What Went Wrong in Baylor's Brutal Loss to Duke

After a close win against Nebraska on Friday afternoon, Baylor went into the second round to face the Duke Blue Devils. Baylor struggled from multiple points on defense and offense. Duke made this team look like they didn't even belong in the tournament. Let's go over a few of the struggles they had.

Mar 9, 2024; Kansas City, MO, USA; Baylor Lady Bears guard Jana Van Gytenbeek (4) ties her shoes before facing the Iowa State Cyclones at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: Amy Kontras-Imagn Images | Amy Kontras-Imagn Images

Baylor struggled severely in this game, with very low scoring, defense, and an enormous amount of turnovers. Baylor dug itself into a hole at halftime that was almost impossible to overcome. Duke seemed to score with ease, and Baylor had no answers for it.

Not a Great Shooting Night

Baylor severely struggled shooting the ball in this game, having their top scorer, Taliah Scott, score just 13 points on three of 17 from the field. The next-best scorer for Baylor had just seven points, shooting 27%. This has to be one of the worst shooting performances in tournament history, and Baylor was unable to find a rhythm on offense at any point of the game.

Scoring just 16 points in the first half, and only putting up 30 points in the second half of the game. The Bears couldn't find one three-pointer the entire game; they missed 14 straight. Baylor hasn't shot this badly all year long, no matter who they've faced. Duke's athletic starting lineup made Baylor struggle to find open shots, with Duke having over ten blocks, and forced Baylor to 21 turnovers. Really sloppy game that will be hard to forget about.

Nov 3, 2025; Paris, FRA; Baylor Bears guard Taliah Scott (0) reacts after scoring a three-point basket against the Duke Blue Devils during the first half at Adidas Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Multiple Defensive Errors

Duke was able to continuously pound the paint against Baylor, having over 36 points from under the basket. Duke didn't necessarily have a great shooting night either, going 25-for-64 from the field and hitting just four shots from deep.

Duke did a good job of rotating their offense, and taking adavntage of switches Baylor would get stuck on, and have easy shots in the paint for their very athletic bigs. Not only did Duke have almost 40 points in the paint, but they also owned the boards, grabbing 23 defensive rebounds, and 16 on offense. Duke was able to get many easy second-chance shots, which is what made Duke take off.

Somewhat Expected, Somewhat Not???

You would think with the previous meeting between these two going the Bears' way, you wouldn't expect this kind of result, especially in a tournament setting. But after a first-round loss in the conference, to UCF, this team didn't end the season on the best note. Could that loss have affected their flow going into the tournament? Would there have been a different result if they had won a few games? Who knows.

But I really feel like that loss to UCF was a major pin that was stuck in Baylor's back during this tournament. They had a very close game with Nebraska, which struggled to find wins in the last two months, and then got blown out by Duke. Clearly, something wasn't feeling right offensively and wasn't addressed before the tournament. And it showed Sunday afternoon, after poor shooting and sloppy defense, all Duke had to do was chop down Baylor's defense, and pretty much just coasted out an easy second-round win.

Very disappointing end to the season for Baylor; they were somehow close with TCU at the end of the year, so drawing a six seed, they were expected to compete with really good teams. Baylor will most likely be losing four players this year, with major players like Van Gytenbeek and Littlepage-Buggs leaving. Baylor will look to the portal, and high school recruiting to fill out its roster for a bounce-back season for Taliah Scott.