No. 22 Baylor ousts No. 23 Texas from Big 12 tournament
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Taurean Prince had 24 points and 13 rebounds, Rico Gathers added 13 points and No. 22 Baylor's baffling zone defense shut down No. 23 Texas in a 75-61 victory in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals Thursday.
The fifth-seeded Bears (22-10) opened a 15-point lead in the first half, then used coach Scott Drew's trademark defense to keep the fourth-seeded Longhorns (20-12) from coming all the way back.
Baylor will play top-ranked Kansas or Kansas State in Friday night's semifinals.
Connor Lammert had 15 points, Kerwin Roach had 13 and Shaquille Cleare had 12 for the Longhorns, but the bigger story was who got shut down: All-Big 12 guard Isaiah Taylor scored just eight, all in the second half.
The Longhorns have lost four straight to Baylor in the Big 12 tournament.
Texas was hoping to get a boost from the return of big man Cameron Ridley, who had been out since late December with a broken foot. He was cleared to practice this week and checked in with about 6 minutes to go in the first half, then immediately got fouled and contributed two free throws.
Ridley never got much of a chance to makes a difference, though.
The Bears opened a 31-16 lead late in the first half, slicing right through a Texas defense that held Oklahoma State to 50 points its last time out. And when the Longhorns made a small run to trim their deficit to single digits, Jake Lindsey hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Baylor a 38-27 lead at the break.
The Bears pushed their advantage to 59-40 on Johnathan Motley's breakaway dunk midway through the second half, and the small contingent of Longhorns fans - with the Jayhawks and Wildcats waiting in the wings, there wasn't much Baylor flavor either - continued to sit on their hands.
Shaka Smart's bunch finally gave them a reason to cheer.
Taylor's first basket of the game with 10:36 to go started a 10-0 run, and Prince Ibeh capped it with a rim-rattling dunk over Gathers to make it 59-50 with about 7 minutes to go.
The Longhorns kept the Bears uncomfortable the rest of the way, but they were unable to make the stops they needed to complete their comeback. Prince combined with Al Freeman and Lester Medford to make enough free throws down the stretch to put the game away.