Whenever the oddsmakers come up with a point spread that looks too good to be true, well, it probably is.
Baylor’s 100-69 dismantling of Kansas State on Saturday was yet another reminder that college basketball games are anything but predictable. The Wildcats entered this game on a hot streak that featured a home victory over Milwaukee and a road win against Iowa State, while the Bears hadn’t done much of anything over the past two weeks because of COVID-19 issues on their roster.
Those factors made some think K-State was ready to compete with the nation’s second-ranked team. Few, if any, expected the Wildcats to pull off an upset, but if the Bears came out rusty while playing their first game since Dec. 9 it wasn’t hard to picture a closer outcome than the opening betting line of 21 points.
About that.
The Bears looked nothing like a team that hadn’t been practicing and came out red hot, torching the Wildcats for 56 points … in the first half. So much for playing them at the right time. K-State (3-5, 1-1 Big 12) ran into a proverbial buzz saw as Baylor (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) scored at will early and kept its foot on the gas well into the second half.
One stat best summed up Baylor’s dominance. It held a 56-27 lead at halftime, despite the Wildcats shooting 48% from the field.
It didn’t really matter what K-State did, Baylor was simply better in every facet of the game. At one point late in the first half, the Bears were shooting 75% from the field and 63% from 3-point range. Of course, it’s easy to make shots when your team is forcing turnovers and converting them into easy layups on the other end.
MaCio Teague led the onslaught with 23 points for Baylor, while Davion Mitchell added 20. But it seemed like everyone that Bears coach Scott Drew inserted into the game left with at least a highlight moment or two.
Points were much harder to come by for the Wildcats. Antonio Gordon surprisingly led K-State with 23 points and Selton Miguel had 14, but the rest of the squad struggled to keep up with Baylor’s high-octane offense.
This has been Weber’s worst defensive team during his nine-year tenure at K-State, and it could do nothing to stop Baylor.
Maybe that was just Baylor playing at a high level. Or perhaps it was K-State struggling more than usual on defense. It was probably some of both.
This result was also another reminder of just how far the Wildcats have to go before they are once again contenders in the Big 12. Baylor was the preseason favorite to win the conference with the bulk of its talented roster returning from a team that won 26 games last season. K-State was picked to finish last in the preseason poll with nine new scholarship players.
When they met on Saturday, it was a mismatch.
The Wildcats will try to bounce back in their next game against Jacksonville on Monday.
