3 takeaways from Baylor’s comeback win over Texas: Bears weather Longhorns’ hot first half
Baylor #Baylor
Here are three takeaways from No. 11 Baylor’s 93-85 win over Texas in what was the final regular season Big 12 meeting between the teams on Monday night at the Foster Pavilion in Waco:
Gritty Bears win
Man, oh, man.
Baylor (21-8, 10-6 Big 12) had to fight tooth and nail for this one. Texas (19-10, 8-8 Big 12) led by as much as 14 in the first half and even led by 12 with 13:59 to go. But an 11-0 run right after that tied the game at 68-68, and the Bears were able to come out on top for their third-straight victory.
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This one felt similar to the Houston game on Feb. 24, except Baylor obviously won this time. The Horns jumped out to a big lead — just like the Cougars did — and the Bears rallied back. And as you’d imagine, the Foster Pavilion crowd liked this result a lot better.
Baylor now still holds sole possession of third place in the Big 12 and can finish regular season play on a four-game winning streak if it beats Texas Tech on Saturday in Lubbock.
Related:College basketball poll (Mar. 4): Baylor tied for biggest climb among teams in top 25Sweet revenge
Texas won a heartbreaker over Baylor in Austin earlier this year on the back of some out-of-this-world shooting. The Bears returned the favor with a comeback victory on Monday, one in which they outscored the Longhorns 36-19 over the final 13:44.
Pair that with the fact that this is the final regular season contest between both sides as members of the Big 12, that’s a pretty good way for Baylor to send Texas off to the SEC.
Big day, JB
Baylor doesn’t win this game without Jalen Bridges. In fact, if Bridges hadn’t single-handedly kept the Bears in the game in the first half, Texas would have blown the game completely open.
It just made it that much more fitting that it happened on Bridges’ Senior Night celebration.
Bridges finished with a career-high 32 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the floor and 6-for-7 from beyond the arc. But the forward went 5-for-5 from deep en route to 18 first-half points. He was two points shy of becoming the first Bear to have 20 points in the first half since King McClure did it in 2019.
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