By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
Robert O. Wright III walked into hostile territory Tuesday night.
The former Baylor guard, who transferred to No. 22 BYU not long after signing a contract to remain with the Bears last offseason, was met with a chorus of taunts in his first return trip to Foster Pavilion and was booed each time he touched the ball. But Wright had the last laugh, posting a career-high 30 points in a 99-94 Cougar victory.
“Rob’s very mature, I honestly wasn’t worried about him at all,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said. “He’s a very level-headed, very composed player. I thought he handled it great, I mean, obviously he had an unbelievable game. I actually have to give the Baylor fans credit, they kept it classy.”
The boo birds were out in full force for Wright, whose transfer came at an inopportune time for the Bears (13-11, 3-9 Big 12). The roster was largely built around him, with the program reportedly turning down “multiple elite players” before his departure.
Baylor fans responded with deafening jeers and a “Trai-tor” chant during player introductions. The boos got an encore every time he touched the ball.
“Yeah, that’s definitely what I expected,” Wright said. “I remember when we played LJ [Cryer] last year and when he got here, so I kind of was expecting it, but I think I handled it pretty well.”
The crowd was raucous on both ends, with a large traveling contingent of Cougar fans celebrating Wright’s successes — and the Bears’ mistakes. Baylor threw the ball out of bounds twice in the first seven minutes and trailed the early turnover battle 4-0.
Strong 3-point shooting from redshirt sophomore Cameron Carr (24 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks) and a pair of turnaround jumpers from freshman Tounde Yessoufou buoyed the Bears during the stretch, lifting them to a 27-19 lead heading into the 10-minute mark.
“He’s put in the work,” Baylor head coach Scott Drew said of Yessoufou. “After coaching him a couple months, putting him in better positions to be successful, I think our team’s getting used to knowing how to play with him and where he wants the ball.”
Yessoufou, who has faced criticism from NBA Draft analysts over his jump shot, scored a career-high 37 points on 12-19 shooting (5-for-8 from three). He continued to hit pull-up shots in the midrange, a skill he’s honed over years of watching Kobe Bryant and which has further opened up the offense for teammates.
“Growing up I was a Kobe fan, so you can imagine why I’ve been playing that way,” Yessoufou said.
After BYU (18-6, 6-5 Big 12) knotted the game up at 17, Carr and Yessoufou single-handedly spun off a 16-4 drive. At one point, the pair was outscoring BYU 26-21.
Turnover struggles continued to plague the Bears, though, and the Cougars made quick work of a comeback. They retook the lead with an 8-0 run — helped along by a pair of missed free throws from senior forward Michael Rataj — and entered halftime tied at 41.
BYU came out of halftime with renewed vigor, turning a quick 15-2 run into a big lead. The Cougars continued to dominate the turnover battle, which they ultimately won 13-5.
“A lot of those turnovers [were] self-inflicted wounds,” Drew said. “You can’t win until you take losing out of it, and to lose 18 points on turnovers, you’re not going to beat a good team and a well-coached team.”
Yessoufou continued his hot streak, going blow-for-blow with fellow five-star freshman AJ Dybantsa (36 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists), a projected top-three pick in the NBA Draft.
“We’re just competitors, so we weren’t at each other,” said Dybantsa, a former teammate of Yessoufou’s on the McDonald’s All-American Team. “I will see him at the next level for sure.”
The Cougars ran away with things in the second half, taking a 17-point lead with 4:18 to play. The Bears pulled several rabbits out of several proverbial hats down the stretch, but like their frantic comeback against No. 7 Iowa State on Saturday, it was too little, too late. The Bears fell by five, dropping to 3-9 in conference play.
“I believe that [the wins] will come,” said senior center Caden Powell, who finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds. “We have the ability to do it. We just have to seize the moment.”
Baylor will look to get back in the win column Saturday against No. 24 Louisville (18-6, 8-4 ACC) in Fort Worth. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2.
