By Foster Nicholas | Sports Writer
On Senior Night, No. 11 Baylor men’s basketball forward Jalen Bridges left a lasting mark with a career-high 32 points en route to a 93-85 comeback victory in the final regular season matchup against Texas on Monday night in the Foster Pavilion.
“JB told me in shootaround, ‘Man, five years just flew by,’’’ head coach Scott Drew said. “I told him to stay in the moment. You have 60 years to remember the game. Let’s leave it all on the court tonight. He was tremendous.”
Scott Drew addressing the Baylor fans after their win over Texas #SicEm pic.twitter.com/ajdbSi1Eqw
— Darby Brown (@darbyjobrown) March 5, 2024
The Bears (22-8, 11-6 Big 12) were led down the stretch by Bridges, who shot 8-for-11 from the floor, 6-for-7 from 3-point land and added nine rebounds in his signature performance. Behind the senior, Baylor rallied its way back into the game with a 21-2 run, leaving Texas (19-11, 8-9 Big 12) without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes.
“I mean, they got out to a fast start on us hitting everything, and to be honest, JB is why we were in that game and had a chance to even come back and win,” said senior guard RayJ Dennis, who was also honored on Senior Night. “And he continued throughout the whole game. It was amazing to watch him do that.”
Alongside Bridges, Dennis tallied 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and led all players with eight assists. Freshman guard Ja’Kobe Walter (15) and sophomore forward Josh Ojianwuna (10) also found their way to double figures in points.
Baylor found its feet to the fire out of the gate as Texas, behind graduate senior guard Max Abmas’ season-high 33 points, knocked down its first six shots and never trailed in the first half. Bridges (18) and Abmas (17) combined for 35 first-half points while going 8-of-10 from 3-point range.
“I personally can’t say that I’ve ever been in a shooting match like that,” Bridges said. “It’s just the best to be in this league, lacing up with these guys, guys like RayJ. On the other foot, [you] have to go up against guys like Max.”
Down 48-40 at halftime, Drew credited graduate forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua with a halftime speech that ignited a fire in his team. The Bears jolted out of the break with energy, hitting their first nine shots from the field but clawing one point closer as the Longhorns’ hot shooting continued.
Just like the flip of a switch, with 13 minutes to play in the second half, trailing 68-57, Baylor laced up and forced 11 consecutive missed field goals for a stretch lasting 9:43. In the midst of the strong defense, the Bears swooped in for their first lead of the game and led 78-70 before Texas found efficient shooting.
“We tried three or four different types of defenses,” Drew said of the second half adjustments. “We tweak each thing we do and then finally we settled into where our zone was pretty good, and we did a good job on Max. But to be honest, they missed some shots, when in the beginning of the game, they didn’t miss any of them.”
Baylor closed the night strong, hitting its last 11 free throws with less than 2:45 to play. The Bears finished the night shooting 34-for-42 from the charity stripe and finished the game with a higher field goal percentage (53.2%) than the Longhorns (50%) despite their scorching hot first half.
“We’re seeing some growth,” Drew said. “Not many people are starting two freshmen. Not many people are starting four newcomers. They’re no longer freshmen, they’re sophomores. All the new guys in the Big 12, they’ve earned their stripes and know what it’s about and are making progress.”
No surprise here, SEC chants have broken out with less than a minute left.
Baylor 87 Texas 77 pic.twitter.com/TwbEdrasCv
— Debanny Cerda (@debannycerda) March 5, 2024
The Bears will close out the regular season slate against Texas Tech (20-9, 9-7) at 5 p.m. on Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock.
