Bears roar into the second round after slow start
Jitters rise and subside in the NCAA Tournament, Baylor coach Scott Drew said, but solid defense should be a constant.
“The beginning of the game that was indicative, and maybe why (some) teams got off to slower starts offensively,” Drew said of the Bears in particular dealing with nerves in their tournament opener. “… Defensively we were for most of the night really good and much improved. I’m proud of that, because at the end of the day we wouldn’t have a chance to advance … if our defense wasn’t back.”
The top-seeded Bears overcame a slow start offensively to cruise past 16th-seeded Hartford 79-55 in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, on Friday.
“It was a good game to get adjusted, with it being our first game in the tournament,” said Baylor guard Macio Teague, who led all scorers with 22 points.
The Bears (23-2) will face either Wisconsin or North Carolina on Sunday in the round of 32.
A year ago Baylor was a potential top seed in the NCAA Tournament, before it was canceled because of the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic. The Bears have spent much of the past year wondering what might have been; now they’re finally playing out the possibility.
“A lot of people dreamed of playing in the tournament last year,” Drew said. “On our team several (players) came back to school to do this. (And) coaches can breathe a sigh of relief when the ball is tipped, because that means the game is being played.”
Drew could not exhale Friday, however, until the second half.
Baylor had trouble finding its groove following an extended break in February because of COVID-19 issues within the program, and that jaggedness from late in the regular season carried over into the first half of the tournament opener.
During the final 24 minutes against Hartford, however, Baylor looked every bit the program that sprang to a school record 18-0 start this season. The Bears led only 2420 with four minutes remaining in the first half before roaring to a 3721 halftime lead, and never glancing back.
“Once we got in a rhythm,” Teague said, “we stayed there.”
The entire NCAA Tournament is being held in and around Indianapolis because of the pandemic. Hartford (15-9) won the America East Conference tournament to advance to its first NCAA Tournament, and it ultimately was no match for Baylor.
“They present problems in a lot of areas,” Hartford coach John Gallagher said of the Bears. “With their length, their size and their shooting ability. They’re probably one of the one or two best teams in the country – them or Gonzaga.”
Baylor’s 15 steals, including a third of those by star guard Jared Butler, set a school record for an NCAA Tournament game, and were six more than the Bears’ previous high. Butler, the Big 12 player of the year, had an off-day shooting, finishing 5 of 16 from the floor and missing seven of his eight 3point attempts, but he made up for it in multiple ways.
“We’ll take nine assists and five steals any day of the week,” Drew said. “(And) you know he doesn’t stay cold – usually if he’s off shooting one night the next night he’s on.”
One troubling turn for the Bears occurred when senior forward Mark Vital, who became the sixth Baylor player in history to start his 100th game, fouled out with 14:19 remaining in the contest after receiving his fourth foul and a technical for arguing the call. The Bears didn’t miss a beat in his absence, however.
“The guys who come off the bench are as good as the guys on the floor,” Teague said. “We just have to stick together in times like that.”
The perpetually upbeat Drew also pointed out a positive in Vital’s abrupt exit with plenty of time left in the contest.
“The good thing is he’s rested for the next game,” Drew said with a grin.