Baylor Basketball
Baylor fends off Texas Tech 65-61 in a last minute thriller
WACO, Texas — Baylor has won six contests after trailing entering halftime including last week’s win over TCU. Wednesday night didn’t call for such a comeback but the Bears’ 32-31 lead over Texas Tech didn’t make things much easier en route to a 65-61 win over the Red Raiders which Baylor coach Scott Drew likened to the teams of Bobby Knight.
"There’s not many teams that run motion and I mean watching them on film, it was very similar to watching Coach Knight’s motion," Drew said after the game. "They do a great job moving the ball, screening
Despite the close score, Baylor came out to one of the team’s best starts. The Bears jumped to a 15-4 lead early on with a mix of Al Freeman and Manu Lecomte playing from the arc. They each hit their first three-point shots only for Baylor to finish the night 5-of-21 from bonus range. It wasn’t until eight minutes into the second half Baylor hit a three-pointer again. Nuni Omot was responsible for snapping the streak.
Tech was almost equally and surprisingly maligned from distance as well forcing shots over Baylor to climb back from the early deficit. The Red Raiders slowly dug out of their hole on the back of Justin Gray jumpers. The forward put up 12 points shooting 6-of-9. But Gray’s impressive shots and his monster rebounding dunk in the first half were no match for Johnathan Motley.
"His teammates are doing a great job of getting him the ball to be in positions were he can be successful and other than that," Drew said. "He’s doing a good job being efficient and getting to the free throw line or scoring. . . .He had five turnovers which is way too many.”
Motley finished the night with 25 points despite Tech’s aggressive strategy against the Wooden Award contender. Motley was sent to the free throw line 16 times and missed just once. His free throws alone made him the game’s highest scorer.
“Tonight it was free throws. Other nights, [like against] TCU we made shots and got stops down the stretch," Drew said about winning another close game. "I think we’ve had different people step up which is really key and critical. I thought Nuni [Omot] really gave us a great lift tonight.”
He added 13 points elsewhere and was a force on defense too, grabbing nine total rebounds. Though, nothing seemed bigger to the crowd than his swat on Keenan Evans that led to a Lecomte trey to go up 59-54.
But it was when Motley was off the floor for a quick break halfway through the second half the Bears held a 49-43 lead, their largest since the early run in the opening minutes. That came off of two free throws from Omot. He was also assisted by Lecomte for a layup to go up 51-45, strengthening the Bears’ shaky lead.
Despite Lecomte shooting just 3-of-11 from the floor with an extended scoring drought, he finished with five crucial assists including a nice three-point feed to a Jake Lindsey three with 5:30 left to go up 56-52. It was Lindsey’s first points from the field after missing his first three shots.
Ish Wainright also got in the mix dishing dishing the ball. He finished with four assists and set up Motley for a crucial layup to put Baylor up five points with 2:10 remaining. Motley followed with two more free throws for good measure a minute later to all but secure the win.
With just under 38 seconds remaining after two Keenan Evans free throws, Lecomte handled the ball and missed a jumper with 13 seconds remaining. An exchange from a Motley rebound led to Tech charging for a last-second three-pointer from Evans blocked by Wainright with 0.5 seconds left that went for extended review.
The call ended up being an inadvertent whistle that ended in Baylor's favor getting the ball back on account of a possession error, Drew said.
Tech fouled immediately after the review leading to two Freeman free throws to sink the Red Raiders 65-61.
With the win, Baylor increases the best start in program history to 19-1 before traveling to Ole Miss on Saturday for the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
"There’s not many teams that run motion and I mean watching them on film, it was very similar to watching Coach Knight’s motion," Drew said after the game. "They do a great job moving the ball, screening
Despite the close score, Baylor came out to one of the team’s best starts. The Bears jumped to a 15-4 lead early on with a mix of Al Freeman and Manu Lecomte playing from the arc. They each hit their first three-point shots only for Baylor to finish the night 5-of-21 from bonus range. It wasn’t until eight minutes into the second half Baylor hit a three-pointer again. Nuni Omot was responsible for snapping the streak.
Tech was almost equally and surprisingly maligned from distance as well forcing shots over Baylor to climb back from the early deficit. The Red Raiders slowly dug out of their hole on the back of Justin Gray jumpers. The forward put up 12 points shooting 6-of-9. But Gray’s impressive shots and his monster rebounding dunk in the first half were no match for Johnathan Motley.
"His teammates are doing a great job of getting him the ball to be in positions were he can be successful and other than that," Drew said. "He’s doing a good job being efficient and getting to the free throw line or scoring. . . .He had five turnovers which is way too many.”
Motley finished the night with 25 points despite Tech’s aggressive strategy against the Wooden Award contender. Motley was sent to the free throw line 16 times and missed just once. His free throws alone made him the game’s highest scorer.
“Tonight it was free throws. Other nights, [like against] TCU we made shots and got stops down the stretch," Drew said about winning another close game. "I think we’ve had different people step up which is really key and critical. I thought Nuni [Omot] really gave us a great lift tonight.”
He added 13 points elsewhere and was a force on defense too, grabbing nine total rebounds. Though, nothing seemed bigger to the crowd than his swat on Keenan Evans that led to a Lecomte trey to go up 59-54.
But it was when Motley was off the floor for a quick break halfway through the second half the Bears held a 49-43 lead, their largest since the early run in the opening minutes. That came off of two free throws from Omot. He was also assisted by Lecomte for a layup to go up 51-45, strengthening the Bears’ shaky lead.
Despite Lecomte shooting just 3-of-11 from the floor with an extended scoring drought, he finished with five crucial assists including a nice three-point feed to a Jake Lindsey three with 5:30 left to go up 56-52. It was Lindsey’s first points from the field after missing his first three shots.
Ish Wainright also got in the mix dishing dishing the ball. He finished with four assists and set up Motley for a crucial layup to put Baylor up five points with 2:10 remaining. Motley followed with two more free throws for good measure a minute later to all but secure the win.
With just under 38 seconds remaining after two Keenan Evans free throws, Lecomte handled the ball and missed a jumper with 13 seconds remaining. An exchange from a Motley rebound led to Tech charging for a last-second three-pointer from Evans blocked by Wainright with 0.5 seconds left that went for extended review.
The call ended up being an inadvertent whistle that ended in Baylor's favor getting the ball back on account of a possession error, Drew said.
Tech fouled immediately after the review leading to two Freeman free throws to sink the Red Raiders 65-61.
With the win, Baylor increases the best start in program history to 19-1 before traveling to Ole Miss on Saturday for the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
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