TCU’s Bane a pain for No. 2 Baylor
Baylor coach Scott Drew always enjoys watching Desmond Bane play, except when the TCU guard is going against the Bears.
This time, Bane may have cost No. 2 Baylor a shot at its first Big 12 title.
Bane scored 19 of his 23 points after halftime, with eight in a row during TCU’s big tiebreaking run, in a 75-72 win on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. It was the highest-ranked opponent the Horned Frogs have ever beaten at home, and fans streamed onto the court to celebrate.
“I’m so glad Desmond’s a senior. I love cheering for him when we’re not playing him,” Drew said.
Baylor (25-3, 14-2 Big 12) lost for the second time in three games since winning a Big 12-record 23 games in a row. The Bears were the nation’s No. 1 team when they lost a week ago to now-No.1 Kansas, which is a game ahead of them in the league standings.
Bane made a long tiebreaking 3 with 4:42 left that put the Frogs (16-13, 7-9) ahead to stay. After blocking a shot by Jared Butler, Bane made a turnaround jumper before adding another 3 to make it 63-55 with just over three minutes left.
“Desmond Bane is a senior and wants to win. In the last five minutes he wanted to win and it showed,” Butler said.
That was part of 13 points in a row by TCU, and an 18-1 spurt that Bane had started with another 3.
“My teammates got the most confidence in me and support. It makes it easy for me to keep going,“said Bane, who was 2-of-10 shooting before halftime, then was 7-of-8 and made all five of his 3-pointers after that.
PJ Fuller added 21 points for the Horned Frogs, while Jaire Grayer had 13 points and nine rebounds.
Butler and Freddie Gillespie both had 18 points while MaCio Teague had 13 for Baylor, the highest-ranked team to visit TCU since then-No. 1 Kansas in December 2003 before the Frogs were in the Big 12.
Calm rematch in Kansas: Devon Dotson scored 25 points to help top-ranked Kansas absorb the loss of center Udoka Azubuike for long stretches, and the cold-shooting Jayhawks won their 14th straight game, 62-58 over Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas.
Azubuike finished with six points and nine rebounds while playing just 20 minutes after hurting his ankle early in the game. David McCormack came off the bench to score nine in his place, helping the Jayhawks (26-3, 15-1) edge closer to a share of another Big 12 championship.
Cartier Diarra scored 15 points and Xavier Sneed and Makol Mawien had 13 apiece for the Wildcats (9-20, 2-14), who were held scoreless for nearly 51⁄2 minutes late in the game.
It was their first meeting since their game in Lawrence late last month ended in a brawl that spilled into the disabled seating section of Allen Fieldhouse. Several punches were thrown, and Kansas F Silvio de Sousa took a stool and nearly swung it before assistant coach Jerrance Howard grabbed it away.
De Sousa is still serving his 12-game suspension, while McCormack sat two games and Kansas State’s James Love and Antonio Gordon also were suspended.
The two teams met at midcourt after the national anthem and shook hands.
“Obviously the first one ended in a not-a-special moment. We wanted to make sure this one started with a positive moment,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said.
Virginia tops slumping Duke: Mamadi Diakite made a short, go-ahead jumper with 37 seconds left and Jay Huff blocked Vernon Carey Jr.’s shot under the basket with 3.7 remaining as Virginia ended a three-game home losing streak against No. 7 Duke with a 52-50 victory in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Huff led Virginia (21-7, 13-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) with 15 points, nine rebounds and 10 blocked shots.
Tre Jones tried an off-balance 3pointer at the buzzer, but missed, allowing the surging Cavaliers to claim their sixth victory in a row and bypass the Blue Devils into third place in the ACC standings.
Carey had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils (23-6, 13-5), who lost their second in a row and for the third time in four games.