By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
Bears head coach Scott Drew chalked the team’s first conference loss up to it being “another typical Big 12 game.”
Seeking its first win against former Baylor assistant coach Jerome Tang, No. 9 Baylor men’s basketball fell 68-64 in overtime to Kansas State on Tuesday night in the Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan.
“Wins feel so good; losses hurt so much,” Drew said. “I was proud of our effort. We gave ourselves a chance to win on the road. Credit K-State for making the plays down the stretch. And they did; we didn’t. So they got the dub.”
The Bears (14-3, 3-1 Big 12) struggled to hit the bottom of the net from 3-point range, going just 5 for 28 (18%) from behind the arc, only three coming in regulation. Despite taking 76 total shots — 22 more than the Wildcats (13-4, 3-1 Big 12) — Baylor only made three more field goals than the home team while having a season-high 23 offensive rebounds.
Redshirt sophomore guard Langston Love and senior forward Jalen Bridges were the only two Bears to finish in double figures. Bridges (11) found most of his points during a 7-0 run in the first half when Baylor took its largest lead of the game at 13-5. Meanwhile, Love (15) led the team for a second-straight game, connecting on 6 of 14 attempts, with eight coming in the second half.
Freshman forward Yves Missi barely missed a double-double, finishing with nine points (3 of 8 field goals, 3 for 7 free throws) and 11 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive glass. Although he had a rough night shooting, senior guard RayJ Dennis finished with seven points on 2-of-15 shooting from the floor, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Baylor jumped out to a hot start, but it didn’t take long before the Bears ran into a scoring drought that lasted for nearly seven minutes. During the setback, Baylor kept it close and finished the half hitting five of its last six shots, taking a 31-26 lead into halftime.
“As the game went on, I thought we had better and better looks,” Drew said. “I thought early on I didn’t like our looks as much, and that’s on me as a coach. [We] took too many contested twos and rushed threes, and as the game went on, I thought we had a lot better looks.”
The conclusion to the first half didn’t translate, as the Bears went without a field goal for the first 7:38 of the second half. Yet only trailing by as much as three in the second half, Baylor found a spark from Love and took the game back into its own hands.
“Our defense can keep us in games, even when we’re not shooting the ball [well],” Bridges said. “And that’s a good feeling still to have, even though we lost.”
Kansas State closed the gap and put pressure on the Bears to end the game with one final shot. Tied 54-54 with a wide-open 3-point look, junior guard Jayden Nunn fired away and only found the front rim, sending the game to overtime.
“Shots down the stretch, we weren’t playing tight; we were just playing basketball,” Love said. “We all believe in ourselves. We all work hard. We’re in the gym every day. Shots just didn’t fall tonight, and we just need to get back in the gym and keep working.”
Dennis and the Bears opened the extra period with a five-point lead in overtime, but the Wildcats stormed back with a 9-0 run in the last 1:02 to retake the lead. In the final minute, Love, Dennis and Nunn each had open 3-pointers to either tie or put the Bears within one.
Each came up just short, which gave Kansas State the 68-64 win.
“You can’t get better shots to win games,” Drew said. “Best shooters in the country are going to make 4 out of 10 or 5 out of 10, so we have to get the offensive rebound.”
The Bears will be back in action against Texas at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the Moody Center in Austin.
