By Gio Gennero | Sports Writer
No. 9 Baylor men’s basketball dropped a double-digit lead in the second half and lost to No. 5 University of Kansas 87-71 Saturday afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.
The loss snapped the Bears’ four-game winning streak. With the result of the game, Baylor (20-7, 9-5 Big 12) and Kansas (22-5, 10-4 Big 12) swapped places in the Big 12 standings. The Jayhawks are now tied for first with No. 6 University of Texas and the Bears dropped to one game back in third place.
“That’s a good game for the Big 12,” head coach Scott Drew said. “You saw what we were capable of in the first half and what Kansas is capable of in the second half.”
Baylor’s backcourt duo of redshirt senior guard Adam Flagler and freshman guard Keyonte George led the way with 22 and 20 points, respectively. George is now tied for the most games scoring 20+ points by a freshman in program history. Flagler dished out seven assists and George crashed the glass with five boards. Junior guard LJ Cryer followed with 15 points of his own.
The Bears had a strong first half, shooting 51.6% from the field and 64.3% from beyond the arc. Down the stretch, George converted on a number of wild plays, including a four point play and an emphatic dunk. Baylor was able to push its lead to as many as 17 at 40-23.
The second half was a much different story, as the green and gold struggled to play its game. Completely flipping the script, the Bears shot 35.7% from the field and just 9.1% from three. Baylor committed six turnovers in the second, and only had three assists for the entire final 20 minutes. The Bears officially lost their 17-point advantage five minutes into the second half, and eventually went down as many as 18 with a minute left in play.
“As good as we were in the first half, that’s how bad we were in the second half,” Drew said. “They just killed us in transition.”
Up next, the Bears are staying in the state of Kansas for another ranked matchup with No. 12 Kansas State University at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan.
