Scott Drew shares key to Baylor's strong second half vs. Houston

Baylor came up just short at home vs. Houston, but not without staging a massive comeback in the second half to force overtime, where the Cougars narrowly held on.

Houston found themselves up 16, 41-25, at the break and led by as much as 17 points in the first period. But coming out of halftime, the Bears blitzed Houston with a 12-0 run in the first segment to slice the lead down to four. From then on, it was a dogfight.

Afterwards, Scott Drew was sour over the team’s first half but explained what keyed the run to open half No. 2. In a snowball of a sentence, Drew detailed how a cold shooting stretch from Houston had a domino effect on the entire game:

“Making shots shouldn’t dictate how you do defensively, but when you hold them at 33% in the second half, it gets you in transition, and when you get in transition, you’re able to get some easier buckets, and when you get some easier buckets, you’re able to get some confidence, and then you get the crowd involved, then you get momentum, and it all kind of snowballs.”

Baylor was able to snowball nearly five minutes of missed shots by the Cougars into a run of a dozen points, which immediately vaulted them back into the game for the rest. However, BU easily could have come out on top in regulation after that run if not for a very poor first half.

Scott Drew also went in-depth on why and where the Bears struggled so heavily in the first 20.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any of that first half, so their pressure bothered us. We turned it over. When we had some really good looks, we didn’t make them.”

Houston’s defense is performing at a historic level, and specializes in the chaos, forcing turnovers and swarming after loose balls. After a half to settle in and figure out the rotation, Drew thinks his team just came out more under control after the break.

“I think the game slowed down for us a little bit and we handled the pressure much better. Got a lot more confidence and tighten the rotation. Only played six in the second half and those guys really competed.”

Those six were the starters — RayJ Dennis, Jayden Nunn, Ja’Kobe Walter, Jalen Bridges and Yves Missi — along with Josh Ojianwuna for some spurts. Great stuff from that group, but the first half deficit ultimately sunk Baylor a little too far.