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 – MARCH 02: MaCio Teague #31 of the Baylor Bears (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

They do not hit enough jumpers

The quantifier here is, enough, and that is an important distinction to make. For, the Bears hit a number of “big shots”, so many in fact that the lasting impression they give is that they do indeed hit a lot of shots. That, however, is an inaccurate statement to make.

On the season the Bears have a 42.9 percent success rate in field goals. That places them fifth in the Big 12. The stats relatively improve when it comes to three-pointers. While they only attempt the fifth most in the conference, their success rate is second at 35.9%.

Their lack of a mid-range game is what is creating these big-time moments for the big-time players or ‘BTP’s’ as Dick Vitale would say. Versus Texas Tech, Baylor made zero two-point jumpers in 12 attempts. From beyond the arc, they were 10 for 24. The shots that will be remembered, are Davion Mitchell and Devonte Bandoo making back-to-back threes to put Baylor up by two. Or MaCio Teague broke a 51-51 tie with a three. And nothing was bigger than Devonte Bandoo’s three to tie the game at 60 with 1:43 left in the game. Unless of course, you want to count MaCio Teague’s made three-point jumper with 1:13 in overtime to extend the Bear’s lead to four.

The point that should be recognized, is the fact that these big shots by the “Big Shot Bears” would not even exist if they simply hit a couple of mid-range jumpers.

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