No. 4 Baylor beats Kansas State 74-49 for 3rd win in row

Published Jan. 25, 2022 10:33 p.m. ET

Associated Press

WACO, Texas (AP) — Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Kendall Brown each had a double-double as fourth-ranked Baylor won its third game in a row since rare consecutive losses, beating Kansas State 74-49 on Tuesday night.

Tchamwa Tchatchoua scored 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and the 6-foot-8 post player grabbed 12 rebounds. Brown had 10 points and 11 rebounds.

LJ Cryer added 14 points with three 3-pointers and Adam Flagler had 13 points and five assists for Baylor (18-2, 6-2 Big 12), which was home for the first time since successive defeats in the Ferrell Center two weeks ago.

Those losses to Texas Tech and Oklahoma ended the Bears' 21-game winning streak and cost the defending national champions their No. 1 ranking in the AP poll. They rebounded with wins last week at West Virginia and Oklahoma.

The Wildcats (10-9, 2-6) led only after Ismael Massoud made a 3-pointer on their first shot of the game, only three days after they almost pulled off an upset over fifth-ranked Kansas.

Nijel Pack had 13 points to lead Kansas State, held to its fewest points this season. He was the Big 12 co-player of the week after scoring 35 against Kansas, but missed seven of his first eight shots against the Bears.

After Massoud's opening 3, K-State missed 13 of its next 14 shots, misfiring on six in a row over 4 1/2 minutes and then seven more in nearly six minutes. The Wildcats were down 18-8 when Mike McGuirl made a layup with 8:04 left in the first half, and only that close because Baylor was in a four-minute span without making a shot.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas State: It was only the second double-digit loss for the Wildcats in Big 12 play, and the first time in their six league losses they didn't lead or tie the game after halftime. K-State finished up a brutal stretch of four consecutive games against Top 25 teams. The Wildcats beat Texas Tech and Texas before jumping out to a 50-34 halftime lead Saturday over Kansas, which scored the game's last six points to pull out a 78-75 win.

Baylor: Freshman guard Jeremy Sochan played for the first time in five games since turning his left ankle in the first half at TCU on Jan. 8. He made a 3-pointer from the left corner with 6:18 left in the first half, then had a steal and an assist on Brown's breakaway layup that made it 26-11. ... Senior transfer point guard James Akinjo is still bothered from falling hard on his tailbone at end of the game against Texas Tech two weeks ago. He sat out his second game since then, and was 2-of-14 shooting in two games during that stretch.

UP NEXT

Kansas State: At Ole Miss on Saturday in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

Baylor: At Alabama in a matchup of the only two teams without multiple losses in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Bears' 7-1 record in the event is the best. Alabama is 3-1, its loss coming to Baylor three years ago.

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