At any of several points, this season could have gotten away from Baylor. No one would have been surprised if that happened after non-conference losses to Texas Southern or Stephen F. Austin. It could have been just after the calendar turned over into 2019, when leading scorer Tristan Clark went down with a season-ending left knee injury. It could have also happened recently, when they lost three out of four.
Had they topped out? Had they done all they could without Clark and while playing differently? There were surely some who had asked one or both questions.
After a non-conference run that aside from the aforementioned losses was rather undistinguished, it was widely seen as an amazing turn of events that they won six straight to get to 7-2 in Big 12 play and were right there with Kansas State at the top of the conference. With two of the three recent losses at home, one could understand wondering if they had reached their limit.
Tuesday night’s 73-69 win at Iowa State should change the conversation. Sure, the Bears have owned the Cyclones of late, having won eight of the last ten meetings, but this Iowa State team is pretty good even if they have uncharacteristically lost two straight at home. But the Bears were just the tougher team on this night, winning primarily by winning the possession battle thanks to a 44-28 rebounding edge that included 18 at the offensive end.
It wasn’t a shutdown defensive performance, as Iowa State shot 43.3 percent from the field, which actually matched the Bears’ number. But the Bears did well enough to not let most of the Cyclones’ attack get going. Marial Shayok had 20 points on 8-17 shooting including 3-6 from deep, but he was about the only one. Lindell Wigginton was 2-9 from the field, Talen Horton-Tucker was 3-9 and Tyrese Haliburton and Michael Jacobson each took just five shots.
Scott Drew is doing one of his better coaching jobs this season given what this team has had to battle through. They haven’t folded at all, and they are now tied with the Cyclones at 8-5 in the Big 12, just two games back. Winning the regular season title is a long shot now, but that doesn’t matter. As long as they don’t fade down the stretch, Drew should be in the conference Coach of the Year conversation and even get some consideration on the national level.
One thing is for sure: Baylor’s season has not gotten away from them, even if it looked like that was imminent. It’s going right where other recent Baylor teams have, which is almost certainly another NCAA Tournament.
Side Dishes
The SEC featured two non-surprises as Tennessee kept Vanderbilt winless in conference play with a 58-46 win in Knoxville and Kentucky took care of Missouri 66-58 despite Reid Travis going down with a sprained right knee in the second half. Nick Richards gave the Wildcats some solid minutes off the bench, showing that he can be a real factor for them. The noteworthy results of the night were Texas A&M handing Alabama a damaging 65-56 loss in College Station and South Carolina knocking off Ole Miss 79-64 to take sole possession of fourth place at 9-5, not a minor note since we’re getting to the point where we can start thinking about who gets double byes in the conference tournament.
Speaking of damaging losses, Florida State handed one to Clemson by going to Littlejohn Coliseum and taking out the Tigers 77-64. Just as Clemson appeared to have righted themselves with four straight wins, they have now lost three in a row, a couple of them being missed opportunities for quality wins like this one. Florida State has won eight in a row and is tied with Louisville for fourth in the ACC, and the eight straight ACC wins marks a program record.
Hopefully, we can put to rest any talk of a team like Indiana making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. The Hoosiers lost 48-46 to arch rival Purdue on Tuesday night in Bloomington, their fourth straight loss and 11th in 12 outings, and now they are guaranteed to finish below .500 in Big Ten play. Neither team shot 32 percent from the floor. I don’t care how good the Big Ten is this year, at some point losses add up, and the Hoosiers are also a .500 team overall. Also in the Big Ten, Maryland survived at Iowa 66-65 and Penn State blasted Nebraska 95-71, a sign that the bottom of a once-promising season may be falling out in Lincoln.
In the Atlantic 10, VCU is now all alone in first place after blasting Rhode Island 76-42 and Dayton nipping Davidson 74-73 on the road. Dayton is right behind both at a game back of Davidson.
When it comes to the most competitive conferences this season, the two best are the Missouri Valley and the MAAC. The Valley has a clear leader after Drake beat Bradley 77-68 to go a game up, but the MAAC does it one better as two games separate the top eight, including a half game separating first from sixth after Tuesday night. With Iona edging Quinnipiac 81-77 in Hamden and Siena beating St. Peter’s 72-62 in Loudonville, the two winners and Quinnipiac are part of a five-team logjam tied at 9-5 right behind conference leader Canisius at 9-5.
The Patriot League got a little more interesting as well, as Colgate knocked off visiting Bucknell to come within a game of the Bison for the top spot.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s a busy night of action that features a full Big East slate and a big rivalry game.
- Big East action starts with Villanova visiting a Georgetown team that really needs a quality win (6:30 p.m.), then Xavier goes to Seton Hall (7 p.m.), Providence hosts St. John’s (8:30 p.m.) and Creighton visits DePaul while Marquette hosts Butler (9 p.m.)
- In early SEC action, Mississippi State visits Georgia (6:30 p.m.) and Florida gets a tough road test at LSU (7 p.m.) Later, Auburn hosts Arkansas (8:30 p.m.)
- ACC action starts with Syracuse hosting Louisville (7 p.m.), then the big rivalry game follows as Duke hosts North Carolina (9 p.m.)
- In the Missouri Valley, Missouri State tries to stay hot as they host Northern Iowa having won four straight and seven of eight (8 p.m.)
- Out west, Arizona State hosts Stanford (9 p.m.) and Washington hosts Utah (11 p.m.) in Pac-12 play.
- Nevada gets a road test as they travel to San Diego State and Utah State hosts New Mexico, both tipping at 11 p.m.
