Postgame Takeaways: #1 Baylor 79, #16 Hartford 55

#1 Seed Baylor (23-2) uses suffocating defense to knock #16 Seed Hartford (15-9) out of the tourney 79-55.  The Bears next opponent Sunday March 21st will be the winner of #8 Seed North Carolina (18-10) and #9 Seed Wisconsin (17-12).  

Richard & Sarah Rogers give us an eyewitness report of what they saw in this podcast.  

Positives

• Defense was suffocating.  Held Hartford under 60 points.  15 steals; 24 turnovers forced; 35% from field and 23% from 3.  Only flaw defensively was terrible free throw shooting defense (80% 12-15 for the Hawks). 
• Didn’t have a great night of shooting (42% from field; 33% from 3; 60% from FT) but 14 offensive rebounds was good; didn’t turn it over (10) and shared the ball. 
• Loved seeing Flagler get going off the bench with three 3 pointers and 12 points.  Thought his effort was outstanding.  Jon played with energy, a bit hurried but he was back from an energy standpoint.  Matt was terrific on the glass- 9 rebounds and chipped in 8 points.  Filled the gap with Vital in foul trouble. 
• Great to see Jared with 9 assists.  Didn’t have his best shooting night but 5 steals, 9 assists were big. 
• MaCio so steady.  Davion’s efforts incredible.  Loved the way Flo played even though he didn’t finish well in the first half.  Much better in the second. 

Needs Work

• A few turnovers (maybe 3 or 4) in transition where the outlet passer got in a hurry and Hartford was sitting on that. 
• We knew coming into the game that Hartford’s free throw defense was elite (#18 in KenPom) and we did nothing to change that narrative with only 60% (6-10). 
• If we play defense like we did, we are going to be a really hard out but we need to knock down our open looks at a little higher rate.  I’m encouraged.