No. 5 Baylor Basketball, LJ Cryer Topple No. 8 UCLA in Las Vegas
No. 5 Baylor men's basketball (4-1) knocked off No. 8 UCLA (3-2) in Las Vegas on Sunday 80-75 to notch its first top-25 win of the year.
Scott Drew's Bears found themselves in a dogfight with UCLA to keep from going 0-2 in Las Vegas, but a 28-point performance from LJ Cryer was too much for Mick Cronin's Bruins to handle.
This game never truly trended in a single team's direction. Baylor's largest lead of the game was nine points at the 12:55 mark in the first half, but even that deficit didn't last long for UCLA.
By the time the game entered its witching hour, it was 68-67 and less than three minutes to go. That's when Cryer hit one of his four threes on the night. It was all Bears from there.
This was simply two top-10 teams going blow-for-blow. The difference, then, was Baylor's willingness to shoot the ball from deep. UCLA attempted more shots than the Bears and shot roughly the same number of free throws, but Baylor took 28 long balls compared to 15 from Cronin's squad.
Had this game happened prior to the installation of the three-point basket, this one is all Bruins.
Elsewhere on the stat book, the Bears turned the ball over a conservative 11 times, but UCLA only totaled eight themselves. Baylor pulled down 36 rebounds, but the Bruins weren't far behind at 32. UCLA even dominated the points in the paint battle 42-20.
The difference in this game truly was the fact that three points are more than two. A 36% clip from deep was just enough to secure the 80-75 win for the Bears.
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