In just two days of rest and fresh from a tough road victory over Texas Tech, No. 2 Baylor had every excuse to launch a coup against Kansas’s desperate No. 9 on Monday night. Instead, Bears won 77-69 in a game that led wire to wire, issuing a statement that the Big 12 will officially and indefinitely pass through Waco, Texas, this season.
Baylor led by up to 16 points and kept control of the game at all times. Kansas made some good runs in the second half to reduce the lead to five, but the Bears’ attack – and specifically, Jared Butler – had an answer at every turn. Butler had 30 points and eight assists, accounting for seven of the team’s nine 3 points. Baylor as a team made 28 of 52 pitches, enjoying success both on the rim and outside the arc.
Butler’s support cast was also in style, with MaCio Teague adding 13 points, Davion Mitchell registering 10 on his own, and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua coming off the bench to add eight points and a couple of blocks. Mark Vital scored just 4 points, but led the rebounds with 10.
All his points came in alley-oops, and he had a chase block in the first half that gave Baylor a big boost in his favor.
Credit to Kansas: it didn’t stop when, according to all reports, it looked like it had every right to do just that. Baylor arrived in KU in waves and KU continued throwing punches back. But after reaching five points with 3:19 to play, he never came close. The only drama after that came at the time of trash, when Chris Teahan made a 3-point shot out of the glass when time expired, killing an overwhelming ton of punters who supported the Bears at -8.5 or -9.
Baylor’s victory improves to 13-0 perfect in the season and 6-0 in the Big 12 game, one more game in Texas and 2.5 more games in the Jayhawks. He takes the rest of the week off before heading to Stillwater to face the state of Oklahoma this Saturday.
Here are three main lessons from the game.
Jared Butler, the Kansas killer
First All-American team, possible choice for the NBA draft in the first round, college superstar. Choose how to call Butler: I’m going to call you a Kansas killer. Because its 30-point eruption, while stupendous, is hardly surprising. Against KU in March 2019, Butler scored 31 points; against KU in January 2020, Butler scored 22 points and won within Allen Fieldhouse; and on Monday he scored 30 points to accompany assists in a massive victory. He was consistently great throughout the night, and looked great every time when Baylor needed him.
Christian Braun kept KU in it
He only made seven shots in the night, but sophomore guard Christian Braun hit five of them – all 3 points – in a 17-point exit that included a pair of free throws. 14 of them came in the first half, and he alone prevented Baylor from blowing up the game before the break. (He only made two shots in the second half – this is an enigma for me.) Braun had a lot of support – Ochai Agbaji came on strong in the second half in particular – but he can be credited with keeping KU in the mix when it seemed very likely that KU deserved it completely out of the mix.
Bears makes a statement
Baylor not only fought Kansas historically – he had an all-time record against KU of 6-33 entering the night – but he also fought recently. KU has won 14 of the last 16 in the series. He also dominated regardless of location, with an all-time record against Baylor in Waco of 14-3. It is just a victory that will not affect those numbers in the grand scheme, of course. But it is an important victory, given his struggles against Kansas, which cannot be forgotten. This kind of victory can create some real momentum – something that Baylor is no longer lacking. This should scare the rest of the big 12.