Iowa State matched the second-ranked team in the nation blow for blow during much of the first 20 minutes, but three Baylor field goals heading into the locker room spurred a run to open the second half. The Cyclones never recovered in dropping a 68-55 road decision.
While the host Bears found their rhythm offensively in the second, I-State never found its shooting touch in Waco. It shot just a shade under 40-percent from the field and made just 6-of-23 shots from beyond the 3-point arc. The Cyclones got to the line just six times, making just three of those attempts. On the other hand, Baylor made 13-of-22 free throws.
The shooting woes were so bad that not one ISU player scored in double figures, while Baylor was led by four with 10 or more points. Rasir Bolton and Prentiss Nixon each led the way with nine points, as the Cyclones fell to 8-8 overall and are now just 1-3 in the Big 12.
Tyrese Haliburton endured a brutal offensive game, making just 2-of-12 shots from the field, including 2-of-9 from 3-point range, to score six points. He did manage to dish out nine assists and grab eight rebounds.
While shots were slow to fall on both sides during the first half, Baylor opened the final 20 minutes red-hot, scoring eight-straight points in the first 2 ½ minutes to open a 38-25 lead and force an Iowa State timeout.
Jared Butler’s 3-pointer at the 14:34 mark gave the Bears their biggest lead of the game at 19, 47-28, as the Cyclones’ woes continued coming out of the break.
Iowa State scored five straight around the midpoint of the second half to cut the deficit to 53-39 and force a Baylor timeout. Bolton hit a 3-pointer and Young followed up with a baseline jumper.
However, the Bears later re-seized the momentum with a quick 7-0 burst in a span of 1:21 and grabbed their biggest lead of the game, 66-46. It was smooth sailing from there for the second-ranked Bears to surge to a 14th win in 15 games. I-State dropped to 8-8 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12.
On paper, this looked to be a blowout win for host Baylor, but that was far from the case in the first half. ISU played the Bears to within two points until fractions of a second remained. However, an untimely foul by Tre Jackson on Davion Mitchell’s last-second shot attempt put the Baylor guard at the free throw line. He knocked down all three attempts to give the Bears a five-point edge at the break.
The defenses had dominated the opening segment of the game until Baylor used a 9-2 run midway through the first half to open up a six-point lead. Haliburton responded with his first bucket of the game in six attempts, a 3-pointer that cut the deficit in half. Michael Jacobson followed up with a jumper and Baylor’s lead stood at 14-13 with 8:43 remaining in the half.
Minutes later, Zion Griffin gave the Cyclones the lead back with a 3-pointer at the 6:05 mark. It came during a Baylor scoreless stretch of more than five minutes.
The Bears scored nine of the game’s next 12 points to open up a five-point lead, knocking down three consecutive shots from the field in the process.
Rasir Bolton knocked down one of two free throw attempts in the closing seconds of the half to cut Baylor’s lead to 27-25, setting up the drastic momentum swing heading into the locker room.
