Baylor Loses To Duke 78-70 In Non-Conference Showdown
The No. 10 Baylor Bears lost to the No. 21 Duke Blue Devils, 78-70, in a non-conference, neutral site showdown at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Wednesday.
Baylor (9-2) was coming off its first loss of the season on Saturday, an 88-64 loss to Michigan State in Detroit. The Bears got off to their worst start of the season while the Spartans — who were unranked and in last place in the Big Ten with two league losses — shot better than 60 percent for the game.
The Bears were much better in this contest, but a scoring drought late in the game ended up being Baylor’s undoing.
Tied with Duke with six minutes left in the game, the Blue Devils (8-3) went on a 9-2 run to give them a seven-point lead with 3:55 left and Duke didn’t look back.
RayJ Dennis led the Bears with 17 points. He also had a team-high four assists. JaKobe Walter, one of Baylor’s talented freshmen, pitched in 15 points but missed Duke’s late run as he was on the bench with foul trouble. The other freshman, Yves Miss, had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. He also had five blocked shots.
Jalen Bridges added 10 points for the Bears.
Duke’s Jared McCain led the Blue Devils with 21 points. Jeremy Roach had 18 points, while Kyle Filipowski had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Caleb Foster had 12 points and Mark Mitchell added 10 points.
The game was a rematch of the 2010 Elite Eight showdown in the NCAA Tournament, which Duke won. Current Duke head coach Jon Scheyer had five 3-pointers in that game as the Blue Devils went on to win the national championship.
Baylor returns home to face Mississippi Valley State on Friday before taking the rest of the year off for the holiday break. The Bears host Cornell on Jan. 2, which will be the Bears’ first game at their new home, Foster Pavilion.
Baylor then heads on the road to open Big 12 action on Jan. 6 at Oklahoma State.
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