By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Norchad Omier made history Saturday night, becoming the 13th player in NCAA history with 2,000 points and 1,500 rebounds as Baylor knocked off Utah at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, 76-61.
The fifth-year big man paced the Bears in scoring (22 points) and on the glass (12 rebounds), as he has for much of the season. Alongside freshman wing VJ Edgecombe (21 points, 6 rebounds), the team’s top two scorers combined to shoot 51.9% from the field and 6-for-9 from three.
“We’re really blessed to have good upperclassmen,” Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. “Norchad’s an unbelievable teammate. … We’re blessed to have good leaders, because sometimes people like Norchad come in and it’s about their points and their numbers and that. And when you got guys that just care about winning and playing, it’s fun.”
The Utes struck first, as Gabe Madsen drilled an opening-possession 3-pointer on their first possession and Ezra Ausar notched a second-chance basket a minute later. Three days after managing just 36 points against No. 7 Houston — its second-fewest since 1980 — Utah was up 5-0.
“I thought the first four minutes, they were the aggressor,” Drew said.
The Bears, meanwhile, substituted players more aggressively. Desperate times call for desperate measures; playing from behind at altitude, with just seven rotation players on hand, certainly qualifies. Freshman forward Jason Asemota and fifth-year forward Jalen Celestine tapped in for Edgecombe and Norchad Omier three minutes into the game; Omier subbed back in less than a minute later. Asemota, seemingly set for a career-high minutes total, picked up three quick fouls and only played nine minutes.
Just under the 12-minute mark, Omier pulled down his 1,000th career rebound to secure his spot in the record books. The fifth-year big man leads all active Division I players in rebounds, double-doubles and rebounds per game, and ranks 10th in points.
“We practice rebounding every day in practice,” Omier said. “That’s one of the three keys to winning games. More offensive and defensive rebounds, we did the job today and we came up with the dub.”
The Bears seemed to acclimate to the altitude slowly, then all at once. After trailing 11-4 nearly four minutes into the game, the Bears roared back. Josh Ojianwuna flushed an alley-oop to punctuate a 22-3 Baylor run which ended, perhaps fittingly, with a pair of made free throws by former Baylor guard Miro Little.
“I thought we got a lot more aggressive,” Drew said. “Offensively, defensively, we started playing more physical.”
Heading into the final 90 seconds of the half, Utah’s offense found itself in a serious drought: nearly 12 minutes had passed with only two made field goals, both by Baylor exes Little (3-pointer) and Caleb Lohner (layup). Little flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Lohner had the best plus-minus (+3) of anyone on the team.
Madsen, an acclaimed 3-point marksman, drilled back-to-back shots from downtown to cut the lead to seven, sending Baylor to the half up 38-31.
The second half was largely tit-for-tat, the lead never falling below six or rising above 13 until a pair of jump shots by Omier inside four minutes put the game away. Three minutes later, the Bears sealed away their fifth conference victory, 76-61.
“Norchad really made some big plays down the stretch,” Drew said.
The win puts Baylor in a strong position heading into the toughest stretch of conference play. The Bears will play BYU and potential top-five pick Egor Demin Tuesday, then return to Texas for a gauntlet: five of their next six opponents rank in the top 16 of the AP Poll or KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin. That journey begins Saturday with a heavyweight matchup against No. 12 Kansas Jayhawks at Foster Pavilion.
