Azubuike’s eight dunks help Jayhawks end Bears’ streak
WACO — Baylor coach Scott Drew doesn’t think anything is easy this season when the Bears play Kansas — save for one thing that came way too easy for the Jayhawks on Saturday at the Ferrell Center.
“Except a 12-foot lob to ‘Dok,’ and he’s the only one up there,” Drew said with a shake of his head.
“Dok” is Kansas center Udoka Azubuike, and the senior was head — and occasionally shoulders — above everyone else with eight dunks in the Jayhawks’ 64-61 victory in a packed arena.
“We were able to throw the ball over the top quite a bit,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “That’s about as good as I’ve seen him play, and he was able to get a running start at the rim sometimes.”
The Bears entered the showdown with the nation’s No. 1 ranking. The thirdranked Jayhawks rolled into Waco with Azubuike, and that meant the difference for about 39 of the game’s 40 minutes. He collected game highs in points (23), rebounds (19) and blocks (three).
Azubuike, a lithe 7-footer from Nigeria, scored 10 more points and had 14 more rebounds than any of his teammates. Along the way, the Jayhawks snapped a Big 12-record 23-game win streak by the Bears, a mark previously held by Kansas in 1997 under Roy Williams.
“My team did a good job of getting me the ball,” Azubuike said of the multiple lobs and alley-oops over the heads of a collectively neckcraning Bears defense.
Azubuike, the rare standout senior in college basketball, played in only nine games last season as a junior and 11 games three years ago as a freshman because of injuries.
“We caught a break,” Self said of still having Azubuike around to harass Big 12 big men instead of in the NBA. “If he had stayed (injury free), he would have gone last year.”
The Ferrell Center was packed early, and raucous from the opening tip, but fans often had little to truly cheer until late in the game, when Baylor cut a 62-55 deficit with 34 seconds remaining to 62-61 with 18 seconds left.
The Bears’ Jared Butler and MaCio Teague sank 3pointers in that 16-second span, the second following a steal by Butler.
“The game is never over, and we made a couple of mistakes that you can’t make late,” Self said.
Following Teague’s 3pointer, the Bears took 10 seconds to foul Isaiah Moss, committing their own mental mistake late. Moss made both free throws, and after a time out, Butler missed a 3pointer at the buzzer that would have pushed the game into overtime.
“It was a good enough look,” said Butler, a candidate for league player of the year. “I guess it just wasn’t supposed to go in — but I thought it was supposed to go in.”
Kansas avenged a 67-55 loss to Baylor in Lawrence, Kan., on Jan. 11. The teams might meet again in the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, and perhaps down the line in the NCAA Tournament, so the budding rivalry is far from over this season despite the regular season split.
Butler and the Bears had become so accustomed to winning he corrected himself when discussing the Bears moving forward.
“We just can’t let this win … I mean loss affect us,” Butler said. “We’re still the Baylor team that won 23 games in a row.”
The Jayhawks host Oklahoma State on Monday, while the Bears host Kansas State on Tuesday, each with four regular-season games remaining. Kansas has won 14 regular-season Big 12 titles under Self since 2004, while Baylor is angling for its first championship since joining the league in 1996.
The Bears have enjoyed a school record five consecutive weeks at No. 1, but will drop from the top spot on Monday following Saturday’s setback.
“The goal wasn’t to sweep Kansas, the goal was to win the Big 12,” Drew said. “We’ve got to be ready for Tuesday.”
A handful of celebrities were on hand, including Waco residents Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” fame and 2011 Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III, a former Baylor quarterback. The crowd left deflated, but also knowing big things are potentially ahead for Drew’s 17th Baylor squad.
“This season is not over,” Bears forward Freddie Gillespie said. “We’re going to prepare better and work harder. We always do.”