Tounde Yessoufou scored a game-high 27 points Wednesday night, and Baylor led nearly wire-to-wire en route to an 86-67 Big 12 Conference rout of visiting Colorado in Waco, Texas.
Yessoufou converted 10-of-16 field-goal tries, including 4 of 7 from the 3-point line, as the Bears (13-9, 3-7) earned their second straight win. Obi Agbim contributed 19 points and six assists, while Cameron Carr added 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Baylor canned 52.8 % of its field-goal attempts and led for all but 1:36. It made 10 of 24 3-pointers and committed just nine turnovers, earning a 15-8 advantage in points off turnovers while winning the rebound battle 32-26.
Jalin Holland scored 12 points for the Buffs (13-10, 3-7), while Barrington Hargress added 11 and Isaiah Johnson netted 10. But Johnson, the team’s leading scorer at 16.5 ppg, made only 3 of 13 attempts from the field.
Poor shooting plagued Colorado all night long as it made only 22 of 55 attempts from the field, including a dismal 8 of 25 in the first half, as it fell behind by 24 points. It also mixed in nine of its 10 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
The storyline coming into the game was how the Buffs’ new lineup — coach Tad Boyle started four freshmen for the second straight game — would play in front of a road crowd. When Boyle debuted the lineup Sunday, they rolled to an 87-61 home blowout of TCU.
Things didn’t go quite as well in this one. After Johnson converted a floater to start the scoring, the Bears quickly rattled off a 13-2 run that Agbim fronted with a 3-pointer and a jumper. The margin reached double figures for the first time at the 12:52 mark via Agbim’s second 3-pointer.
It didn’t get much better for Colorado after that. Baylor expanded the margin to 36-16 when Carr drained a 3-pointer and got to halftime with a 45-21 cushion when Isaac Williams drove for a layup off a turnover with two seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
