No. 9 Baylor looks like national champ vs. Stanford
Baylor coach Scott Drew wanted a bigger-name opponent before heading to a tournament in the Bahamas, and saw something he said looked like a tough Big 12 game in the first half against Stanford.
The second half for the ninthranked Bears looked more like the blowouts of the first three games against lesser-known foes.
LJ Cryer scored 21 points and James Akinjo had 11 points with a career high-tying 11 assists, leading Baylor to an 86-48 victory over the Cardinal on Saturday in Waco, Texas.
A game after matching a school record with 21 steals in a 92-47 win over Central Arkansas, the Bears (40) had nine during a 26-2 run that covered nearly 10 minutes in the second half and ended with Baylor in front 60-31. The defending national champion finished with 16 steals.
“One thing, when you’re making shots, you get a couple of dunks, you can say what you want, but when you do that, you play a little harder on the defensive end,” Drew said. “Our guys played hard both halves. But that extra juice from getting out, and then once you get separation it makes it tough for a road team to continue to persevere and execute.”
Freshman Kendall Brown scored 15 points in the first meeting between the schools in 34 years. It was the first victory for the Bears in the fourth matchup in the series.
Jaiden Delaire and Spencer Jones scored 10 points apiece for Stanford (3-2), which shot 29% while getting outscored 52-20 in the second half of the school’s first-ever trip to Waco.
The Bears forced 22 turnovers and outscored Stanford 28-6 in points off turnovers while extending their arena record with a 17th consecutive home victory. They also earned their 28th straight win in nonconference games.
Baylor’s big run included a steal and layup from Brown, followed soon after by fellow freshman Jeremy Sochan’s steal and breakaway dunk. Akinjo’s ninth assist came on an alley-oop dunk to Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua.
“The second half we were completely overwhelmed,” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the turnovers, transition baskets because of that just changed the whole tone of the game.”
NO. 5 VILLANOVA 71, NO. 17 TENNESSEE 53 >> Jermaine Samuels scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Wildcats (3-1) eased past the Volunteers (2-1) in Uncasville, Conn. NO. 6 PURDUE 93, NO. 18 NORTH CAROLINA 84 >> Sasha Stefanovic scored 23 points and Jaden Ivey put up 22 points to go along with his 10 rebounds as the Boilermakers (4-0) beat the Tar Heels (3-1) in Uncasville. Conn. Trevion Williams added 20 points for Purdue.