Baylor drops regulars season finale at Kansas State 77-67

Coming off the high of taking down Oklahoma on Senior Night, Baylor traveled to Manhattan to punctuate its season and stake its claim on the tournament. Hanging tight for most of the first half, all looked to go to plan until the Wildcats took a double-digit lead on Dean Wade’s back. Despite a comeback in the second half, the Wildcats stuck it out to make their own impression as they completed the sweep over the Bears with a 77-67 win Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, Baylor finishes the regular season with an 18-13 overall record after winning six of the last nine games.

Nuni Omot flexes

With a career-high 30 points, Omot was virtually single-handedly responsible for Baylor’s second-half comeback. With Baylor facing a 16-point deficit, Omot kept working his way to the corner that turned into his sweet spot, hitting three three-pointers opposite the team bench. 

He’s been given a bit of a longer leash lately. Even when he misses, coach Scott Drew seems to encourage lanky forward to take his shot deep, as he did in the double-overtime game at Texas a couple weeks ago. 

Let’s not dwell on this as Omot heating up in time for the NCAA tourney, that’s still up in the air as much as the signs point to Baylor being invited. Omot is shooting 42 percent from range on the season and gave that a slight bump going 6-of-9 from the perimeter today. He also added eight points from the foul line, making this by far his most effective performance, becoming the center of a struggling offense.

Of course, that extra attention came with some negatives as Omot committed a team and career-high five turnovers which directly led to five KSU points. 

Where’s Manu?

Take away Omot’s shooting, Baylor was just 1-of-9 from downtown as Manu Lecomte’s shooting woes continue. He made just 1-of-7 shots outside. So while the team collectively shot over 40 percent from the perimeter, it was incredibly lopsided. But once those two sides come together between bench production and typical sharpshooters like Lecomte, it will take a lot of momentum to stop Baylor.

If you’re a believer in being “due” for a break, Lecomte is going to sound off in Kansas City next week. He has a four-game streak of making just one three-pointer. Over that span, he’s a combined 4-of-19 beyond the arc. It didn’t hurt the team against Oklahoma, but certainly can be pointed toward over the past three losses. He has been perfect from the foul line, but there’s a limit to that contribution when a majority of other possessions go empty.

But to answer the rhetorical, he did add five assists to his box score, helping spread the ball well along with Jake Lindsey. He's putting in more work running the offense but still leaves more desired considering his direct scoring isn't up to par. Considering the sheer amount of shot attempts he’s going, running the court is only going so far and when the defense shuts down Jo Lual-Acuil who added just six points, it makes the hole that much harder to climb out of.

Tournament implications

Throughout ESPN’s broadcast, it constantly flashed numbers surrounding both team’s odds for the NCAA tournament. With a win, Baylor would have been a lock. But even with the loss, the Bears have roughly an 80 percent chance for an invite to the big dance as the team stands before the Big 12 tournament.

Alternatively, entering today, TeamRankings.com had Baylor slated at a 26 percent chance at an at-large bid. With the loss to a team with less than 20 percent chance at the dance certainly drives down that percentage. But Baylor now stands at 8-10 in Big 12 competition, sitting in a three-way this with Oklahoma and Texas (which the Bears are a combined 3-1 against). It will be difficult for the tournament committee to reject Baylor and let in either the team Baylor crushed by over 20 points earlier this week or the team that it swept this season- just as the committee faces putting in Kansas State which just swept Baylor.