Letdown Against the Longhorns

After trailing by 16 at halftime, the Baylor Bears (16-8, 6-5) nearly pulled off the unthinkable in Austin against the Texas Longhorns (22-3, 10-0). However, the deficit was too much and the Bears fell 69-60, ending the Bears 4 game win streak over the Longhorns.

As has been the case much of the season, it was a slow start offensively for the Bears. It wasn't until Coach Scott Drew called a timeout with 16:46 remaining that Lacedarius Dunn got the Baylor on the board with 2 of his just 4 points in the first half. The Longhorns, however, found holes in the Bears' zone and had no trouble putting points on the board. By the time the end of the half rolled around, the Bears were trailing 38-22 and it appeared all hope was gone.

The Bears abandoned the zone defense that Drew has favored all year and instead matched up man-to-man. The new look slowed down the Longhorn attack and things began to click offensively for the Bears. Dunn caught on and scored 22 points in the second half and the Bears cut the lead to as few as 4 points in the second half. However, as time began to tick away, the Bears had no choice but to start fouling. Even with 35 seconds to go trailing by 5, Dunn had an open 3-point look that he missed, which sealed the deal for Longhorns.

The Bears and Longhorns both turned the ball over 13 times in the game, making it one of the few times this season Baylor hasn't lost the turnover margin. However, free throw shooting was a different story. After shooting 44 times from the line against Nebraska, on Saturday the Bears only shot 8 times. The Longhorns, however, shot 37 times from the line, but only converted on 22 of them.

For the second consecutive game, Perry Jones was kept very much in check, only scoring 13 points on Saturday. He and Dunn were the only 2 Baylor players to score in double-digits, compared to 5 for Texas, who were led by Jordan Hamilton and Tristan Thompson's 17 apiece.

The Bears will be back in action this Tuesday in Waco against Wayland Baptist.