March Madness 2025
NEW YORK – The Baylor Bears won the NIT championship by defeating Iowa 74-54 Thursday and cut down the nets in victory at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The NIT trophy is Baylor’s first-ever NIT Championship, and the Bears also became the first Big 12 team to ever take home the NIT hardware.
The Baylor men’s basketball team will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes tonight in the NIT Championship game at Madison Square Garden. The game will tip off at 8 p.m.
The Hawkeyes are 25-12 on the season and are coming off of a 71-60 win over Maryland.
The Baylor Bears defeated the BYU Cougars 76-70 Tuesday in the semifinal round of the NIT in Madison Square Garden. No. 2 seed Baylor and No. 3 seed BYU were in a closely contested game until Baylor’s senior superstar guard Pierre Jackson decided to go off for 15 second-half points to push the Bears into the NIT championship game.
The Baylor Bears defeated the Providence Friars in the quarterfinals of the NIT 79-68 on Wednesday night to move on to the semifinals on Tuesday in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
“When you’ve got a lot on the line like a chance to go to New York and play in a Final Four-type atmosphere at Madison Square Garden, you know that you don’t have to motivate as a coach,” head coach Scott Drew said. “Our guys were extremely excited all day long for this game and Providence really played well in that first half, and we couldn’t stop them and in the second half I thought we did a much better job defensively. The big thing was that we took care of the ball all game with 19 assists and only five turnovers. Pierre Jackson had 13 assists and zero turnovers. I think everybody wants a point guard who can play a game like that and he was outstanding.”
The Baylor Bears men’s basketball team has a goal of traveling to New York City to play in the “Mecca of basketball,” Madison Square Garden.
If the Bears can defeat the Providence Friars at 8 p.m. today at the Ferrell Center, then they will head to the Big Apple for the next step of their NIT mission.
The No. 1 Baylor Lady Bears defeated Oklahoma 86-64 Monday, extending the nation’s largest winning streak to 25 games. Baylor finished the game with six players in double digits as it found its rhythm in the second half and began widening the gap.
Senior center Brittney Griner’s impact on the team was cemented in this game as Baylor struggled when Griner was on the bench due to foul trouble. She recorded another double-double with 15 points, 15 rebounds, seven blocks and five assists. Griner also moved up to the fourth highest scorer in NCAA history with 3,045 career points.
The first time Brittney Griner wrapped her hands around a rim, she was a precocious ninth grader at Houston Nimitz. It was during a volleyball practice that one of the team’s assistants glanced upward to the rim, back at a then-6-foot-1 Griner and then to a loose basketball.
The No. 1 Baylor Lady Bears’ uniforms shined gold, as did Baylor as they routing Texas 67-47. Among the crowd were full of former Lady Bears back for alumni weekend. Baylor also celebrated its third consecutive Big 12 Regular Season Championship, becoming the first team in Big 12 history to do so.
“It’s enjoyable, it’s for me again,” head coach Kim Mulkey said. “I enjoy people who experience this for the first time, and there were many fans out there today that were here for the first time. They came and said this is my first to be here and watch a game. I enjoy it for all the players, but I especially enjoy it for the freshman when it’s their first time to be in that environment.”
The No 1. Lady Bears won the Big 12 title after losses by Oklahoma and Iowa State on Sunday, but they still need to work to secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Under head coach Kim Mulkey, the Lady Bears are now 150-10 in regular season, non-conference games.
Baylor will face off against Texas at noon on Saturday in the Ferrell Center.
No. 1 Lady Bears defeated No. 3 UConn 76-70 in front of a sellout crowd in Connecticut Monday night. Everybody in the stands wore pink in support of the Play 4Kay Challenge to support breast cancer awareness.
