Baylor Beats Kansas to Pull to Within a Half Game of First Place in Big 12
In a day of Top 10 upsets across college basketball, the Baylor Bears took care of business at home against the Kansas Jayhawks.
Even though KU came in with the higher ranking and in control of first place in the Big 12, the Bears were technically the betting favorites, and they backed up Las Vegas in an 80-70 victory on their home court.
With notable alum Chip Gaines wildly cheering on his alma mater, the Bears surged in the second half, outscoring the Jayhawks 49-38, to come back and win the game.
The Bears had a balanced scoring attack with four players in double figures, led by Flo Thamba, with 18 points and nine rebounds. However, he was joined by Jeremy Sochan, who dropped 17 off the bench, while Adam Flager added 13, and James Akinjo had 12 points in the game.
All this overcame a 27-point game from Ochai Agbaji, who finished 8-22 from the floor, along with six rebounds and three assists. Christian Braun and David McCormack also had double-doubles, as Braun finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while McCormack had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
The win pulls the Bears to within a half-game of first place in the Big 12, as KU is now 12-3 in Big 12 play, while Baylor is sitting at 12-4. It’s essentially a two-team race for the regular season Big 12 title after Texas Tech was upset by TCU earlier in the day, dropping to 11-5 in Big 12 play.
Kansas is set for a busy final week, as they play a back-to-back against TCU, including a make up game, as they’ll played the Horned Frogs on Tuesday and Thursday, while wrapping up the season against Texas on Saturday. As for Baylor, they’ll take on Texas on Big Monday, and then wrap up the regular season on Saturday against Iowa State.
The Bears are the defending Big 12 regular season champs, while the Jayhawks won it two years ago.
The winner will be the No. 1 seed in next week’s Big 12 Tournament, which tips off on Wednesday night from Kansas City.
