Baylor coach Scott Drew doesn’t have his team where he wants it this season, but that hasn’t kept him from admiring other Big 12 teams.
The Bears (15-15, 5-12 Big 12), who are in danger of their first losing season since 2006-07, finish the regular season Saturday when they host Utah (10-20, 2-15) in Waco, Texas.
“Every year in the Big 12 … that is why it is the best conference in the country,” Drew said after a 77-64 loss Wednesday at No. 7 Houston. “There are no off nights. You can’t circle a team and say, ‘We are winning by 30.’ Especially this year with the teams at the top; so many teams that have a chance to win a national championship or make the Final Four.
“I have always wanted to see three or four teams from the Big 12 in the Final Four and we have that chance this year.”
The Bears are led by Cameron Carr (18.9 ppg) and Tounde Yessoufou (17.7), who have combined to score 44.6% of Baylor’s points while ranking sixth and ninth, respectively, in the conference.
Yessoufou posted his 11th 20-point game and his first double-double when he stacked up 20 points and 12 rebounds against Houston.
The Utes are led by Terrence Brown, who has scored 598 points this season. The guard is on the doorstep of becoming the fifth Utah player to score 600 points in a season — joining Keith Van Horn, Andrew Bogut, Jakob Poeltl and Branden Carlson.
Brown’s 19.9 points per game rank fourth in the Big 12 and his 112 assists also lead the Utes. He also paces them in steals (42), field goals (209) and free throws (148 of 193).
Utah fell behind 51-25 by halftime in Wednesday’s 92-78 home loss to Colorado that cemented the Utes as the No. 16 seed for the Big 12 tournament next week.
“I told them they owe it to themselves to play better than that,” Utah coach Alex Jensen said. “I told them it was embarrassing. The people out there watching you and cheering for you deserve better. They owe it to their parents and the people that helped get them here. They owe it to the guy next to them. The hard thing is we just keep making the same mistakes over and over again.”
