One year, seven months, and 28 days ago, the Baylor Bears, then led by Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell, beat the undefeated Gonzaga Bulldogs in the 2021 National Championship pretty easily. And on Friday night the Bears beat the Bulldogs again in their first matchup since that title game.
This time it was a lot more nerve-wracking.
No. 6 Baylor and No. 14 Gonzaga were both two loss teams heading into the night, so unfortunately one team was going to walk away with three loses. Baylor has a loss to No. 3 Virginia as well as a 26-point defeat by Marquette, while Gonzaga has double-digit losses to No. 2 Texas and No. 5 Purdue. With a final score of 64-63, the Bears walk away victorious and move to 6-2, with Gonzaga at 5-3.
Baylor star Adam Flagler hit two three-pointer late to get the Bears within one. Drew Timme fouled out with 0:16 left to go, sending Jalen Bridges to the line where he sank both to put Baylor up one. The Bears would ultimately win the game after a wild Rasir Bolton attempt at a layup.
“Adam is a great leader, but no one knew he wasn’t feeling well today,” Bears’ head coach Scott Drew said about his senior leader. “To be honest, some players wouldn’t have played. He played through the pain and left it all out on the court. As a coach, I appreciate that.”
Baylor freshman Keyonte George led all scorers in the game with 18 points followed by Gonzaga’s Malachi Smith with 16. Flagler had 11 for the Bears and Langston Love with 10. Anton Watson had 13 for the Zags and Julian Strawther had 10.
Timme had an unusual game compared to his normal All-American performances. He finished with 9 points which is a season low for him. It is also the first single-digit scoring game he’s had all season. Timme also finished with five rebounds and two blocks before fouling out.
Both teams did not have great shooting nights. Baylor shot 37.1% from the field and 25.0% from 3-point range, while Gonzaga shot 36.1% from the field and 27.3% from beyond the arc. However, the most important shot in basketball is the free throw, and Baylor by far won that category. The Bears shot a team 80% from the line, making 12 of 15 free throws. The Zags on the other hand, shot terribly from the line, going 13-21 (61.9%). Bulldogs were averaging 74% for free throws on the season before this game, but did not get even close to that in this game, and it cost them.
Baylor will have four games, only one of which is a power five opponent (Washington St.), before they start Big 12 play on Dec. 31 against No. 23 Iowa State.
Gonzaga will face No. 11 Alabama on Dec. 17, along with five other games before starting conference play on New Years Eve as well against Pepperdine.
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- Source: https://thegamehaus.com/college-basketball/baylor-rallies-late-to-beat-gonzaga-in-intense-rematch/2022/12/04/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=baylor-rallies-late-to-beat-gonzaga-in-intense-rematch
