Baylor Decked by an Offensive Onslaught From Texas Tech

Baylor basketball took to its home floor on Tuesday night with a chance at redemption after laying an egg against the Kansas Jayhawks on Friday.

They welcomed the 12th-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders to Waco, and knew that it was time to get their season back on track. Texas Tech was the first of two home games this week, the second of which comes later this week against TCU.

Scott Drew knew how important it was for his team to start winning and protect their home floor.

“Well, in the Big 12, there's no secret. You have to win your home games if you're going to be successful,” Drew said.

"With us right now, strength of schedule, we have the number one strength of schedule in the Big 12 for conference play. So we started out with a tough slate. It continues tomorrow, but it's a home game, and hopefully after two home games, we play a little better in this third one. We got the students back. We haven't lost with students in the house, so let's go.”

Unfortunately, Drew’s message did not take, as what has become a trend for this season, Baylor got off to another slow start.

They fell behind 28-12 early in the first half en route to a 55-36 halftime deficit.

That did not get any better in the second half as the Red Raiders flexed their muscles and pulled away from the Bears, leading by as many as 29 before they called off the dogs.

Baylor is now 1-5 in conference play, and 11-7 on the season. They have to start winning, or making the tournament becomes a legitimate question.

Here are our takeaways from the Bears’ second consecutive loss.

1.) Slow Start..... Again

Unfortunately, these slow starts are becoming a bit of a theme for Scott Drew’s team this season. They fell behind early against Kansas and clawed back before eventually running out of gas.

Tuesday night against Texas Tech, Baylor fell behind early again, trailing by as many as 16 in the early going before cutting the lead to single digits at the six-minute mark in the first half.

That was the closest Baylor would get in the first half, as Texas Tech would close the half on a 22-11 run to hand Baylor what was its largest deficit in the first half this season.

2.) Efense

Get it? Because there was no ‘D’ for Baylor tonight. Texas Tech scored 55 points in the first half, and made 14 three-pointers on 20-29 shooting total in the first half.

That’s a torrid pace that is tough to keep up with for any team, but especially true for the Bears, who had their own struggles in the first half. They scored just 36 points, and none of their players who saw time in the first half got into double figures.

Meanwhile, Texas Tech and two players outscore the Bears by themselves.

Christian Anderson and Donovan Atwell combined for 41 points and 13 of Texas Tech’s 14 three-pointers in the first half. Tech would tie its program record for made three pointers in the game.

Baylor’s defense has been its weak link all season, and the single most important factor that they have to shore up before the season gets away from them.

3.) Get on track

Tuesday night’s loss drops Baylor to 1-5 in conference play and 11-7 overall. This is a team that has become accustomed to being at the top of the Big 12, and even competing for national championships. Questions about whether or not they’ll make the tournament are supposed to never come up.

The tournament in March is a given. It’s just a matter of if the team will have enough to make a run to the final four.

This is a team that pulled an NBA G-League player back to school in order to get more size on the interior.

What was the point of that? Sure, it’s within the rules, if there are any these days.

Whether or not its within the rules, bringing James Nnaji back to campus and getting him clear falls under the gray area, to say the very least.

Operating in the gray area of the rules makes the struggles of this year’s team even more embarrassing.

Baylor has another home game on Saturday against TCU. The Horned Frogs have already beaten Baylor this season. If Baylor is going to get its season back on track, Saturday night would be an excellent place to start.

1.) Slow Start..... Again

2.) Efense

3.) Get on track

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