Within the past few weeks, the Baylor Men’s and Women’s Basketball programs each secured regular season Big 12 titles going into the Big 12 tournament (read about them here and here). As the Men were seeded at No. 2 and the Women at No. 1, each team began their tournament play in the Big 12 Quarterfinals with the former facing 7th-seeded Oklahoma and the latter challenging 9th-seed Oklahoma State. With strong finishes to the regular season, the No. 3 Men’s team (26-6) dropped a close quarterfinals decision, 72-67 to exist the Big 12 tournament early while the No. 4 Women (26-5) recorded a historic 76-36 victory, keeping their tournament title hopes alive.
Facing a scrappy and desperate Oklahoma team (18-14) in the quarterfinals, the No. 3 Bears struggled immensely to hit their shots while the Sooners appeared unlikely to miss. Although the first half saw Oklahoma and Baylor’s field goal shooting percentages almost even with the Sooners landing only 9 of 24 or 37.5% and the Bears at 13 of 33 for 39.4%, the 3 point shootings were a different story. In the first half, Oklahoma hit 5 of 12 3s for 41.7% while Baylor only nailed 1 of 10 (10%). The Sooners came out even hotter in the second half, hitting 17 of 27 (63%!!!!) of their field goals and 6 of 9 3s or 66.7% while the Bears reached a scoring plateau with 12 of 32 or 37.5% of field goals and 2 of 12 nailed 3s for 16.7%. Oklahoma’s game total percentages for field goals and 3s were 51% (26-51) and 52.4% (11-21), respectively, and the Bears ended up with 25-65 (38.5%) of field goals and only 3 of 22 (13.6%) of 3s. G James Akinjo led the Baylor team with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists.
The Women’s Basketball team’s performance in the quarterfinals was a completely different story as they faced a dreadful Oklahoma State group (9-20). The Bears held the Cowgirls scoreless for the entire first quarter, 23-0, for the first scoreless quarter in Big 12 tournament history. Baylor also held Oklahoma State to a tournament record-low 36 total points. In the first half (or just the second quarter for OSU), the Cowgirls hit 5-17 (29.41%) of field goals and 2-7 (28.57%) 3s while the Bears had 16-30 (53.3%) of field goals and 4-9 (44.4%) of 3s. The third and fourth quarters remained stagnant for Oklahoma State as the Cowgirls landed 8 of 27 or 29.6% of field goals and 2 of 9 (22.2%) of 3s. The Bears hit 13 of 33 or 39.3% of field goals and only 1 of 6 or 16.6% of 3s. The Cowgirls totaled 13-57 (22.8%) of field goals and 4-18 (22.2%) 3s and the Bears shot 29-63 (46%) of field goals and 5-15 (33.3%) of 3s. F NaLyssa Smith notched the 50th double-double of her career with 15 points and 10 rebounds and C Queen Egbo nabbed her 31st double-double on 15 points and 13 rebounds. G Ja’Mee Asberry led the team with 16 points, 1 rebound, and 2 assists. The Bears will face No. 21 Oklahoma in the Big 12 semifinals on Saturday at noon (CT).
