Talented Baylor uses balance to bury ODU for Sweet 16 berth
NEW ORLEANS -- Baylor, yes Baylor, is the best Big 12 team left in the NCAA tournament. Never thought I'd type that. Not this early in the tournament. Not ever.
When Baylor plays its brand of high intensity basketball, it can beat anyone (and as we've come to find out, that may go for just about everyone this year).
The third-seeded Bears are talented, fast and shotmakers. Sure they aren't without their lapses of concentration that manage to keep teams like No. 14 seed Sam Houston State and No. 11 seed Old Dominion eerily too close for comfort. But this team -- with the excitable Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn that was picked to finish 10th in the uber-competitive Big 12 -- just advanced to the Sweet 16 as Baylor managed to stave off a persistent Old Dominion squad 76-68 on Saturday.
This all didn't happen by accident.
Everyone, including Old Dominion, knew Baylor entered Saturday's game as the more athletic team. When the Bears were on, they were really on.
Carter shared a brain with Dunn and Quincy Acy in the first half as Carter found Dunn and Acy streaking to the hoop for alley-oops more than a handful of times in the first half. The Bears could have run that play all day if they wanted to as the Monarchs stood around cluelessly and watched it happen again and again.
Baylor shot 55.6 percent from the field and went 6 for 9 from 3-point land in the first half. If it can shoot that well come next weekend and combine that with its athleticism, no one is stopping Baylor.
But then you could see how Baylor lost seven times this season and how a disciplined team would give the Bears fits. When the second half commenced, it was the Baylor team that nearly became upset fodder.
The Bears went into hibernation (funny, I know) to start the second half as Old Dominion went on a 9-0 run on three Baylor turnovers to cut the once comfortable lead to a 38-37 nail-biter with 17 minutes to go in the game. The Monarchs continued to hang around so much that they led 49-47 with 12:31 remaining in the second half.
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| Baylor vs. Old Dominion |
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Recap: Baylor 76, Old Dominion 68 Edge: Baylor-St. Mary's |
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Old Dominion played about as boring as its jerseys look. Monarchs coach Blaine Taylor's sweet mustache is about the only non-bland aspect of Old Dominion. But the Monarchs sucked the Bears into their deliberate pace.
The orthodox Old Dominion style had Baylor turning the ball over and not realizing the shot clock was running out, forcing bad shots. Drew said it was more about Old Dominion making a run rather than his players' lapse in concentration. I'm not buying that. You've can't let a team like Old Dominion back in the game.
The players knew better.
"I thought we didn't come out with the same intensity," said Carter, who had 12 points and eight assists. "We had a 10-point lead coming on and the fight that Old Dominion had tonight, a great team will make runs. As long as you withstand the runs and pull it back together, everything will be alright. It's college basketball. It's a 40-minute game. You're going to have teams that make runs. You've just got to learn how to handle it."
Dunn, who scored a game-high 26 points, added: "In the second half, they did kind of tighten it up a little and came out and tried to make it a little tougher. But I think we did a good job of executing and making things happen, only if we could take away some of the turnovers."
Baylor then said enough was enough with about four minutes left, and the Bears run didn't come from the likes of Dunn, Carter or Ekpe Udoh.
With all the athletes it possesses, Baylor couldn't have won without a 7-foot, 280-pound man child named Josh Lomers. If you saw Lomers on the street, you probably think, "Look at this big galoot."
Case in point: A young reporter started his question, "Most of the year, Josh was the big clumsy guy who just set screens for you guys." Drew jumped in with a chuckle and said, "Josh would appreciate that."
But Lomers ate up every rebound that came his way and finished the job on the scoring end as he scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and gobbled up a team-high eight rebounds, including a game-high six offensive boards.
"We always looked at him as our rock down low," Carter said. "You know, he holds us together, believe it or not. He comes out and play whatever minutes he's got, he's going to come out and play. That's what I love about him."
Baylor has been the most upset-proof team from the Big 12 (all apologies to Kansas State). Carter and Dunn were asked about what they thought about No. 1 overall seed Kansas gagging. Neither knew about the upset.
"That's Kansas. You know, we're Baylor," Carter said. "So we're going to continue to focus on us and just get prepared for what we've got next."
And what better of a place to cement his and Baylor's name on the college basketball map than just minutes from his hometown of Reserve, La. Add another element of advantage going Baylor's way as next weekend's crowd will undoubtedly be pro-Baylor at the Toyota Center in Houston.
Hey St. Mary's and possibly Duke, look out for Baylor.
Not Kansas.
Baylor.
