It was already a day of chaos in college basketball when Kansas and Baylor took the floor Saturday, but the Bears decided to add to the havoc anyway.
No. 10 Baylor erased an early deficit to knock off No. 5 Kansas in Waco, keeping the Big 12 race alive for another day. The Jayhawks became the fourth team in the top five of the AP Poll to lose on the day, with No. 1 Gonzaga still yet to play.
Kansas silenced the crowd early by jumping out to an early 12-2 lead at the first media timeout. They extended it to 24-11 a few minutes later, but not long after that, Baylor began to chip away at the lead. Adam Flagler made it a one-score game with a layup with 2:35 in the half, and Matthew Mayer knocked down two free throws to make it 32-31 at halftime.
The Bears wasted no time keeping it going in the second half, as Kendall Brown threw down a dunk to score the first points of the period and claim the lead. The pendulum swung back and forth after that, though, as neither team could establish much of a lead and the lead changed hands multiple times.
That is, until the final minutes. Christian Braun made a layup to get Kansas within three, but Flagler answered with a jumper the next time down to make it a two-score game. James Akinjo then converted an and-one take to put Baylor up 76-68 with a hair over a minute left in the game.
Dajuan Harris missed a rapid-fire layup the next time down for the Jayhawks, and Flo Thamba pulled in the board for the Bears and was fouled. It was a free throw game from there, as Kansas couldn’t put together the miracle comeback in the final seconds and Baylor came out on top.
Thamba led Baylor with 18 points. Flagler added 13 points and six rebounds, and Akinjo scored 12 and dished out six assists. Mayer logged nine points and 12 rebounds as well.
Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji led all scorers with 27 points. Braun had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and David McCormack logged 10 points and 13 boards.
The Bears now sit a half game back of the Jayhawks for the Big 12 lead. Kansas could have clinched at least a share of the conference title with a win, but now will have to do so over its remaining three regular season games.
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