BREAKING: Baylor earns spot in National Championship as Bears thump Houston

INDIANAPOLIS — The No. 1 seed Baylor men’s basketball team is headed to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship National Final after a 78-59 win over No. 2 seed Houston at Lucas Oil Stadium.

That was immaculate. Baylor remains undefeated when Mark Paterson scores. There were lulls in the game, but you can stop wondering if the Baylor of old has returned. Not only is it back, but it’s maybe even better offensively. That’s right. I said it. This team looked more complete than the squad we saw against Texas. 

But the nerves aren’t out of the woods yet. The Baylor Bears are headed to the national championship game, and you best bet they’re going to fight like hell to win it. 

Let’s breakdown the first half, shall we? It was Matthew Mayer time. It was Jared Butler time. It was Davion Mitchell time. It was literally everyone time. You, yes you, scored at least three points from wherever you were watching the game. That’s how electric the Baylor offense was. 

For Houston, Marcus Sasser had 17 points on 5-8 from deep. Everyone else had a combined three points on 0-6 from deep. For the Bears, Butler had 17 on 4-5 from deep and the duo of Mayer and Mitchell put up nine apiece. Baylor shot 8-15 from deep, forced nine turnovers, led the rebounding battle 20-11 and led bench points 17-0. 

Thus, the halftime score was:

Baylor — 45

Sasser — 17 

Some other guys in red — 3

Or 45-20 if you struggle with quick math. 

The second half didn’t start quite as well. Things didn’t quite get hairy, but Houston made it a six-possession game at one point and at least threatened to maybe, kind of make things interesting. That said, the sheer depth of the Bears’ onslaught buried the Cougars. 

Holding Houston to just one three-pointer and only turning the ball over three times in the second half helped Baylor cruise to the 78-59 final. 

The stat book is absolutely glorious. Butler led the Bears with 17 while Mayer put up 12 and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua added 11. Moreover, Mitchell finished with 12 points and a stupid 11 assists while MaCio Teague put up 11 in the second half alone. Not to be overlooked, the team also shot 11-24 from deep and only turned the ball over nine times while out rebounding the bad guys 33-28. 

I know I’m just spitting stats, but the box score really is… wait for it… borderline erotic. Oh, and the bench of Baylor outscored Houston 32-11. 

Bask in this win — but not for long. Wash your lucky shirts and good luck sleeping. 48 hours from now, the Baylor Bears are playing in the national championship game.

And I’ll say it again — Baylor is undefeated when Mark Paterson scores.