Utah basketball falls to Baylor as Big 12 tournament looms

Runnin' Utes sustain worst loss of the season in blowout defeat at the hands of the Bears

Utah Runnin' Utes forward Seydou Traore (0) drives to the basket against Baylor Bears guard Tounde Yessoufou (24) during the first half at Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Locked into its seed and first round matchup for the Big 12 tournament, Utah basketball went into Saturday's regular season finale with no way of improving or hurting its postseason outlook.

What was on the table for the Runnin' Utes as they traveled down to Waco was an opportunity to build some momentum with a strong showing against a Baylor squad that, despite having a down year, was still a top-50 team in the country according to predictive metrics.

However, after yet another disappointing start, Alex Jensen was left wondering whether his team will ever drop the bad habits that have reared their ugly heads into every one of Utah's losses this season.

Turnovers, lackluster defense and a disconnect on both ends of the floor got the better of Utah (10-21, 2-16 Big 12) during its 101-75 letdown to Baylor (16-15, 6-12 Big 12), making it five straight losses for the Utes heading into the Big 12 tournament.

The Bears seized control early thanks to the Utes' miscues and never looked back, leading by as many as 29 points in the second half en route to their largest win over a Big 12 opponent since 2023. Utah, meanwhile, sustained its worst loss of the season.

Tounde Yessoufou led Baylor with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field. His running mate, Cameron Carr, added 21 points on 9-of-13 from the field, as the Bears shot 61.5% from the field while facing little resistance from the Utes defense. It was the highest field goal percentage Utah has allowed in a game this season, and the 14th time an opponent shot 50% or better from the field against Jensen's group.

Committing 15 turnovers certainly didn't help Utah's chances of earning a second road win in Big 12 play. Baylor scored 29 points off those giveaways, in addition to racking up 58 points in the paint.

Perhaps the one bright spot for the Utes was the historic milestone Terrence Brown achieved in the early moments of Saturday's game. With his first basket of the game, the 6-foot-3 junior became the first player in program history since 1984 to record 600 points and 100 assists in a single season. Brown entered Saturday leading the Utes with 598 points and 112 assists through 30 games.

Brown also became the 15th player in Utah history to reach the 600-point benchmark in a single season, and the fifth since 1996-97. He's technically the only one to wear a Utes uniform and tally 600 points and 100 assists in a campaign, though it's worth noting that assists weren't an official NCAA stat until 1984.

Brown finished Saturday with 16 points and five assists.

Utah will be back in action for its first round matchup against No. 9 seed Cincinnati. The Utes and Bearcats will square off from T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 10 at 1 p.m. MT.