Baylor Basketball: Takeaways from Bears overtime victory over Texas Tech

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - JANUARY 07: Forward Freddie Gillespie #33 of the Baylor Bears walks off the court with Special Assistant and Director of Player Development Jared Nuness after the college basketball game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on January 07, 2020 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

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WACO, TEXAS – FEBRUARY 22: Davion Mitchell #45 of the Baylor Bears (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

In the back-end of ESPN’s last “Big Monday” doubleheader of the season, Texas Tech (18-12, 9-8) walked into the Ferrell Center to battle Baylor Basketball(26-3, 15-2) who was short-handed.

Sitting just one game behind the Kansas Jayhawks, Baylor Basketball would pull out a 71-68 overtime victory to stay in the hunt for a share of the Big 12 regular-season title.

Texas Tech tested Baylor’s bench as it was put to the test as they played additional minutes due to Scott Drew not having the services of 6’10” junior forward Tristan Clark (4 ppg) and starting guard Mark Vital (6 ppg, 6 rpg). Vital was dubbed as “in case of an emergency” and was occasionally seen staying warm on the stationary bicycle.

Whether Vital entering the game was ever a plausible option, Drew decided to play it safe, for Baylor will have much bigger matchups and more important games in the weeks to come.

Despite their apparent lack of scoring threats, Texas Tech was able to take an early 8-3 lead off the shooting efforts of two Jahmi’us Ramsey makes from beyond the arc. From the 15:33 mark in the first half, neither team had a lead larger than a basket. Half time began with the score tied at thirty.

Texas Tech opened the half with two baskets, and the following 16 minutes and 55 seconds played out very similar to the first half. It was at the two-minute mark that Kevin McCullar made a three-point jumper assisted by Davide Moretti to put Texas Tech up 60-57. Baylor would respond with a three just 15 seconds later that would set the stage for the teams combining for five turnovers and one missed shot to cap off the last 1:45 seconds of regulation.

MaCio Teague would score five of Baylor’s 11 points in overtime to lead the Bears to a 71-68 victory in front of their home crowd on senior’s night. Texas Tech’s offense was anemic from beyond the arc making just seven of 23, yet they managed to hit 50% of their field goals for the game. Something that Scott Drew needs to look at, and exactly where we will start.

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