Baylor Basketball: Bears stifle Florida Gators to remain No. 1 in the country

Baylor Basketball had a tough task this weekend with a road trip to Florida. But like many of their previous opponents, the Gators came away with a loss.

All Baylor Basketball does is keep winning in impressive fashion.  While Florida has the talent to beat anyone, especially on their home floor, they remain an enigma this season.  The Bears, on the other hand, do not and after falling behind early, they came back to squeeze the life from the Gators as they have done to everyone else in their way.

Somehow, someway, the Bears came into Gainesville as an underdog.  Sure they were number one in the country and riding a fifteen game winning streak.  Sure they have held all but one opponent this year to under seventy points as well as four ranked teams to their lowest point totals of the season.

Still, they were a road dog to a Florida team that people want so hard to believe in.  It was Baylor though that was deserving of that faith and they proved the naysayers wrong once again as the group of transfers and three stars showed the chip on their shoulder is more like an immovable boulder of granite with the 72-61 victory.

Baylor actually had their eleven game streak of holding opponents under 42% shooting snapped as Florida shot 44.2%, slightly better than Baylor at 43.6%.  The Gators also had fewer turnovers, more blocks and steals but still managed to be down double digits for over half the game.

Baylor did this by limiting the Gators to 23.5% from three with only four makes while sinking nine threes of their own.  They also outrebounded Florida by eleven overall with five more offensive rebounds for the Bears.  Baylor went 15-16 on the free throw line and were led by Macio Teague and Devonte Bandoo who had sixteen points apiece.

The biggest takeaway from the game was Baylor’s consistency.  They box out and rebound, they play suffocating man to man defense and their bigs have little problem switching onto smaller guards.  They only average around eleven turnovers a game, they had twelve against Florida, and they share the ball well with great guard play and ball handling.

The Baylor Bears aren’t going to beat themselves and they will pressure you into taking contested shots.  It’s up to another team to handle the tight man to man defense, make baskets, compete on the boards and try and get easy scores in transition.

Florida did none of those things and paid the price because of it.  It will be interesting to see if other teams will fare any better or get rolled over like the previous sixteen opponents because Baylor is looking like a boulder gaining speed and it’s not going to stop itself.