Baylor Survives at Texas A&M In Final Battle of the Brazos

In the 205th and final Battle of the Brazos in men's basketball (for the foreseeable future, anyway), Baylor survived an Aggie second half onslaught and a ridiculous shooting drought for their 20th win on the season. Baylor is now a school-best 20-2 and still very much in the thick of the race for the Big XII regular season championship. Baylor's record against A&M as Big XII opponents ends at 17-16.

Let's not mince words; Baylor won this game because Pierre Jackson is a bad, bad man. He scored Baylor's last 8 points, played 35 of a possible 40 minutes, and though he didn't actually shoot that well (4-11 from the field including 2-6 from 3), his last two 3s came when Baylor needed them most to first lengthen the lead as time wound down and then put Baylor back in front at 61-60 after A&M's David Loubeau backed down Acy with :29 left on the clock. Though he disappeared somewhat in the second half once again-- he scored the first points of the half with 19:45 to go and then didn't score again until almost 14 minutes later-- Perry Jones III also had a decent game. Certainly not what we've come to expect from him after back-to-back 20 point, 10 rebound performances, but decent. He had 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Let's get to the awards:

MVP of the Game: Pierre Jackson, that's obvious. It couldn't be anyone else.

Unsung Hero: Quincy Miller, who nailed 3 3s and grabbed 11 boards to lead the team. I hope he can build on that kind of rebounding performance.

LVP of the Game: Brady Heslip, who went 1-6 from beyond the arc in 30 minutes for 3 total points and finished with a clean sheet in all other stats. I ... I don't know how that's possible.

Turning Point: When Scott Drew finally and mercifully went into a man-to-man defense after A&M went up 5 at 49-44. Baylor stayed in man defense the rest of the game and actually looked fairly decent at it. That might be due to A&M not having prepared for it, but that's the point of a change-of-pace, right?

WHAAAAAAA? Moment of the Game: Elston Turner's TERRIBLE shot for A&M with the Aggies trailing by 1 and 7 seconds left on the clock. That was an awful shot.

I put the stats of the game below the jump so it doesn't stretch the page along with a few other thoughts. Enjoy!

• Baylor actually outrebounded A&M in this game, something I did not expect to see.
• 9 players played for Baylor tonight and 8 saw more than 15 minutes of action. That strict 6-man rotation we've been seeing loosened up a bit tonight.
• Baylor went 2-18 in field goals to start the second half. That might have been the worst stretch of basketball I've ever seen.
• I LOVED seeing the man defense tonight and how it disrupted A&M's offense and led to fast breaks/transition buckets. Loved it. I hope we can see more of that going forward.
• Ray Turner was a beast for A&M tonight.