LAS VEGAS – Second-ranked Baylor didn't spend a lot of time thinking about avenging last year's 67-64 loss to Washington, particularly since the Bears played a game the night before at T-Mobile Arena.
But, associate head coach Jerome Tang made it clear that he was "thankful we got an opportunity to fix that. They were a better team for (the last) five minutes, but they weren't a better team than us."
Baylor (2-0) was definitely the better team on Sunday, racing out to a 31-7 lead in the first 13 minutes and never letting up in routing the Huskies, 86-52, for its second-straight blowout victory in the Vegas Bubble. Saturday, the Bears defeated Louisiana, 112-82, in their delayed season opener.
"Getting to play these games is such a blessing," said Tang, who filled in as the acting head coach while Scott Drew finished his 10-day quarantine following a positive COVID-19 test. "Whether you had to watch it on the internet or your phone or whatever it was, we can be thankful we got to see the Baylor Bears play basketball."
On top of avenging last year's game, when the Bears gave up a double-digit lead in the last five minutes, they also put together a much better defensive effort than they did just a day earlier.
After giving up 82 points and 52.5 percent shooting from the field in the win over the Ragin' Cajuns, Baylor's lock-down man-to-man defense held the Huskies (0-1) to 36.5 percent overall and 5-of-24 from outside the arc (20.8 percent).
"We try to make sure that defense travels," said sophomore guard Adam Flagler, one of four double-figure scorers, draining five 3-pointers and scoring 17 points. "Everything started with defense. When we have defense, we have extra possessions, we have transition, we have the ability to have those open shots that I did have because of my teammates. Defense was the main thing, the main concern we had, and we executed."
Other than a couple lulls in four-minute segments in the first and second half, Tang said "I thought we were pretty locked-in."
"I'm a happy camper with the effort on the defensive end today," said Tang, who improved to 4-0 in his second stint as an acting head coach. "I was pleased with our guys' focus."
It took a few minutes for the Bears to get adjusted to facing Washington's 2-3 zone defense, missing their first two shots and turning it over four times in the first four minutes. But once Baylor settled in, four different players combined on five 3-pointers in an extended 21-2 run that made it 31-7 with 7:21 left in the half.
"Coach Drew, a lot of times, tells us that we definitely can step up," said Flagler, who was 5-of-9 from 3-point range, including several from well beyond the arc. "We've been working our range, just because it makes us more deadly of a team the further we can shoot. But, we all communicate and tell each other that we can get to the paint. And once we get to the paint, we'll be able to step in, shoot more uncontested shots."
Scoring 20 and 15 points, respectively, Jared Butler and MaCio Teague hit a combined six treys and helped the Bears shoot a sizzling 44.8 percent from 3-point range.
The Bears also dominated the boards, 50-19, and outscored the Huskies in the paint, 34-26. Sophomore Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine boards, while senior forward Mark Vital had eight points and matched Washington's 11 players with his 15 rebounds.
"I'm a bad coach. I wish I had known (Vital) he had eight points, because I might have left him in there so he could get two more and had a double-double," Tang said. "Mark decided that he's just going to own the glass, and I was going to get everyone's shots. . . . They call him Mr. 95 for a reason. He's considered one of the best defensive players in America for a reason. He means a ton to our team."
Tang said Vital and junior guard Davion Mitchell set the tone on the defensive end.
"If those two guys are flying around and just intimidating the other team on the perimeter, some guys that we play against don't want to catch the ball in certain areas with either one of those guys on them," he said.
Starting the second half on fire, Baylor hit three 3-pointers in the first 3 ½ minutes to go back up by 21 and took its biggest lead, 84-47, when Flagler drained a runner in the lane with 2:10 to go. With Tang emptying the bench after that, walk-on guard Mark Paterson capped the scoring for the Bears with a reverse layup.
RaeQuan Battle led the Huskies with 10 points, while leading returning scorer and former Kentucky transfer Quade Green had just two points and was 1-of-5 from the field.
"We knew he was the engine that ran the team, so we really wanted to cut off the head of the snake," Tang said of Green, who averaged 11.6 points last season. "We've got the guy who can do that. When Davion Mitchell is on you that night, most of the time you're walking away saying I had an off night."
With Drew rejoining the team on Tuesday, the Bears will face eighth-ranked Illinois (3-0) at 9 p.m. CST Wednesday in the Jimmy V Classic and stay in Indianapolis for a matchup against No. 2/1 Gonzaga (2-0) at noon Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
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