Bears smash Tarleton State behind three separate 17-0 runs
Believe it or not, Baylor wasn't playing against air Sunday night.
But when the Bears are breezing along like this, it can certainly feel like it.
The 12th-ranked Bears obliterated Tarleton State in gusting to a comfortable 104-41 win before an announced sellout Sunday night crowd of 7,500 at the Foster Pavilion.
It wasn't exactly true that Billy Clyde Gillispie's Texans were invisible, but Baylor snapped them into oblivion, Thanos-style, with a pair of 17-0 runs in the first half, then added a third 17-0 run in the second half as a lethal finishing move. Moreover, Baylor (3-1) placed six players in double-figure scoring, while Tarleton (1-3) didn't have anyone crack that plateau until the final minute of the game.
Yeah, this one featured a night of total domination.
"Coming into today's game we knew that whenever you play a Coach Billy Clyde Gillispie team, they're going to play really hard and compete," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Coming off their game against Florida State, they held Florida State to 33 points (in the first half), I believe, but it was a great job in really slowing them down. We really wanted to make sure we got off to a fast start, and 9 for 13 from 3 is just what the doctor ordered. That obviously helps, and we really shot it well there. Anytime you can get separation against a really well-coached team, it's helpful."
The Baylor fans walked away happy, satisfied not only with the Bears' third straight win but also their daily dose of VJ Edgecombe jaw-dropping highlights. Edgecombe, the fab freshman guard from the Bahamas, totaled a career-high 17 points, including a two-handed alley-oop dunk in the first half and a wicked steal and one-handed flush while drawing a foul in the second.
Edgecombe also chipped in five rebounds, two assists, four steals and three blocked shots.
"That was fun," Edgecombe said. "It was a team victory. Everyone bought in, everyone performed. We had, what, almost seven guys in double figures again? Something like that. ... Oh, six? But it's fun. We can just go out there and hoop."
In the NBA these days, scouts covet the modern 3-and-D player, that is a guy who can lock a guy down on one end and knock down the 3-point shot at the other. Well, a lot of Baylor's guys fit that description on this night.
The Bears poked away 15 steals and swished in 15 3-pointers in putting a lot of mileage between themselves and the Texans from Stephenville.
Baylor came out firing from deep and when Jeremy Roach bottomed out a 3 a little over three minutes in, the Bears snapped to a brisk 10-2 lead. Tarleton got it to within a respectable 12-7 about 70 seconds later on a Nick Krass trey.
But Tarleton found that when it tried to stick its fingers into the teeth of Baylor's defense, it was liable to get them bitten off. Occasionally flustering Tarleton with a full-court press, the Bears commenced on a 17-0 run to push the lead to 20 in a blink, scoring both inside and outside.
It's safe to say this team of newbies — Baylor has nine new players on its roster and 11 out of its 14 that didn't see the court last year — is learning how to play with each other better every day.
"I feel like we're a new offense coming in, new coaching staff, new roster overall, so it's going to take some time to gel," said swingman Jalen Celestine, "and I feel like we're starting to hit our stride. Hopefully we just continue going into our game against St John's and then whoever, hopefully the winner of Tennessee and Virginia."
Celestine knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in another 17-0 run that closed the first half, and gave Baylor a fat, ol' 43-point halftime cushion. On the night, Celestine led all scorers with 20 points, swishing in 4 of 7 from deep.
Roach had 14 points and five assists, also hitting four from 3-point land. Freshman guard Robert Wright III delivered 12 points and nine assists, Jayden Nunn hit for 10 points and two steals, and Josh Ojianwuna went for 10 points and eight rebounds.
Nunn surpassed the 1,000 career point plateau, as he needed only two points coming into the night. That was a source of pride and celebration for his teammates.
"One of the coolest things was seeing the guys drench him with water and seeing them celebrate his 1,000th point," Drew said. "That's a great honor, but you can tell how much the team really respects him and loves him, by the way they were happy for him and celebrated with him."
Baylor came out a little ragged to start the second half, hitting only 2 of its first 11 shots. But the hiccups disappeared soon enough, and the lead was tidy enough that Tarleton wasn't any kind of threat to get back into it.
Then, just over six minutes into the second half, Edgecombe brought the crowd to its feet when he picked the pocket of Tarleton's Ronnie Harrison and broke loose for that one-handed slam while absorbing the foul from Harrison.
"I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting him to run," Edgecombe said. "If he didn't run, I probably would have tried a windmill. I guess I had to try to get the ball. I don't even think I got up that high, I won't even lie. I don't think I got up that high. But he was trailing, and I can't lay up the ball. I just gotta go dunk everything. I try to dunk everything to scare them. Then they won't dunk anymore."
Baylor freshman Jason Asemota sparked a third 17-0 Bear run late in the second half with some energetic play, including an and-one layup following a steal. The Bears held Tarleton to only 38% shooting and forced 28 turnovers.
Tarleton didn't have a player in double figures until Joseph Martinez swished in a corner 3-pointer in the final minutes of the game, pushing his total to 11 points.
Of course, the competition will get considerably thicker for Baylor for its next two games, as the Bears will travel to the Continental Tire Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, Bahamas. Baylor will play Rick Pitino-coached and No. 22 St. John's on Thursday, and then will face either Virginia or No. 11 Tennessee, the latter led by former Texas coach Rick Barnes, on Friday.
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