By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
In front of a sea of blue and white, No. 10 Baylor men’s basketball took the court in the Big Apple for a neutral-site contest against No. 21 Duke, but the squad came up short with a final score of 78-70. Despite a strong outing by freshman center Yves Missi, the Bears left Madison Square Garden empty-handed on Wednesday night.
Head coach Scott Drew saw points from eight of the 10 rotation players who touched the court, with four finishing in double figures. However, Baylor (9-2) also racked up 14 turnovers and 20 fouls, allowing the Blue Devils to secure the victory.
With an opportunity to dethrone Duke (8-3, 0-1 ACC) for the first time in program history, the Bears looked to avenge an 88-64 loss to Michigan State on Saturday.
“I can tell you, after the Michigan State game, we were excited to get back on the court,” Drew said. “And I thought we competed at a much higher level as far as intensity and toughness. We still don’t execute what we need to win a game like this.”
The Bears were led by Missi, who finished with his third double-double of the season — the most in a single season since James Akinjo had three in 2021-22. Missi had 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting from the floor and a team-high 10 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive glass.
“Yves, he had a great game,” freshman guard Ja’Kobe Walter said. “He came out rebounding, being physical, being aggressive. We did a lot of rebounding lately, and he came out and showed that.
“I just want him to keep it up going on to the season, because he’s a big piece for us. If he can do that every game, that would be something we would like.”
Walter, a fellow first-year, also put together a solid night with 15 points on 5 of 11 shooting from the field and three 3-pointers.
Senior guard RayJ Dennis battled through an off night at the free throw line (2-6) but still produced a team-leading 17 points on 7 of 15 shooting overall. In addition, Dennis picked up a season-high seven rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Jalen Bridges was the only other Bear in double figures with 10 points (4 of 6 field goals), and he added five rebounds.
Baylor opened the game on the back foot with three turnovers in the first four minutes as Duke jumped out to an 11-5 lead. As both teams raced back and forth, the Bears settled in defensively, but not before trailing by as much as 10.
Then Missi helped spark a 12-2 Baylor run. The freshman center notched seven points and two blocks and brought the game back to even at 28-28 with 3:32 to play in the first half.
The Bears went into the locker room facing a 34-32 deficit, and Missi had already totaled 11 points while making it tough on Duke sophomore center Kyle Filipowski. However, Filipowski wouldn’t be stopped for much longer.
“Filipowski is a Player of the Year candidate for a reason,” Drew said. “He’s a real tough matchup, and I thought at times we did a decent job.”
But out of the second half, the big man pushed the Blue Devils ahead a bit further as the Bears turned the ball over three times in the first two minutes.
Baylor responded with an 8-0 run and took its largest lead of the game, 48-42. Minutes later, Missi headed to the locker room after taking a scary fall, and before he reentered the game a few minutes later, Duke had erased the Baylor lead.
The turning point was when the game was even at 59-59, with seven minutes to play. Walter and Filipowski each earned their fourth fouls within seconds of each other and were forced to sit on the bench for a few minutes. During the span, the Blue Devils went on a 12-1 run, and the Bears went more than five minutes without a field goal.
“We stopped sharing the ball when we got our lead,” Drew said. “When we were playing our best, we were hitting the roller, we were hitting for threes. And at that point, we started trusting ourselves a little bit, which is what good players do, they trust themselves.
“But you have to trust your teammates too and get them shots. You have to have salt and pepper; you can’t have all salt. We didn’t move the ball well enough during that stretch.”
The hole was too big for the Bears to claw their way out, and the Blue Devils held on in the final minutes for the 78-70 victory.
“Obviously, the ending of the game is not a good memory, but it’s a great experience,” Drew said.
The Bears will head back to Waco to take on Mississippi Valley State (0-11), with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday. It marks the last scheduled game in the Ferrell Center. Baylor will then rest up before the grand opening of the Foster Pavilion on Jan. 2 against Cornell.
