Takeaways from Baylor's loss to Iowa State

Despite the abundance of headlines surrounding Baylor basketball, Scott Drew, and their controversial addition of James Nnaji, the Bears opened their 2026 with a loss to rival TCU, with Nnaji recording five points, four rebounds in his 16 minutes of action. While the Bears' 63 points were a season low, they looked to respond in a big way as they welcomed the undefeated and the Big 12's highest-ranked team, Iowa State, into Foster Pavilion

Despite having the home crowd behind them, the Cyclones' three-headed monster of Milan Momcilovic, Tamin Lipsey, and Joshua Jefferson proved too much for the Bears, besting the Bears 70-60 for their 15th straight win and their best start in school history.

Former Baylor guard King McClure provided color commentary on Peacock for the matchup, and one question he posed was how Baylor would respond to the defensive pressure of Iowa State, without a traditional point guard or offense facilitator. With that, let's dive into our takeaways from this litany test of sorts for the Bears.

Bears bite back defensively

Baylor C Caden Powell — Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Despite Iowa State leading after 20 minutes, it was Baylor who came out and set the tone on the defensive end of the floor. The Cyclones didn't hit 10 points until the 12-minute mark, and hit just 4 of their 16 shots, partially due to the foul trouble of Cyclone starting point guard Tamin Lipsey. The emphatic rejections by Cameron Carr and James Nnaji highlighted that Baylor's defensive efforts allowed them to build a lead as large as eight points in the first half despite their own shooting woes.

Michael Rataj and Dan Skillings both were able to play above their weight and provided some resistance and physicality in the paint for the Bears, particularly bothering the Cyclones' leading scorer in Momcilovic, holding him scoreless in the first half. Even in a loss, the Bears should look to replicate this defensive effort against their next conference game and top-10 opponent, the Houston Cougars.

Cold outside of Carr

Baylor G Cameron Carr — Chris Jones-Imagn Images

A 13-0 run by Iowa State, combining the end of the first half and the start of the second half, was the thing that gave the Cyclones the separation to win this game. Iowa State's improved offensive efficiency stemmed more from its ability to generate Baylor turnovers than from any improved execution.

Shooting just 31% from the field and 19% from three-point range, Baylor's starters not named Cameron Carr only managed to total 26 points, and another Baylor player didn't break double digits until Caden Powell, with less than two minutes left. As McClure hinted at, Baylor's lack of a true point guard came back to bite them when trying to generate clean looks for themselves. As they enter conference play, if it's not going to be able to be Tounde Yessoufou, the Bears will need to find reliable offense when teams take away Carr.

Bears bite back defensively

Cold outside of Carr

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