Arizona gets bounce-back win on the road at Baylor

Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd wanted to see how his team would respond following Saturday’s home loss to Houston, noting how it could go poorly, or it could go well for his team.

The Wildcats responded after the Houston loss with a 74-67 win on a short turnaround on the road at Baylor in Waco, Texas on Monday night.

The win snaps a two-game skid with losses to Houston and Kansas State that dropped the Wildcats (18-8, 12-3) six spots in the latest Top 25 poll to 19th. Baylor (16-10, 8-7), meanwhile, has alternated wins and losses since Jan. 25.

Playing on just one-day’s rest, the Wildcats looked more like the team that had won 13 of 14 games to propel into the top of the Big 12 standings.

Four different Wildcats finished with double-digit scoring in a balanced offensive showing. Tobe Awaka led the Wildcats with 14 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Caleb Love (13), Henri Veesaar (13) and Anthony Dell’Orso (11).

Arizona’s offense hummed with baseline cuts and relocations against Baylor’s zone — which the Bears had used in the previous meeting in Tucson to some success. The Wildcats had a balanced attack, exemplified by the final five minutes of the first half.

Arizona scored 14 points off the hands of six players — sparked by a 3 by Veesaar. The Wildcats took a 41-33 into the break having dished out 15 assists on 18 made field goals. Arizona finished the night with 20 assists on 28 made field goals — up from the 14 assists the team notched against Houston.

The Wildcats kept rolling into the second half, holding the Bears to zero made field goals over the first seven-plus minutes. A jumper by Norchad Omier stopped the snide for the Bears after Love threw down a thunderous dunk to put his team up 53-39.

LOOK OUT BELOW🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/aTY9UC2quB

— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) February 18, 2025

Baylor, as you might expect from a solid team playing at home in the Big 12, responded after the Love dunk with a 12-2 run to cut the deficit down to 55-51 with 7:39 left as Arizona committed a pair of unforced turnovers.

Love stopped the bleeding with a running skyhook to this right, then Awaka — who feasted against a smaller Baylor team — finished inside to put Arizona up 61-52 at the 5:45 mark.

Baylor made another late surge with the help of freshman star V.J. Edgecombe who scored 11 of his team-high 24 over the final seven minutes of the game before Arizona sealed the game at the free-throw line.

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