No. 2 Baylor rebounds with 85-66 win over Kansas State

WACO, Texas (AP) — Matt Mayer scored 19 points to lead five Baylor players in double figures, and the No. 2 Bears quickly recovered from their first Big 12 loss, beating Kansas State 85-66 on Tuesday night.

The Bears (25-2, 14-1 Big 12) jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first five minutes and never trailed. That came three days after losing at home to now-No. 1 Kansas, a 64-61 setback at home that ended their conference-record 23-game winning streak and their five-week run as the nation’s top-ranked team.

Butler had a 3-pointer, two free throws and a fast-break jumper in his quick spurt, and finished with 16 points. Davion Mitchell had 14 points and 10 assists while MaCio Teague scored 13 points. Freddie Gillespie had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his 10th double-double this season.

Cartier Diarra had 19 points for Kansas State (9-19, 2-13), which is 0-8 in February and has lost its last eight road games overall. DaJuan Gordon had 12 points and Mike McGuirl scored 10.

BIG PICTURE

Kansas State: The Big 12 co-champions last season, the Wildcats first lost three seniors from that team and have been plagued by injuries. They were down 34 points with 4 minutes to go before finishing this game on a 16-1 run, when Baylor went without a field goal with its starters on the bench.

Baylor: The Bears continue their push for the program’s first conference title. With three more wins to close out the regular season, Baylor can finish no worse than tied with No. 1 Kansas for the conference title. … Baylor shot only 53% from the free throw line in the loss to Kansas, but was 16 of 18 (88.9%) against the Wildcats.

UP NEXT

Kansas State is home Saturday against No. 1 Kansas. The Jayhawks won by 21 points when the last meeting between the Sunflower State rivals ended with an ugly brawl on Jan. 21.

Baylor travels about 90 miles north on Saturday to play at TCU, which the Bears beat by 16 on Feb. 1.