Baylor Falls, Then Rises from the Ashes For a Big Win over Arizona State
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Saturday's game looked like it was set to be another chapter in the forgettable story that is the 2025-26 Baylor Bears basketball team was written on Saturday afternoon.
While high-stakes games like Arizona vs Houston and Michigan vs Duke were set to tip off, Baylor was playing Arizona State as an afterthought. They used to play in those big games like the marquee matchups that tipped off on ABC.
Now, when Baylor is set to play a team like Arizona, which they will on Tuesday night, the anticipation is that things will not go well.
Scott Drew was talking about his focus being on his team making a late season run.
Admirable. That’s what he’s supposed to say of course. No coach is going to concede they’re eliminated until things are official.
"I think right now, it's probably like being on a battlefield. You're not thinking in terms of surrender," Drew said.
"You're thinking, how do we win the battle? So like with us, how do we win the next game? As long as we play, we control our own destiny. And I think that's a blessing for most colleges from the standpoint the automatic bid comes with your conference tournament in years like this.
"And in the Big 12, you have an opportunity to earn it from regular season or in the tournament. But for us, we want to finish. We want to get on a roll. We've got five games left. They're all quality opponents because that's the Big 12. And all of them are things that can help you with the Big 12 tournament and with your postseason aspirations.”
Of course, postseason aspirations are part of the deal in Waco. That’s a testament to the program that Drew has built during his tenure.
Any aspiration this year, however, would be more of a pipe dream than a potential reality.
Sure, Baylor could earn a couple of statement wins against Arizona and Houston to close out the season. They also could use those wins as momentum boosters to get themselves an automatic bid by winning the Big 12.
That’s just not a dream that is based in reality.
Saturday’s game against Arizona State hit a lot of the same notes that most of the season has. The team is too reliant on Cameron Carr and Tounde Yessoufou to find scoring. They call behind and lose composure when momentum starts to shift the other direction.
Everything looked hopeless for this team.
Until it didn’t
Baylor trailed 59-55 late in the second half before they finally put their foot down against the Sun Devils on their home floor.
Finally, some life came from the Bears as a push back led by the scoring prowess of Yessoufou, but with some help from the others as well.
Cameron Carr made a layup to give them a 63-61 lead in front of a deep three from Obi Agbim.
Baylor led 68-63 with just under two minutes remaining in the game when Arizona State went to a press that helped spearhead an upset over Texas Tech this week.
Baylor needed to find a closer to give them a win and keep them from dropping below .500.
It wasn’t Cameron Carr. It wasn’t Tounde Yessoufou.
It was their only hope. Obi Wan Kenobi. Err… Obi Agbim.
Agbim found an opening thanks to selfless play from the team’s two scoring stars, and Agbim made his fourth three out of six attempts, which came on the heels of missing 10 straight attempts across multiple games.
Agbim was not done providing his heroics as he made what was, in essence, the dagger with a layup to put Baylor up 73-68 with less than 30 seconds to play in the game.
A third scoring option that has been missing for most of the season showed up when it mattered the most.
To pour some salt in the wound, he got an offensive rebound off of a free throw that killed any chance the Sun Devils had at a miraculous comeback.
It may be too late for Baylor for this season, but maybe there is a Lloyd Christmas-level chance for this team to make a late season run.
Jacob Westendorf is a contributing writer for Baylor Bears on SI. He is also a writer covering the Green Bay Packers for Packers on SI. Westendorf graduated from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he earned a degree in communication with an emphasis in journalism and mass media. He worked in newspapers in Green Bay and Rockford, Illinois. He also interned at Packer Report for Bill Huber while earning his degree. In 2018, he became a staff writer for PackerReport.com, and a regular contributor on Packer Report's "Pack A Day Podcast." In 2020, he founded the media company Game On Wisconsin. In 2023, he rejoined Packer Central, which is part of Sports Illustrated Media Group.