Baylor Continues To Blossom, Bops Notre Dame, 53-41

Red Raiders Notch 8th Straight Hoops Win

he problem with wearing several hats is that not every hat is for every occasion.

As Baylor's athletic director, Mark Price will laud the school's state football championship to his last breath. As Baylor's head basketball coach, well, it was a minor inconvenience as the two sports overlap and when eight of your players play both sports, finding basketball rhythm in November can be trying.

But now that the calendar has flipped to January, Price and his team have taken advantage of the football mentality and found themselves riding an impressive month long winning streak heading into Tuesday night's battle against a solid Notre Dame squad.

And by the time the final horn sounded, the streak stood strong at seven in a row, as the Red Raiders won the battle in the trenches per se, dropping the Fighting Irish, 53-41, as the squad gets ready to head into the meat of its region schedule next week.

"I'm proud of the way we have come together. We're playing good basketball at a good time of the season. With eight of our guys playing football, it was a bit of a challenge early, but I like where we are at now," said Price after the hard fought win at Notre Dame's Phifer Gymnasium.

And with the return of injured starting guard Nyziah Whaley eminent, Baylor looks as if it could be in for another postseason run in another sport. If it does, it will be on the strength of an impressive inside-outside game that Notre Dame witnessed firsthand last night.

Baylor, now 8-4 after starting the season 0-3, carried over the momentum of winning the Best of Preps event over the holidays with a swarming effort on defense and a machine-like efficiency on offense, raining in contested long balls early and pounding it inside late to stymie any chance Notre Dame had for victory.

The fact the Irish kept it competitive was a credit to their prowess.

"It came down to their physicality. They really battered us. They bumped us off screens and won the physical end of it. They hit contested shots and then they pounded it inside. I just thought they really outcoached us, and that's on me," said Notre Dame boss Jonathan Adams, who Xs and Os it with the best of them.

Baylor came out hot, racing to a 12-4 lead after the first and continued into the second, nailing five of eight 3s in the half. including three straight from Jao Rego with guys in his face each time. Rego's play was particularly significant with point guard Zane Restilli saddled with three early fouls.

"It was nice to see the other kids step up with Zane on the bench, and it turned out to be a blessing late because Zane was so fresh in the second half. Jonathan's teams are so hard to play against because they mix things up. They always compete so hard and we don't take a win like this lightly because of who it was against," added Price of the matchup.

With the Fighting Irish playing their trademark zone, Baylor's ability to hit the early contested shots and build an early separation and forced Notre Dame to go man defense most of the second half. Baylor took a 26-17 lead into halftime that would have been more had Notre Dame's Cole McCormick not gotten a long trey and then a steal and layup on back-to-back possessions late.

But with Restilli directing the offense in the third, it was all Baylor big man Jack Shutters who made the game's biggest impact over the key eight minutes. Shutters had 10 points in the period, all from short range, as the Red Raiders kept an eight-point lead heading into the fourth.

"We knew they would zone us and that's why our outside shooting was such a key to get them out of it. We knew we had a size advantage with some mismatches. And if they collapsed hard on us we did a good job finding open shooters," said Shutters.

"I thought Jack was unbelievable. He had a really big game tonight, but he's been playing like that a lot lately. I thought his stretch in that third quarter was the difference in the game," added Price of the big man.

After missing its first four shots of the third period, Baylor turned its next seven possession into seven buckets without a miss. And when the Irish went the first five minutes in the final period with just two free throws, Baylor extended the lead to 51-36 with Brock Barton's 3 giving Baylor its biggest lead.

Notre Dame made just two buckets in the final period and never seriously challenged after Sutter's streak.

"I love our ability to compete, and I was happy with that, but you can't turn it over and give them that many extra possessions," admitted Adams, as his Irish turned it over 16 times and Baylor got 13 more shots.

Baylor finished the game shooting 41.5 percent, hitting 22 of 53 shots, and seven of 12 from long distance.  Notre Dame was 15 of 40 from the floor and hit six of 20 from behind the arc. McCormick led Notre Dame with 17 hard earned points as Cam Sparks made him earn every shot attempt. DJ Brown added a dozen and Jace Herman had eight, including a couple of big 3s.

Baylor got 13 from Restelli and 11 each from Shutters and Rego. Barton added eight in a solid effort as well.