No. 17 Baylor Dominates No. 9 Kansas in Waco, Takes Fifth-Straight Big 12 Win
WACO, Texas — No. 17 Baylor Men's Basketball (15-5, 5-3) won its fifth straight Big 12 game, downing No. 9 Kansas (16-4, 5-3) in the Ferrell Center 75-69.
This battle of the previous two national champions was dominated by guard play, and Baylor's were just better. LJ Cryer notched 22 points and Adam Flagler complimented such with 17 of his own.
The Bears shot just 37% to Kansas' 46%, but winning the points off turnovers battle 19-8 was plenty enough to get out with a win.
This was Baylor's third straight home win against the Jayhawks and Scott Drew earned his fifth win against Kansas in the last 10 meetings between the two teams.
Baylor's record against Kansas prior to this 10-game stretch was 4-30.
Breaking down the first 20 minutes, Baylor made a mockery of the Jayhawks' defense. By the 12-minute timeout, the Bears already led 23-12 thanks to a 9-18 start from the field, 4-7 from three, five Kansas turnovers and 10 quick points from Cryer.
And Cryer wasn't done. The veteran guard spent the rest of the half accumulating 19 total points on 5-7 from deep. The Bears' starters combined for 39 of the team's 41 points, Baylor won the rebounding battle 18-14 and Cryer's squad took 11 more shots than Kansas en route to a 41-34 lead at the break.
Then came the second half. Things got hairy when Kansas took a 46-45 lead after a Jalen Wilson three-pointer. But things didn't stay hairy for long. The Bears immediately jumped into a 14-5 run.
That was all she wrote for Bill Self's squad. Despite Baylor not making a field goal from the 9:57 mark until just 2:55 remained in the game, the contest wouldn't be pulled within a bucket again.
With the 75-69 win, the Bears are now 12-1 against top-10 teams in the Ferrell Center over the last three years. Baylor hosts Arkansas on Saturday in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge with the Bears' current win streak sitting at five.
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