Langston Love Gives More Firepower to Baylor Bears Backcourt
Coming into the 2022-23 season, the Baylor Bears had an embarrassment of riches in the backcourt. With Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer returning, freshman sensation Keyonte George coming in, and transfer Dale Bonner looking like a completely different player from last year, the Bears certainly qualify as a team worthy of the honor of having more guards than Buckingham Palace, but now they might have just added another talented ball handler to their stacked arsenal.
Welcome to the show, Langston Love.
Love starred against Tarleton State Tuesday night, pouring in a career-high 20 points on 7-15 shooting in a Baylor victory. It has been a long road for the redshirt freshman, but he has been improving every game so far this season.
Love was a highly touted recruit out of Montverde Academy (FL) and led his team to a high school national championship in 2021, the same year the Bears cut down the nets in Indianapolis. Prior to his freshman season, however, Love tore his ACL in a preseason scrimmage against Texas A&M. It was the first in a long line of injuries that would hinder the Bears' title defense.
Coach Scott Drew eased Love onto the court this season, playing no more than 20 minutes in a game until staying on the court for 35 minutes against Tarleton. Maybe not so coincidentally, Tuesday was the first time Love played without a knee brace, and he looked as free as he has ever looked in a Baylor uniform.
Even with the knee brace on, Love was giving the Bears valuable minutes, if not in high volume. In 13 minutes against Gonzaga last week, he had time to drop 10 points and pull in two rebounds in an important one-point win over the Zags.
Love was an elite scorer in high school and was a guy who could fill it up at all three levels and provided explosiveness on the offensive end. As a sophomore at Cibolo Steele (TX), he led his team to the state championship and averaged over 23 points a game before transferring to Montverde. In his final two high school seasons, he played with NBA players Cade Cunningham and Scottie Barnes and still starred, being one of the top recruits in America.
Now playing free and easy, Love is a dynamic offensive weapon off the bench for the Bears. Baylor's depth is its biggest strength this season and Love is the perfect example. A scorer as highly rated out of high school as he was, he could easily be the second or third scoring option on a contending team. At Baylor, he is the sixth or seventh scoring option.
Love provides a skillset and a role that could be lethal for the Bears and scary for all their opponents.
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