Team #117 - Baylor

On Tuesday November 29th, 2022, I saw my 117th Division One College Basketball teams. On this occasion, I saw the Baylor Bears take on the Marquette Golden Eagles.  Baylor is the 6th team that I have seen out of the Big 12. The Bears are currently ranked #6 in the AP Poll. Baylor has a 5-1 record on the year, their only loss of the year coming to Virginia. They most recently played McNeese and they won 89-60. The leading scorer for Baylor is LJ Cryer and he is averaging 17.7 PPG. Marquette has a 5-2 record on the year. They most recently played Chicago State and they won 82-68. The leading scorer for the Golden Eagles is Kam Jones and he is averaging 13.3 PPG. 

Marquette has been nothing shy of inconsistent this year. Home showing against Chicago State and Radford had no reason for the Golden Eagles faithful to be excited for this game. But something with different about this one. Marquette played with a fire that you had no seen previously under Shaka Smart. You knew the potential was there but some may look back at this game as the turning point of Marquette basketball. The first half was dominated by Marquette. It was as if the basket was a huge pot of gold and Marquette couldn’t miss. In the first half Marquette had more field goals (21) than Baylor attempted (20). Kam Jones and O-Max Prosper lead the charge for Marquette. Prosper was a complete mismatch for Baylor. Flo Thamba drew the assign on Prosper and he made Thamba look silly. Everything went Marquette’s way in the first half. Everyone who entered the game in the first half for Marquette scored. Now for Baylor not much went right, they had 16 turnovers to Marquette’s 2 turnovers. Highly regarded recruit Keyonte George was their leading scorer with eight points. The Golden Eagle defense managed to hold LJ Cryer in check for two points. At the half, the game was essentially over. The score of was 51-25. 

The second half was much of the same for Marquette. This was by far the best I have seen Marquette look in the couple of years I have been following the team. The best Baylor could do in the 2nd half was cut the lead to 15 points. Now Baylor did manage to get points out of George, Flagler and Cryer in the 2nd half. George finished with 12, Flagler with 16 and Cryer with a team high 19. I think George can be a great player for Baylor but his defense is a ways off. He may still end up being a lottery pick. As for Marquette, they ended with three players having 19+ points. David Joplin has been a nice surprise this season. He had 19 points in 19 minutes. Prosper had a game high 24 and Kam Jones had 20. This was a complete beat down from start to finish. Marquette would go onto win 96-70. This was the worse loss for Baylor in 15 years. Marquette now takes on Wisconsin and Baylor will take on Gonzaga. Tough week for both teams.

My next game will be Marquette and NC Central.