Baylor takes down Arkansas 81-72 to advance to Final Four

INIDIANPOLIS — The No. 1 seed Baylor men’s basketball (26-2) advances to the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship with a 81-72 win over No. 3 seed Arkansas (25-7) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. 

Get your Final Four Baylor gear!

First, breathe. 

Second, consider history made. 

Throw all of the naysaying comments about Scott Drew and this program out; the Bears have made it over the hump and are dancing to the Final Four. Simply take a second to bask in that. This is history. 

Moreover, this was not a remotely easy win. While the Bears led throughout, leads dwindled frequently and Arkansas put up a wild fight. That said, the consistent onslaught of experience, talent and stamina overpowered the Razorbacks to further cement history. 

And, luckily for analysts and fans alike, the stat book from this game is perfectly telling. The Bears forced 15 turnovers while only coughing up 9, scored 21 points off turnovers compared to 6 and got it done at the free-throw stripe when it counted, 13-17. 

Not to mention, MaCio Teague is still unconscious as he put up 22 points and five rebounds. 

That conglomerate was just enough to march Baylor to its biggest win in modern history. 

The first half was an absolute pipe dream. If you can envision the most Up Tempo and immaculate half of basketball in existence, it does not meet what the first half gave us. As former Arkansas football coach Bret Bielema once said, it was… borderline erotic.

While the pace of play did not favor defense, Baylor showed that the lack of offensive output against Villanova was solely to save those points for the first half. The Bears shot 4-7 from deep, led the turnover battle 10-6 and shot the ball 32 times compared to the Hogs 24. That, combined with Teague’s 12 and Jared Butler’s 11, led to the Bears’ 46-38 lead. 

The second half was a battle. For the duration of the 20, Baylor fought tooth and nail through foul trouble and multiple Razorback bursts. While Arkansas would pull within four, Teague was right there to silence the Razorback rallies with two unconscious three-pointers. 

It was the same story, different verse with Baylor only turning the ball over three times in the final period while scoring a key seven points off of turnovers that helped make the difference. Oh, and did I mention that Arkansas didn’t make a single three in the entire half? With a final of 81-72, this one belonged to the Bears. 

This was by no means a complete 40 minutes for the Bears, but it was just enough to punch a Final Four ticket. There are not words to describe this.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Baylor Bears are moving on.