Illinois Fighting Illini vs Baylor Bears Match Player Stats On Dec 02, 2020

With head coach Scott Drew back on the sidelines after missing the first two games due to COVID-19 quarantine, No. 2 Baylor reeled off 20 points during a five-minute stretch midway through the second half to transform a taut battle into an 82-69 triumph over No. 5 Illinois Wednesday night during the Jimmy V Classic in Indianapolis.

Presbyterian transfer Adam Flagler scored 18 points off the bench to lead a balanced attack for Baylor (3-0). Davion Mitchell (15 points, 7 assists), preseason All-American Jared Butler (12 points) and MaCio Teague (11 points) also hit double figures as the Bears geared up for Saturday's showdown with top-ranked Gonzaga.

Preseason All-American Ayo Dosunmu led Illinois (3-1) with 18 points, but he converted just 6 of 18 shots as Baylor's guards took turns hounding him all over the court. Giorgi Bezhanishvili contributed 15 points off the bench as 7-footer Kofi Cockburn played just 18 minutes due to foul trouble.

Baylor and Illinois spent nearly all of the first 28 minutes within one possession of each other as neither team could find the range from the field or the free-throw line.

Butler scored eight points in the first eight minutes to give Baylor an early spark. Meanwhile, Cockburn committed his second foul at the 11:00 mark and hit the bench for the rest of the half. Bezhanishvili stepped in and scored 13 points over the next 10 minutes -- five baskets in the paint and an unguarded 3-pointer to turn a 15-11 deficit into a 30-28 lead with 1:33 left in the first.

Baylor secured a 31-30 edge at the break as Butler sank a 12-foot runner in the waning seconds.

Cockburn picked up his third foul just 68 seconds into the second half and went to the bench again. Baylor started to control the boards, continued to pressure Illinois with its aggressive man-to-man and then started to hit its shots.

Sparked by an alley-oop from Mitchell to backup big man Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua coming out of the first media timeout, Baylor turned a 39-39 knot into a 65-51 lead with 7:24 to go.

--Field Level Media