Little has come easy for Baylor during Big 12 play.
Why should a game to clinch a back-to-back conference championship be any different? The Bears blew a 25-point first-half lead, then rallied late to beat Iowa State, 75-68, Saturday on the final day of the Big 12 regular season.
“Again, I think you saw the heart of this team,” Baylor coach Scott Drew told the crowd afterwards as green and gold confetti fell on the Ferrell Center court.
After winning their first Big 12 title outright in 2020-21 and ending a 71-year drought, the Bears shared the conference title with Kansas. Each team finished 14-4 in conference play. Kansas will be the top seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 men’s basketball tournament beginning Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo.
Baylor will be the second seed and face Oklahoma in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Bears are currently projected as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament by ESPN.
While Baylor and Kansas had gone 1-1 in their regular-season meetings, the Jayhawks had split with Texas Tech while Baylor lost its two meetings with the Red Raiders.
Between replacing four starters from a national champion, serious injuries and makeshift lineups, the Bears found a way again at the end.
Transfer guard James Akinjo (20 points, 6 assists) and freshman forward Kendall Brown (16 points, 10 rebounds) led a late 7-0 run to give Baylor a 69-64 lead with 2:30 remaining.
“What we do know from the Big 12 is that it’s hard to win a championship in the best league in the country,” Drew said on the Baylor postgame radio show. “And to go back to back says a lot for everybody — administration, school, fans, staff, players. It takes a team to win.”
Kansas withstood stubborn Texas 70-63 in overtime to claim a share of the title and the No. 1 seed in Kansas City.
After celebrating his 16th Big 12 title at Kansas, coach Bill Self was already looking ahead to Kansas City and what sounded like anticipation of a third meeting with Baylor.
“I’m excited about Kansas City,” Self said. “We’ll have to go play three hard games and if we play well each day, we can get the chance to hook up with someone again in the finals, and decide who the best team is in our league after all.”
Texas saw its offense disappear late, a recurring problem. The Longhorns missed 14 of its last 15 shots.
“It’s winning time, it’s time to play in March,” Texas coach Chris Beard said afterward. “I’m looking forward to it. I think we’re going to be a factor in Kansas City. I think we’re going be a factor in the NCAA Tournament.”
Texas Tech (23-8) will be the third seed in Kansas City and face Iowa State in the quarterfinals.
The Red Raiders have lost two of their last three with late-game collapses on the road against TCU and then against Oklahoma State on Sunday. Despite a solid resume, Tech may need at least one more win to secure a top 4 seed on Selection Sunday.
Oklahoma State is ineligible for postseason play, including the Big 12 tournament, because of NCAA sanctions for rules violations.
Tech went the final nine minutes without scoring.
“We just couldn’t score,” Texas Tech coach Mark Adams told reporters afterward. “I apologized to the team. I couldn’t get them into anything that seemed to work.
Another team that could afford a win is fifth-seeded TCU (19-11), which faces Texas to open the quarterfinals Thursday.
The Horned Frogs had solidified their position in the NCAA field with big wins over Texas Tech and Kansas in the last week. The Horned Frogs then lost at Kansas and fell at West Virginia 70-64. TCU is probably still in the field regardless but a win in Kansas City would solidify things.
