Torrid Shooting, Fast Start, Helps Baylor Earn its first Conference Victory

The Baylor Bears basketball team took their show on the road to Stillwater, Oklahoma. The hope on their end was to put a stop to a three-game losing streak that began with a loss to TCU on January 3, and finished off with their first 0-3 start in conference play since 2022.

Their job did not get any easier when Dan Skillings Jr. injured his knee on Saturday and missed the game, but they’re hoping to get him back soon.

Regardless of who was on the court, Baylor needed to get back into the win column.

The Bears came out firing, scoring 16 points before the first media timeout, and hitting four of their five three-point shots to take an early seven point lead.

That lead would go as high as 18 as Baylor scored a whopping 57 points in the first half.

It looked like Baylor was going to coast to an easy victory on the road when Oklahoma State’s top player Parsa Farrah left the game with an undisclosed injury.

Instead, the Cowboys fought back and would not go away quietly. They cut Baylor’s lead to 11 on the strength of 11 points from Anthony Roy in the first eight minutes of the half.

That was as close as the Cowboys would get. Baylor had an answer any time that Oklahoma State would threaten them.

Ultimately, it was a big win for the Bears to snap a three-game losing streak and get in the win column in conference play.

Here are our takeaways from Baylor’s 94-79 win over Oklahoma State.

1.) Fast Start

One of the biggest keys to getting a big win on the road is getting off to a fast start. That helps control the crowd, which was rocking in Stillwater before this game began. If your team gets off to a slow start, the crowd can only become more rabid, and it’s easier to get rattled.

Furthermore, Baylor struggled in the first half of each of their three games during this losing streak, so they needed to put some points up early to gain some confidence.

Baylor did just that by scoring 16 points before the first media timeout, and seeing their lead swell as high as eight points in the first 10 minutes of play.

Hot shooting was the biggest reason for the fast start for Baylor’s offense. They were four of their first five from three and eight of their first 10 shots from the field.

As a result, Baylor was able to run its offense without much of a disturbance.

That would continue throughout the first half. Baylor scored 50 points before the 4-minute timeout in the first half. They were truly dominant in the first half on the road to the point that you could hear a pin drop.

After trailing each of the last three games at the half, Baylor led by double digits at halftime. Quite the turnaround, and quite the advantage as the Bears came into play at 10-0 when they led at halftime. That number is now 11-0 after Tuesday night’s game.

2.) Short Rotation? No Problem

Baylor came into the night with a major talking point being their seven man rotation with the absence of Dan Skillings Jr. due to an injury he suffered on Saturday against Iowa State.

Oklahoma State took notice early in the game, trying to find their way to push the pace and hoping Baylor would have tired legs going into the second half.

Maybe it was the big lead that kept growing in the first half, but not much seemed to matter as Scott Drew only went two-deep into his bench in the first half.

Some of the tired legs may have shown in Baylor’s three-point shooting in the second half. That could also simply have been a regression to the mean. Either way, the Bears faced some adversity tonight and they were able to overcome it.

3.) 3-point Shooting

“I’m not sure the barrage has stopped,” Oklahoma State head coach Steve Lutz told the CBS broadcast during a media timeout. Baylor unleashed a barrage of triples to help build a first half lead that swelled as high as 23 points, and sat at 18 at halftime.

Baylor’s first half shooting from behind the arc was a staggering 64 percent in the first half.

“Shooting is contagious,” Scott Drew told the CBS broadcast before going into the locker room for halftime.

He was right. Four different players made at least one triple in the first half, and allowed Baylor to remain balanced on offense with four players in double figures in the opening frame.

They did not shoot it as well in the second half, but luckily the torrid start from the field was enough.

They finished the night 13/25 from the three-point line. Contrast that with Oklahoma State shooting just 40 percent from three-point land, and it’s a big reason the Bears were able to hand the Cowboys their first conference loss of the year.

4.) Restoring Order

Things got a little dicey in the second half when Baylor’s 20-point lead was cut in half by Oklahoma State’s Anthony Roy.

Baylor’s offense looked disheveled, and the defense was out of sorts.

Coming off a shot clock violation, The Cowboys had a chance to cut Baylor’s lead further.

Instead, Tounde Yessoufou helped restore order in the game with six consecutive points, including a steal that led to a highlight-reel dunk at one end.

Yessoufou was excellent all game, leading the team in scoring. Sometimes it’s not how much you score, but when you score.

To Yessoufou’s credit, he found points to put Tuesday night’s game firmly back into Baylor’s control, and finished the night as the team’s leading scorer with 23 points.

Not bad for a freshman, right?

Baylor picks up its first conference win of the season with a 94-79 road win over Oklahoma State.

Tounde Yessoufou led the Bears with 23 points on 11-17 shooting. Michael Rataj added a season-high 19 points of his own.#SicEm🐻 pic.twitter.com/QFrqhp1YXg
— Baylor Bears on SicEm365 (@SicEm365) January 14, 2026

1.) Fast Start

2.) Short Rotation? No Problem

3.) 3-point Shooting

4.) Restoring Order

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