Lecomte had a string of five threes in seven minutes, making shots Tristan Clark and King McClure missed to save a couple possessions and was especially effective working in transition. He said it was his teammates that made life easier on the court for him.
Quantity over quality
Oklahoma State had five blocks through 30 minutes. That’s a good starting point for how Baylor’s offense was performing until Lecomte took control of the game. Even Jo Lual-Acuil who typically towers in the paint wasn’t safe, getting swarmed underneath the rim and getting denied twice before heading to the line early in the second half.
Typically one of the team’s highest percentage shooters, Lual-Acuil walked away just 4-of-12 shooting with his saving grace coming at the free throw line. As a whole, the team was forcing shots inside, missing clear lanes in the process. But even attempts without a single Poke in the radius turned into bricks like Tyson Jolly’s two treys. Baylor entered halftime down 27-26 shooting 39 percent from the floor without a free throw to its name.
After halftime adjustments, Baylor flipped the script on the Cowboys who couldn’t find a way to penetrate the Bears’ zone. OSU made just 10 assists all night compared to Baylor’s 20 dishes, learning how to create open spaces and close the same opportunities for the Pokes whose starters walked away with just 20 points.
Additionally, Baylor had just eight turnovers much to Drew's delight. That was just 15 percent of possessions compared to the 20+ percent rate in conference play.
Vital continues to grow with more playing time
Grabbing the ball from the three-point line, Vital drove the lane to turn into the jump man logo and threw down over Mitch Solomon. It was a gravity-defying moment and dropped even the press booth’s jaws. Of course, the shot bounced off the rim and he had to settle for a free throw.
It was a good representation for Vital’s night as a whole. He had the team’s attention and made some great moves but came up short on occasion.
He’s seen increased minutes since the start of conference play and saw a season-high 35 minutes tonight. Watching him rebound over the likes of Solomon and Jeffrey Carroll, there’s little to deny his versatility and physicality. It’s his first game with double-digit rebounds, expanding his role dishing out assists to Acuil and Tristan Clark under the rim but also was one of Lecomte’s enablers.
“Manu’s an easy assist. I feel like even when he doesn’t make shots — in my eyes it’s still a make,” he said after the game. “You see what’s he doing tonight.”
Meanwhile, Vital was a liability shooting just 1-of-5, unable to make an impact at the foul line either. Though, his eight assists (particularly feeding Lecomte) continue to highlight his offensive prowess. Lecomte said it’s like playing with another point guard out there. He’s playing with rare— not just great freshman — confidence but there’s an overwhelming quality as well.
Through Vital’s transition in the starting lineup, both Vital and Lecomte said Nuni Omot has been taking his diminished role very well. He’s been a true team player and enthusiastic about what Vital’s brought to the table.