Henri Veesaar’s 19 points led a balanced scoring effort to lead Arizona to its seventh straight win, 81-70 over No. 25 Baylor on Tuesday night in Tucson, Ariz.
Arizona (11-5, 5-0 Big 12) took advantage of short-handed Baylor (11-5, 3-2) for most of the game, building a 27-point lead in the second half.
The Bears battled back, making eight consecutive made field goals to cut the lead to 71-62 with 2:52 left, but they did not get closer.
Baylor, which cracked the AP Top 25 on Monday after winning six of its previous seven games, played mostly with a six-player rotation because Jalen Celestine and Langston Love missed their fourth straight game with ankle injuries.
Duke transfer Jeremy Roach, who finished with 13 points, picked up his fourth foul with 16:59 left and Arizona ahead 46-25.
Norchad Ormier also played in foul trouble throughout and committed four fouls. He finished with nine points.
Jaden Bradley had 13 points, five rebounds and six assists for Arizona.
KJ Lewis finished with 11 points and seven assists.
All top eight players in Arizona’s rotation scored, including Anthony Dell’Orso, who produced all nine of his points in the first half when Arizona built a 42-19 lead at the break.
Robert Wright led Baylor with 16 points off the bench and VJ Edgecombe had 14.
Arizona fell behind when Omier made a layup 14 seconds in but the Wildcats did not trail thereafter.
Omier exited briefly after he was called for his second foul with 18:54 remaining in the first half.
Arizona built an 11-4 lead before Omier made the Bears’ second field goal of the game, a 3-pointer with 13:36 left in the half.
The Wildcats took control of the half following a 12-0 run that put them ahead 37-15 with 2:25 remaining until halftime.
Caleb Love made his first shot with 3:32 left and banked in a 3-pointer to culminate the 12-0 run.
Baylor shot 69 percent from the field in the second half, including 5 of 11 from 3-point range after starting 1 of 9 from beyond the arc.
Arizona shot 53.7 percent from the field for the game, tallying 21 assists on its 29 made field goals.
–Field Level Media
