Bears looking pretty after latest ugly win
WACO — As Baylor coach Scott Drew scanned the statistics after Saturday’s game against Texas Tech, a sly grin crept across his face.
The Bears shot 30.2 percent from the field and struggled in one of their worst offensive performances of the season.
“If you went into the game and said we’re going to shoot 30 percent ... I think most people would have said we’re in trouble,” Drew said.
But the Bears had enough defense and rebounding to escape with a 59-49 victory to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
For good measure, the Bears (19-10, 7-9) produced one field goal in the final 13 minutes, misfiring on 13 of their last 14 field-goal attempts.
“We were playing so hard on the defensive end,” Baylor senior guard Brady Heslip said. “By the end of the game, our legs were just tired. We just couldn’t make any at the end.”
Baylor parlayed a 4024 rebounding edge into a victory that wasn’t an artistic success but was as much a testament to perseverance.
On one occasion midway through the second half, the Bears grabbed four consecutive offensive rebounds on the same possession. They didn’t score, but it ate up nearly two minutes on the clock and helped wear down the gassed Red Raiders.
“I told the guys before the game that this is our season,” Heslip said. “We need to win these games. I don’t think everyone fully understands how important this game was.”
It was the lowest shooting percentage the Bears have had in a victory in the 11-season Drew coaching era and the lowest for a victorious Big 12 team this season.
Tech (13-16, 5-10) suffered its fifth straight defeat since beating thenTop 25 teams Oklahoma State and Oklahoma early last month.
It was the kind of defeat that Tech freshman forward Aaron Ross said would sting when they return to Lubbock.
“We should have won the game,” said Ross, who scored all 10 of his points in the second half. “We weren’t hustling and we weren’t getting after the rebounds. But once we watch the film and see, we’ll be all right.”
Royce O’Neal paced Baylor with game-high totals of 16 points and 12 rebounds, continuing a recent surge that has seen him average 15.7 points in his last three games.
It’s been impossible for the Bears to avoid the bracketology projections that have kept them near the cutting-off point for the NCAA Tournament for the last two weeks.
Saturday’s victory should keep them on the good side of the bubble — at least until Tuesday’s key game against Iowa State.
“The games are so important now and we’re just trying to convey that message to the rest of the team so they really understand that,” Heslip said. “We can be in the tournament. We can set ourselves up. We control what happens to us in the post season.”