By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
Baylor entered halftime under the crushing weight of precedent.
The Bears were winless when entering the break tied or trailing. After a late run pushed Arizona State ahead by several scores Saturday afternoon, it could’ve been the end of the story. Instead, Baylor blitzed ahead for a dominant second half, knocking off the Sun Devils 73-68 behind stifling defense and late-game heroics.
“I thought on both ends of the floor they were better,” Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley said of the Bears’ second-half performance. “Their intensity on defense and their pressure on defense … They willed themselves back into the game right away to start the second half.”
The Sun Devils (14-13, 5-9 Big 12) made no offensive headway in the early goings, struggling to create any semblance of separation on the perimeter. They scored twice in the first 3 1/2 minutes, on a pair of alley-oops to 7-foot-1 center Massamba Diop, and fell behind 8-4 when senior Baylor center Caden Powell returned the favor.
A pair of 3-pointers kept Arizona State afloat, but the visiting team didn’t make another shot outside the restricted area until nearly the 10-minute mark. It was peak analytical basketball: the Sun Devils didn’t score a 2-pointer outside the paint in the first half.
Meanwhile, Baylor (14-13, 4-10 Big 12) struggled to produce offense. Outside of sophomore guard Isaac Williams IV (12 first-half points), the Bears shot a hair under 44% from the field in the first half, with three bench points and zero second-chance buckets. Neither team could hold an advantage.
Arizona State rode a late scoring wave to a big lead. The Sun Devils obliterated a small deficit with a 12-2 run, including five made free throws, en route to a 40-32 halftime lead.
“It really started at halftime,” head coach Scott Drew said. “We could have come in like, ‘Ugh, we’ve worked so hard the last two days, and here we go again.’ And that wasn’t the case at all.”
Baylor played some of its most constricting defense all season to open the second half. The Bears forced turnovers on five straight possessions, including a shot clock violation, and held the Sun Devils to two points in the first five-plus minutes of the half.
“I think that has to be our identity, take more pride in that side of the ball,” Williams said. “Just kind of dictating what they do instead of letting them dictate what we do on defense.”
Senior forward Michael Rataj hit a 3-pointer, his first since January, to tie the game up at 44. Rataj was 3-for-24 from deep in Big 12 play entering Saturday.
The Sun Devils shifted into a 2-3 zone midway through the half, stifling an offense that had made significant progress. After a few possessions of probing the defense unsuccessfully, Powell’s paint presence proved kryptonic. He slid between the left and right blocks, forcing Diop to choose between defending the dunker’s spot and the high post, where freshman wing Tounde Yessoufou lurked, ready to strike.
Three straight assisted buckets sent the Bears into the media timeout trailing 59-57.
A pair of late 3-pointers by fifth-year guard Obi Agbim lifted the Bears to a 71-67 lead, visibly frustrating Arizona State guard Maurice Odum (12 points, 4-for-11 shooting) and prompting Hurley to call a timeout with 1:09 to play. Odum, a Pepperdine transfer and the team’s leading scorer this season, missed a free throw on the ensuing possession.
With 30 seconds remaining, and just ticks on the shot clock, Agbim shimmied, Eurostepped into the lane and finished a finger-roll layup to put the game out of reach. The defense got a stop Agbim recovered a missed free throw by Williams, officially closing out the Bears’ first second-half comeback this season.
“I’m as happy as I’ve been all year right now,” Agbim said. “Just getting back to the winning column, it brings joy to the team, and it gives us hope, hope that we needed.”
After the final buzzer, Drew grabbed the stadium PA mic and thanked the fans: “These guys are still fighting and so are you. Thank you for helping us.” The Bears were 1-5 in conference play at Foster Pavilion prior to Saturday’s win.
“In coaching, you can analytically look at all the facts and figures,” Drew said after the game. “What you can’t put on there is confidence, swag, momentum, connectedness.”
The Bears will look to keep the good times rolling against No. 4 Arizona (24-2, 11-2 Big 12) Tuesday at Foster Pavilion. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
