2012 - 2013 Hoops Review The Baylor Lariat FRIDAY | APRIL 5, 2013 www.baylorlariat.com WE’RE THERE WHEN YOU CAN’T BE Vol. 115 No. 37 © 2013, Baylor University ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE A.J. Walton is carried off court with leg injury Baylor takes first ever Big 12 NIT title Ken Starr and Ian McCaw rush court to celebrate MEN BRING HOME NIT CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTO BY DREW MILLS | ROUND UP STAFF FRIDAY | APRIL 5, 2013 | the Hoops A2 Baylor Lariat www.baylorlariat.com Baylor men beat Iowa in NIT Championship game By Daniel Hill 14-9 lead and some momentum to counter Iowa’s Sports Writer 7-2 run following their timeout. Freshman forward Rico Gathers scored on the next two Baylor possessions on a slam dunk The Baylor Bears won the NIT championship from a Jackson assist and then again on a layup by defeating Iowa 74-54 Thursday and cut down from a Jefferson assist to give the Bears a 20-14 the nets in victory at New York City’s Madison lead. Square Garden. The NIT trophy is Baylor’s first- Hawkeye Josh Oglesby countered with a ever NIT Championship, and the Bears also be- three, and then Walton buried a baseline jumper came the first Big 12 team to ever take home the with an assist from Jackson to give the Bears a NIT hardware. 22-17 lead. Three Baylor Bears were named to the All- Walton stole the ball and passed it up ahead NIT first team. Senior guard Pierre Jackson, ju- to Jackson, who acrobatically hung in the air to nior forward Cory Jefferson and freshman cen- clear space and made a highlight layup. ter Isaiah Austin were all named as All-NIT first Going into the half, Baylor led 27-22. team members. Starting the second half, Iowa played with a Pierre Jackson was named the Most Out- sudden sense of urgency. The Hawkeyes cut the standing Player for the NIT. Jackson had a dou- game to a one-possession contest when Eric May ble-double with 17 points and 10 assists. The se- drained a 3-pointer and then converted on an- nior also contributed five rebounds. other layup to cut the Baylor lead to three, 30-27. The game’s leading scorer was Jefferson with That was as close as the game would get from 23 points. He also tacked on seven rebounds. there as Baylor stepped on the throttle and put Jefferson was nearly perfect from the free-throw away the Iowa Hawkeyes. line, going 7-8, and also added one block and one Jefferson stepped out and buried a jumper, steal. and then Jackson sank a trey to extend Baylor’s Austin was also named to the All-NIT first lead to 33-27. team. He added 15 points and nine rebounds in Jackson hit two more free throws, and then the victory over Iowa. Jefferson threw down two consecutive vicious Defensive specialist and senior guard A.J. slam dunks. Jackson followed up Jefferson’s high- Walton was a menace against his Iowa oppo- light dunks by silencing the pro-Iowa crowd with nents. Walton had six steals, creating mayhem a cold-blooded step back three. for the Iowa offense. The game really started to swing Baylor’s di- Walton added five points and five assists to rection when Gathers, who’s not known for his help lead the Bears to victory. Late in the game, finesse shooting, stepped out and sank a deep Walton ran into an Iowa player and fell to the jumper to give Baylor a sudden 49-34 lead. court. Baylor’s lead peaked at 21 when Jackson and He was down on the ground for awhile, and Jefferson hooked up on two more slam dunks for then when his Baylor teammates carried him off Jefferson to put Iowa away with a 60-39 lead. the court. He did not put any weight on his in- At this point, the game was Baylor’s to win, jured leg. and Iowa was put into desperation mode. The Bears started the championship match Iowa started to play at a frenetic pace, and by jumping out to a 9-2 lead behind the efforts Baylor took advantage of them in transition as of Austin, Jefferson and a 3-pointer from junior junior guard Gary Franklin scored on two layups guard Brady Heslip. and Jefferson and Austin each threw down one Austin scored the first four points of the game more dunk. with a flurry of offensive moves to create his own With 1:14 to play, senior walk-on forward shot. Then Heslip added the trey, and Jefferson Jacob Neubert entered the game for his last ap- converted on a layup to give the Bears an early pearance in the Baylor green and gold. Jackson 9-2 lead. left the court to a rousing ovation from the Baylor Facing the early deficit, Iowa called timeout to faithful. gather themselves. It must have worked because Baylor walked off the court with a champion- the Hawkeyes rallied to come to within two of ship and accomplished something that no other Baylor, 11-9. Baylor team has done before. DREW MILLS | ROUND-UP PHOTOGRAPHER Austin scored on a jumper from the free- The Bears are bringing the NIT championship throw line and was fouled on the way up for a Senior guard Pierre Jackson hoists the NIT Most Outstanding Player trophy after helping the Bears beat Iowa 74-54 Thurs- trophy from New York City’s Madison Square chance to convert the 3-point play. Austin nailed day night. Garden home to Waco’s Ferrell Center. the shot from the charity stripe to give Baylor a Despite NIT Championship, Baylor men underachieved By Daniel Hill bound effort and against BYU in the Staff Writer Sports TAke NIT semifinals with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Austin also disappeared truly successful and exceptional cam- for key moments throughout the sea- Considering the Bears’ lofty pre- paigns this season: senior point guard season ranking of No. 19 in the coun- son. In the Big 12 Conference tourna- Pierre Jackson and junior forward ment, Austin pulled a no-show against try, it’s difficult to see this season as Cory Jefferson. nothing short of bittersweet. Oklahoma State with two points and Jackson led the entire Big 12 in one rebound. If Austin dreams of be- Sure, it’s fantastic for head coach scoring with 19.9 points per game and Scott Drew and seniors Pierre Jack- ing an NBA player one day, he can’t assists with 7.0 per game. Many times get pushed around in the paint as he’s son and A.J. Walton to go out on top throughout the season, Jackson had to in with an NIT championship, but the done so often this season and he can’t carry the team on his shoulders. disappear in monumental moments. NIT was never the goal for this group Jefferson also exhibited massive of Bears. Heslip was billed as one of the best growth and development throughout three-point shooters in college basket- Even though Baylor did win the the course of the season. Jefferson av- first NIT in program history and in ball, Heslip flopped throughout the eraged 13 points and 8 rebounds for course of Big 12 play. Big 12 history, this team had the talent the year. Those are easily the best sea- to do more. Heslip’s best effort in Big 12 play son numbers he’s achieved in his entire came against a dismal West Virginia This season was supposed to be Baylor career. As a redshirt freshman, the season the Bears returned to the team when he was practically un- Jefferson scored 1.6 points per game guarded and hit 6 treys and posted 20 NCAA’s Elite Eight for the third time then as a redshirt sophomore Jefferson in four years, not the season where points. scored 3.6 points per game. Jefferson In other central Big 12 games, Hes- Baylor failed to make the NCAA Tour- has played so well down the stretch nament entirely. lip couldn’t get open and hit the deep that he is widely considered a late first shots against teams that played honest At the beginning of the season, the round to early second round NBA Bears teased Baylor Nation by getting defense. Heslip scored just three points Draft prospect. agasint Iowa State and didn’t score a off to a record-best 5-1 start in the Big While Jefferson and Jackson rose 12. The Bears faltered down the stretch single point in the Big 12 tournament. to the occasion, there were other Bears Winning the NIT takes a por- by losing nine of 12 games and ended who just didn’t live up to expectations up missing the NCAA Tournament tion of disappointment away from this season: freshman center Isaiah this season’s men’s basketball team. despite major wins against Kansas, Austin and junior guard Brady Heslip. Oklahoma State and Kentucky. The RG3 showed Baylor Nation that they Austin was highly publicized and should expect to win in football and résumé for the Bears fell short of the favored to be a top pick in the 2013 premiere NCAA tournament so the now Scott Drew’s Baylor basketball NBA Draft as a one-and-done pros- teams have done the same. Baylor ex- DREW MILLS | ROUND-UP PHOTOGRAPHER team had to settle for the secondary pect. While Austin’s season did have pects to win now.