Missi's dunks help power No. 13 Baylor to a win over No. 23 Texas Tech

WACO, Texas (AP) — RayJ Dennis scored 21 points, 7-foot Baylor freshman Yves Missi had 17 points with some impressive dunks, and the 13th-ranked Bears beat No. 23 Texas Tech 79-73 on Tuesday night to hand the Red Raiders their third consecutive loss.

Jayden Nunn added 14 points for the Bears (17-5, 6-3 Big 12), including seven in the big run that put them ahead to stay.

Baylor tied No. 14 Iowa State for second place in the Big 12 standings, a half-game behind fifth-ranked Houston. Joe Toussaint had 18 points and six assists for Texas Tech (16-6, 5-4), still among the seven teams within two games of the Big 12 lead.

Missi's third dunk of the night was a drive down the right edge of the lane. He reached out for a one-handed slam after leaping by 6-7 defender Kyeron Lindsay with nine minutes left. That came a minute after Nunn's tiebreaking 3-pointer that started a 13-0 run over 3 1/2 minutes when he also made two jumpers.

Darrion Williams added 17 points for Texas Tech, while Chance McMillian had 15 and Pop Isaacs 11.

The Red Raiders were without Warren Washington, their 7-foot starting senior forward who missed the game because of illness. He had started the first 21 games, and led the team with 7.6 rebounds while scoring 10.3 points a game.

Missi, who also had seven rebounds, had a tiebreaking dunk with 14 1/2 minutes left after a give-and-go with Dennis. After Isaacs missed a long 3-pointer, Baylor extended its lead to 49-45 on Jalen Bridges' emphatic putback dunk. The game's last tie was at 51-all on a dunk by Lindsay with 10:25 left.

Baylor had a 36-35 lead after scoring the last six points before halftime, punctuated by Messi's dunk at the end.

BIG PICTURE

Texas Tech: The Red Raiders have already matched their win total from last season under first-year coach Grant McCasland, a Baylor graduate and former Bears assistant coach for Scott Drew from 2011-16. McCasland was at North Texas the past six seasons after one at Arkansas State.

Baylor: Three nights after having to overcome Drew's first career ejection and a 20-0 run by Iowa State to win that game, the Bears used their big second-half run against Tech to improve to 5-1 at new Foster Pavilion.

UP NEXT

Texas Tech plays UCF on Saturday at home, where the Red Raiders lost for the first time this season last weekend.

Baylor travels to Allen Fieldhouse to play No. 4 Kansas (18-5, 6-4) in a Big 12 matchup of recent national champions. The Jayhawks won the 2022 title, a year after the Bears won their first one.

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