Baylor has back against the wall after 81-60 loss to Florida

A frustrating pattern has emerged the past three games for Baylor: allow a big lead, slowly climb back with the game in sight, fall right back down. Against both Kansas State and Kansas, the Bears came within points of taking the game. Now in a break from Big 12 play, Florida attacked Baylor the same way, taking the game 81-60. 

Shooting woes across the floor

As Florida was burying practically every shot from range, Baylor was putting up low-percentage shots in the paint. Mark Vital and Tristan Clark helped keep the score within single digits but they weren’t spotless. At one point, the team shot 1-of-10 shooting inside. At the same time, Florida’s jumpers fell straight through.

Baylor walked away shooting 40 percent from the floor, well under Florida’s 52 percent rate. Baylor shot 60 times to Florida’s 52 attempts, unable to climb out of the hole with two-point attempts that often turned into three points for Florida, unable to muzzle their hot-hand guards Jalen Hudson or Chris Chiozza.

Perhaps most telling, Baylor shot 3-of-15 from three-point range. Florida made 15-of-22. The Gators had as many makes as Baylor had attempts. That second half performance Manu Lecomte had against Oklahoma State has disappeared as he shot just 2-of-5 from the perimeter. Tyson Jolly had the only other make from range.

But even bread and butter plays were rare. Baylor had just two points off fastbreaks and was 10-of-20 on layups. On the plus side, all four dunks went in, unlike Florida, one of the rare areas Baylor won.

Foul trouble comes early

Unlike the past couple games, Baylor hardly had a reason to force fouls to close out the game. The Bears’ 19 personal fouls already did enough damage before the closing minutes. So while Baylor has higher foul counts this season, the damage was disastrous.

Letting Florida climb to a 15-point lead in the first half, Baylor’s top playmakers were whistled most often. Tristan Clark was one of the true difference makers in the first half but was called for three fouls in just six minutes. Hampered by his foul trouble, his performance was truly front-loaded, scoring five of his seven points in the first half. Though, he was mostly in the wrong place at the wrong time, having to foul to prevent Florida from more transition points.

The Gators could have made it all look much worse though. Baylor should consider itself lucky the game was as close as it was. Florida shot just 13-of-22 from the foul line. Meanwhile, Baylor was held off the line and had numerous missed calls including an early goaltending call on Florida that could have helped shift momentum before halftime.

Similar to Clark, Jo Lual-Acuil scored just nine points, getting into foul trouble in the latter half of the game. 

Time to panic and shift momentum

Taking a break from the mundanity of a rinse-repeat loss, it might be time to start worrying Baylor won’t go dancing. Coach Drew said he’s not worried about that since his team made the Sweet 16 back in 2014 after starting Big 12 play 2-8. This extra loss in the Big 12-SEC challenge is another warning, though.

But who will step up to be the difference maker that Cory Jefferson was in that miraculous stretch four seasons ago? Can King McClure or Manu Lecomte start making difference from the perimeter like Brady Heslip?

As for the path through the Big 12? We’ll save that for another time but it’s not easy.