No. 25 BYU bounces back with 78-71 win over No. 11 Baylor

PROVO — No. 11 Baylor men's basketball and No. 25 BYU entered Tuesday night's conference game on seemingly opposite trajectories.

The Bears had won back-to-back games in Big 12 play and four of their last five, while the Cougars were coming off a humbling road loss to last-place Oklahoma State.

In the ultimate what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league that is the Big 12, BYU bounced back in a big way.

Aly Khalifa totaled 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and Jaxson Robinson scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half to lead the Cougars past Baylor 78-71 in front of an announced crowd of 17,978 at the Marriott Center.

Trevin Knell added 13 points for BYU (19-7, 7-6 Big 12), which outrebounded the Bears 39-30 and scored 20 second-chance points in the win. Richie Saunders scored 8 points off the bench, and Dallin Hall had 7 points with six assists (and just one turnover).

But perhaps more importantly, the Cougars held its visitors to just 5-of-20 shooting from 3-point range to turn a double-digit deficit in the early minutes into a double-digit lead in the final minute just two days after allowing Oklahoma State to shoot 60% in a 93-83 upset in Stillwater.

Winning on the road can be hard in the toughest basketball conference in America. The Cougars learned that lesson the hard way Saturday, and the Bears likewise Tuesday night in front of a capacity crowd.

"I feel like we really stepped up, especially from last game and especially on the defensive side of the ball," Robinson said. "I thought we did an amazing job, holding them to 37 in the first half and 34 in the second. That was a big emphasis going into this game, and I think we did a really good job of it."

Jalen Bridges had 15 points and eight rebounds to lead the Bears (19-7, 8-5 Big 12), and Ja'Kobe Walter and Yves Messi added 13 points apiece.

Baylor connected on five of its first six shots from the field, leading by as much as 8-0 early en route to a 13-8 advantage just five minutes into the game.

The Bears started the game as hot as a central Texas summer, shooting 9-of-12 with three 3-pointers midway through the first half. The Cougars, meanwhile, were as cold as the Mount Timpanogos peak in mid-February.

"I felt really good about the game early on. We were down 0-8, and I thought we were OK," BYU coach Mark Pope said. "We were getting second-chance opportunities every time and we were getting shots that we like. Even though the scoreboard wasn't exactly what we wanted to start the game, our energy was really good. And clearly the energy in the building was really good."

Despite shooting just 33% to start the game, BYU pulled within one, 22-21, on Spencer Johnson's 3-pointer with 8:02 left in the half.

Baylor exploded out of the half with a 6-0 run to take a 1-point lead — a lead that lasted all of 14 seconds before Noah Waterman's dunk restored the Cougars' advantage.

BYU kept the edge until the Bears used three turnovers to pace a 7-0 run midway through the second half. Robinson drained from 3 to give the Cougars a 57-54 edge, then hit every inch of the rim on a triple two minutes later to cap an 8-0 run for a 62-54 advantage with 8:12 remaining.

Saunders finished a cutting pass at the rim from Khalifa as BYU held the Bears without a field goal for more than five minutes en route to a 66-57 lead on Fousseyni Traore's dunk with 6:23 to go.

Baylor answered with Bridges' second made triple of the game, but the Cougars used a 16-5 run to take a 29-27 lead on Hall's 3 with 5:40 on the clock.

The hosts finished the first half 8-of-21 from beyond the arc, and 8-of-14 from inside en route to a 42-37 halftime advantage. Khalifa had 11 points, three rebounds and four assists for the Cougars, who outrebounded the Bears 19-13 at the break and scored 9 points off five turnovers to take the 5-point halftime lead.

The Bears shot just 12-of-27 in the second half, including 1-of-10 from 3-point range, while the Cougars were 6-of-15 from deep. Playing on the tail-end of a back-to-back road trip that included a 94-81 win at West Virginia — a road trip where the Bears flew straight to Provo and practiced in the Cougars' gym Monday — Baylor players felt the heavy legs of travel and wear-and-tear in the dog-eat-dog world that is Big 12 road games.

Then there was the sellout crowd that included a student section filled to the rafters an hour before tipoff.

"Typical Big 12 game," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "I thought the crowd really gave BYU a great lift going to the glass, especially. They deserved to win, we didn't deserve it, and we're all disappointed by our rebounding performance. ... We're a tougher team than we showed tonight, and we're all disappointed by that. Offensively, I thought their defense did a great job."

BYU travels to Kansas State on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. MST on ESPN+.

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