Field Level Media
Jan 2, 2021
Jared Butler scored a game-high 21 points, and MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell added 13 points each to lift No. 2 Baylor to a 76-65 road victory against Iowa State on Saturday afternoon in Ames, Iowa.
Flo Thamba scored 10 points, while Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua added seven points and 10 rebounds for the Bears, who forced 21 Cyclones turnovers and shot 47.3 percent for the field.
Accustomed to winning comfortably, Baylor (9-0, 2-0 Big 12) prevailed by double digits for the ninth straight time to open the campaign but fell short of 80 points for the first time this season.
Javan Johnson scored 17 points to pace four Cyclones (2-5, 0-3) in double figures. Solomon Young followed with 15 points, Rasir Bolton had 14 points and eight rebounds and Jalen Coleman-Lands had 12 points.
Iowa State, which shot 48.1 percent, scored the first basket of the second half to draw within 36-34 before Baylor responded with an 8-0 run to push the lead to double-digits. The Cyclones, however, had an answer of their own, taking a 55-53 lead on a Johnson 3-pointer with 10:05 to go.
Iowa State went cold over a scoring drought of 5:08, and a 13-0 Baylor run in the interim boosted the visitors to an 11-point edge, 66-55. The Cyclones cut the lead to five with 2:43 to go but came no closer.
Playing for the first time since Dec. 20, the Cyclones showed understandable signs of rust, namely with ball control. Iowa State committed 13 turnovers in the first half while forcing Baylor into 11.
After missing their first attempt from the floor and having the next one blocked, the Cyclones recovered to shoot 54.5 percent (12-for-22) in the first half, with Young leading all scorers with 11 points.
Baylor had a 36-32 lead at the half behind 14-for-26 shooting and 10 points from Mitchell.
--Field Level Media