By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
It was their worst loss in 17 years.
With only three returning rotation players amidst a sea of new faces, No. 8 Baylor men’s basketball played one of the most experienced teams in the nation at 10:30 p.m. CST less than a mile from their campus. Despite this, the Bears still walked into Spokane Arena on Monday hoping to win their third straight game against No. 6 Gonzaga.
It was never close.
Miami transfer Norchad Omier hit an early free throw to make it 1-0, one of only two Baylor leads in a 101-63 blowout loss. It was the Bears’ largest margin of loss ever as a top-10 team, and largest overall since a 40-point loss to unranked Oklahoma in 2007.
Stat: Monday's 101-63 loss to Gonzaga marked Baylor's largest-ever loss as an AP Top-10 team. The previous low-water mark was set against Marquette in 2022 (26 pts).
It's the Bears' largest margin of defeat overall since a 91-51 loss to unranked Oklahoma on Jan. 20, 2007. #SicEm
— Jackson Posey ✞ (@ByJacksonPosey) November 5, 2024
“[Shooting] three for 21 makes you a bad offensive team from three, Baylor head coach Scott Drew said after the game. “We had some good looks, and we’ve made more shots than that. But 11 assists, 12 turnovers and only eight second-chance points — that’s not Baylor basketball.
“So for Baylor fans that stayed up, I promise that we will get a lot better, and we will give you a better effort than this. As far as Gonzaga goes, I think they’re going to have a special year, and always cheer for them when we’re not playing.”
The Bears (0-1) looked jet-lagged for much of the first half, opening the game 3-for-13 from the field and 1-of-8 from 3-point range. The offense settled for extended isolations and contested jump shots against a cohesive, experienced Gonzaga (1-0) team that returned 81.4% of its minutes from last season. The Bulldogs had age, chemistry and what amounted to a home crowd on their side at Spokane Arena, a “neutral site” located just three minutes away from Gonzaga’s campus.
“I think it’s fair to say Gonzaga, returning eight or nine starters, looked like that, and us with one returning starter looked like that,” Drew said. “A ton of respect for Gonzaga because if you’re not on point, they make you look really bad, and Coach Few had them ready to go, and they really exploited our switching.”
The offense began smoothing out as the first half rolled on. The Bears made nine of 16 shots, punctuated by VJ Edgecombe scoring his first career points on an athletic, left-handed finish over Gonzaga’s Graham Ike. Much of the run was predicated on attacking the rim; during that 8 1/2-minute stretch, Baylor attempted just three shots from beyond the arc, making one.
By the end of that offensive burst, though, Gonzaga’s lead still stood at 14. Without a clear offensive engine, and after opening the game 3-for-13 from the field, the Bears finished the half a chiastic 4-of-13. Trailing the assist battle 13-4, Baylor hit halftime with a 49-30 deficit.
“You gotta give credit to Gonzaga,” said Omier, who finished with a team-high of 15 points and nine rebounds. “Great coaching, great players. They were exploiting the mismatch, we couldn’t find a way to figure it out. So all we can do is learn from it and move on from here.”
The Bears attempted to make another push in the second half, but it was too little, too late. After pulling within shouting distance at 59-46, Gonzaga erupted for a 25-4 run, hitting five three-pointers in 3 1/2 minutes to add memory foam to an already-comfortable lead. The Bulldogs held on to win, 101-63, their first win over Baylor since before the 2021 National Championship Game.
“Definitely, they’re deeper than us right now, and their depth is experienced,” Drew said. “They know what they’re looking to do, and I thought we let the pace and tempo get away from us.”
Baylor’s newcomers struggled to mesh on either end of the floor. Blown defensive coverages, paired with awkward offensive exchanges, led to an overall game that at times felt disjointed and clunky. The Bears shot 37% from the floor to Gonzaga’s 57%; 14% from three to Gonzaga’s 42%; scored eight fast break points to Gonzaga’s 19; corralled 32 rebounds to Gonzaga’s 45. Experience ruled the day in Spokane.
Three Bears scored in double figures: Omier (15 points, nine rebounds), freshman point guard Robert Wright (12 points, six rebounds, two steals) and junior center Josh Ojianwuna (10 points, six rebounds, three steals). That trio shot 14-of-29 from the field; the rest of the roster hit just 9-of-33 shots (27.3%).
The Bears will look to bounce back against No. 16 Arkansas at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at American Airlines Center in Dallas. It’ll be Drew’s first matchup with Arkansas head coach John Calipari since 2013, when Baylor knocked off No. 3 Kentucky in Arlington, 67-62.