MBB Rally Falls Just Short at TCU

Saturday, January 5

Fort Worth, Texas

3 p.m.

Baylor

8-5, 0-1

TCU

12-1, 1-0

Baylor

TCU

MBB Rally Falls Just Short at TCU

1/5/2019 5:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score PDF Box Postgame Notes

Four players scored in double figures for the Bears.

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

FORT WORTH – Down by a dozen at the break and trailing TCU by 19 early in the second half, Baylor could have easily gone away.

The Bears were able to whittle that 19-point deficit and made it a one-point game in the closing seconds, but TCU (12-1, 1-0) overcame some free-throw woes to hit five of their last six from the line and escape with an 85-81 victory Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 6,396 at Schollmaier Arena.

"Down 18, we could have never made a run, but these guys are going to fight to the end," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team fell to 8-5 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12. "You just want to pull it out when you get there."

Four Baylor players scored in double figures, led by 6-9 sophomore forward Tristan Clark with 18 points and six rebounds. Freshman Matthew Mayer hit two treys and scored 17 points, one off his career high, while Makai Mason had 15 points and Mark Vital had 11 points, four boards, four assists and two steals.

"If Matt doesn't do that, we probably wouldn't have made the run," Drew said of Mayer. "Hopefully, we can just get more of that consistently from him, because he is a capable scorer."

After hitting 11-of-14 from the line in the first half and leading 40-28 at the break, the Frogs missed 11 of their first 14 free throws in the second half to help Baylor make a game of it.

King McClure drove inside for a layup off the glass that cut it to 80-78 with 17.9 seconds left, finishing off a 9-0 run that included a three-point play and another layup by Vital and a pair of free throws by Mason.

"(It was) just effort," Clark said of the Bears' comeback from a 50-31 deficit 3 ½ minutes into the second half. "In the huddle, I think it was a media timeout, I just got on everybody. Coach can't put up a play, he can't run a set or do whatever. It's just effort. I feel like our effort picked up later in the second half, and Matt (Mayer) gave us a really good spark, and we just built it off that."

TCU senior point guard Alex Robinson, who had a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists, knocked down a pair of free throws with 16.1 seconds left to push the lead back to three.

Coming off a screen by Clark, Mason got an open look at a 3-pointer from NBA range but came up short on a shot that likely would have sent the game to overtime.

"Tristan set two good screens, (Mario Kegler) had a good pass back to me, wide-open look," said Mason, who was 2-of-7 from outside the arc and just 4-of-12 overall. "Just got to knock it down."

Desmond Bane led all scorers with 22 points before fouling out with 2:33 left, with JD Miller (13 points, 10 rebounds) chipping in with a double-double and freshman guard RJ Nembhard scoring 10 as a late replacement for junior starter Jaylen Fisher (knee injury).

"It was great to see RJ play well with Jaylen out," TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. "He really stepped up. He made those two free throws down the stretch, so I was really excited for him. We had a 19-point lead and let it get away, but when you go 8-for-20 from the free throw line (in the second half), things tend to happen. They were more physical than we were in the second half, clearly. We'll see what we can do about that, but it was certainly a great win."

Facing a Baylor defense that ranked in the top 20 nationally in points allowed (60.4) and blocked shots (6.4) per game and field goal percentage allowed (38.2), TCU shot a sizzling 65 percent in the second half and 56.6 percent for the game (30-of-53). The Frogs were 6-of-14 from 3-point range, with Bane going 3-of-4.

"We thought our defense was better than that," Drew said. "For them to shoot 57 percent, obviously we didn't show our defense's ability. And that's the most disappointing thing. . . . Why we've won games and why I thought we would be more effective is our defense. Because defense and rebounding, we've been one of the best. And they were better than us today. As far as defense versus offense, they won the war."

Bane, who was 8-of-11 from the floor, said the Frogs were able to mix it up on offense and "we have a lot of people who can shoot and a lot of people who can put it on the floor. We're a tough cover, no matter what defense you're playing."

Overcoming its second-half free throw woes, TCU hit five of its last six to clinch its ninth consecutive win overall and third in a row over Baylor after losing 11 straight in the series.

"Once we settled in and stepped up to the line, we were able to knock them down when it mattered," Bane said. "When we come out of here with a (win), it's big. Any win in the Big 12 is big."

Baylor will return home to host Iowa State (12-2, 2-0) in a 6 p.m. game Tuesday at the Ferrell Center. The Cyclones upset fifth-ranked Kansas, 77-60, Saturday in Lawrence behind a 24-point game from senior Marial Shayok.