By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer, Braden Murray | LTVN Sports Reporter
In the final home opener in Ferrell Center history, No. 20 Baylor men’s basketball saw 11 different players record points — including four in double figures — as it took down John Brown 96-70 on Thursday afternoon.
Head coach Scott Drew and the Bears (2-0) were lifted by redshirt sophomore guard Langston Love off the bench. Love scored 20 points, which tied his career high and led the team. Alongside Love, freshman center Yves Missi also recorded double figures off the bench with 10 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
“That’s one good thing about depth,” Drew said. “Different nights, you have different guys step up and do different things. Today, Langston was really good and gave us a good lift. Yves continues to improve, and he’ll have some of the best highlight dunks and blocks by the time he’s done here that we’ve ever had.”
Making only five 3-pointers on the game, the Bears drove to the hoop and churned out 66 points in the paint, shooting 56% from the floor. Captained by senior guard RayJ Dennis, the Bears assisted on 20 different shots, with Dennis tallying eight of them.
“They make it really easy for me,” Dennis said. “I have great teammates. I mean, we have guys like Langston and Ja’Kobe [Walter] and Jayden Nunn — guys who can shoot the ball. Then Yves and Josh [Ojianwuna] — guys who could finish. They make the passes easy, so I don’t have to do a lot of hard work.”
Baylor established itself on defense with 18 steals and six blocks. Dennis and junior guard Jayden Nunn each put their stamp on the game defensively. Dennis recorded 16 points to go along with a career-high six steals. Nunn chalked up 15 points and tied his career high with four steals.
“I feel like we have a really high ceiling defensively, and it’s still early in the year,” Dennis said. “I mean, you can’t win a championship in November. But I think we have a really high ceiling defensively, and we show spurts right now.”
John Brown (2-1) kept the game close in the first half. Baylor found initial separation with eight minutes left in the first half when freshman guard Miro Little and redshirt junior guard Dantwan Grimes each put their head down and plopped in a few layups in traffic. Senior forward Jalen Bridges and Missi provided assistance on the back end, as they denied shots at the rack. The Bears took a 47-34 lead into the half.
“In the second half, we made it a point to lock down on defense,” Dennis said. “We were able to come out, and some balls fell my way and some steals, so I was able to get a couple [breakaways].”
The Golden Eagles went on a 6-0 run to start the second half, while the Bears embarked on a four-minute scoring drought before going on a run of their own. Baylor broke the second-half spell when Love and Dennis traded layups, and the squad hit 13 of its next 17 shots, seeing eight different players find buckets in the span.
“We have a lot of chemistry that we’re building, and [my teammates] put me in positions to make good things happen,” Love said. “At the end of the day, if I can finish it, then that’s good.”
During the run, the Bears saw sophomore forward Josh Ojianwuna keep possession alive. The big man led the team with 10 rebounds — eight of them coming on the offensive glass — and he led them to second-chance opportunities.
Leading 80-62 with five minutes left, Dennis said Baylor racked its focus back to the defensive side and clamped down to close strong.
“’Five to grind’ is what we call it — the last five minutes of the game,” Dennis said. “We take that really personally, and everybody on our team is super competitive. So when it comes to winning time, we locked in.”
Baylor used that as fuel to take the 96-70 victory, and Drew said these nonconference contests allow the team to find its identity.
“With a lot of new guys, each game experience we get is a chance to see what they can do,” Drew said. “From that, we are able to help them be more successful and then be able to see what we need to do as a team. We’ll get that each and every game early on.”
The Bears will be back in action against Gardner-Webb University. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Sunday in the Ferrell Center.
