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David finally slew Goliath tonight in front of a raucous Ferrell Center crowd to breath hope back into a Baylor Men's Basketball team that seemingly had none. I didn't think they could do it, but they did, and it was on the backs of Cory Jefferson and Pierre Jackson, who finished with 28 and 25 points, respectively, that it happened.
The first thing that came to mind for probably 90% of those watching, after "WHAT THE %&$# IS GOING ON HERE?", is "Where was this team all season?" I'm trying not to think like that and just focus on the win as it happened. And what happened is that a team we always knew had this kind of talent finally showed it from start to finish. Where in previous games adversity arose and the team fell apart, tonight the Bears responded to an 11-0 run with a run of their own, eventually pulling away to lead by 22 (22!!!) before the night was over.
When Baylor brought Jacob Neubert onto the court, against the #3 team in the country on his Senior Night, it was the loudest I think I've ever heard the Ferrell Center be. And it should have been that loud because the team deserved it. I've been critical of this group this season when they didn't play well, and they deserve effusiveness now when they did. The NCAAs still may not happen depending on next week's games, but it matters a lot less now than it did because this team didn't quit. I did on them, and I'll admit it outright, but they never did. Great job, guys. At the very least, the hopes you had that were lost have now been found.*
*On that note, I have to believe that if Baylor can beat OSU next week in the tournament (and that will be our first game), we make the NCAA Tournament at 19 wins based on the strength of the conference as a whole. So another win gets us where we want to be. Two wins and we're a lock. But without tonight, it was going to take the automatic bid to get there, so that's a tremendous improvement.
Baylor just beat the #3 team in the country by 23. Seriously.
| Baylor Bears | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARTERS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OFF | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Pierre Jackson, G | 11-13 | 2-3 | 4-5 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 28 |
| Cory Jefferson, F | 11-13 | 3-3 | 0-2 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 25 |
| A.J. Walton, G | 3-8 | 0-2 | 6-9 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| Isaiah Austin, C | 3-7 | 0-0 | 5-6 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Brady Heslip, G | 2-4 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| BENCH | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OFF | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| Gary Franklin, G | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jacob Neubert, F | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Deuce Bello, G | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rico Gathers, F | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| TOTALS | FGM-A | 3PM-A | FTM-A | OFF | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | PTS |
| 30-49 | 6-11 | 15-24 | 7 | 30 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 16 | 81 | |
| 61.2% | 54.5% | 62.5% |
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