Newcomers Pace MBB in 81-54 Win over Nicholls

Friday, November 16

Waco, Texas

11 a.m.

Baylor

3-1

Nicholls State

2-3

Nicholls State

Baylor

Newcomers Pace MBB in 81-54 Win over Nicholls

11/16/2018 2:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Postgame Notes Postgame Quotes

Freshman Matthew Mayer scored 18 points and graduate transfer Makai Mason had 11 in his Baylor debut.

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

As Nicholls State coach Austin Claunch put it, there is nothing about Baylor grad transfer Makai Mason that "necessarily blows you away. He just always makes the right play."

Making his official debut in Waco, the former Yale guard knocked down three 3-pointers and scored 11 points to help the Bears (3-1) roll over the visiting Nicholls State Colonels, 81-54, in an early tip at the Ferrell Center that attracted 100 busloads of local school children and a crowd of 8,721.

"Makai makes a huge difference, as we know," coach Scott Drew said. "We'll get better the healthier he gets. He's a fun player to coach. It's kind of like having a quarterback like Peyton Manning out there. You don't have to call every play. He reads the defense and knows where the ball's got to go, when it's got to go, and he does a great job of making the right decision."

Mason was the only addition to a Baylor team that had struggled in the first three games against Texas Southern, Southern and Prairie View A&M. But, he definitely made his presence known by hitting the three treys in the first half and helping the Bears get out to a 37-21 lead at the break.

"It definitely felt good to get the juices flowing again, playing," said Mason, who had missed the first three games this season after playing just one game in his last two years at Yale. "I think everything just fell into place. We shot the ball pretty well, attacked the glass well, defended pretty well, too. It was just kind of a combination of those three things."

The Bears certainly didn't start the game shooting well, missing 10 of their first 12 shots and trailing 6-5 through the first six minutes. But, with Mason and 6-9 freshman Matthew Mayer heating up, Baylor hit 12 of its next 19 shots and went to the locker room with a 16-point lead.

Mayer, who had scored 16 points combined and shot just 24 percent in the first three games, came off the bench to score 11 of his game-high 18 points in the first half and finished 3-of-6 from outside the arc.

"I got an opportunity to go in early in the game, and Coach really let me play a little bit more," Mayer said. "I was just missing my shots the first three games, but I felt like it was always there. I was just trying to take what the defense gave me. I don't try to necessarily create mismatches. I just get what I can."

Even after going 0-for-8 in his first collegiate game in the season-opening loss to Texas Southern, Mayer said he has "confidence that I'm going to make every shot, no matter what shot."

"Matt's somebody who shoots like that all the time, meaning he gets shots up," Drew said. "He normally makes more than he misses. I thought the first game he was really nervous. Second game, he played more like himself. Third game, he got better. The big areas we try to focus on with him is the defense end. Today was, by far his best defensive effort."

Baylor played lock-down defense most of the day, holding the Colonels (2-3) to 27 percent shooting in the first half and right at that for the first 17 minutes of the second half until they hit five of their last seven and closed the game on a 17-4 run.

"We just never got in a rhythm offensively," Claunch said. "It's just not as easy as it is in some other games, especially when you're playing a team that's so athletic. Their length certainly bothered us, but we've played big teams. I just thought their energy, and they had a focus about them today that was certainly greater than ours."

That energy on the defensive end started with 6-5 sophomore forward Mark Vital, who recorded his first career double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and a game-high five assists.

"He just kind of does a little bit of everything," Mason said of Vital. "One of the biggest things is his toughness. He really sets the tone, cracking down, getting boards and just manhandling guys, for the most part. That really sets the tone for us, and we've got to follow his lead in terms of intensity and physicality."

Baylor had a balanced scoring attack with five players in double figures. Mason, Vital and King McClure chipped in with 11 points apiece, while Tristan Clark had 10 points, five boards, four assists, two blocks and a steal.

After going 3-1 on the season-opening four-game home stand, Baylor goes on the road for the first time to face Ole Miss (1-0) and either Cincinnati or George Mason at the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Fla. Along with it being the annual "I'm Going to College Day" game, Friday's matchup was part of the Florida tournament.

"When you hear those kids yelling, it definitely excites our guys," Drew said. "They all remember when they were kids, and it wasn't that long ago for a lot of them. This is a chance for them to be role models and inspirations, and they took that seriously."