Tech gives Knight 850th career win
WACO - On Wednesday night, Bob Knight added another milestone to a résumé that second-year Baylor coach Scott Drew can only admire from afar.
Texas Tech survived a late rally, holding off the pesky Bears in the closing minutes for a 72-66 victory in the Ferrell Center, giving Knight 850 career wins.
"Most of us coaches can't even fathom 850 wins. I know it's going to take me longer to get to 100 (wins) than I originally thought," said Drew, who remained stuck at 37 after his team dropped its 12th straight Big 12 game.
Coming off a 22-point loss four days earlier at Texas A&M, the Red Raiders (18-8, 10-5 Big 12) secured a first-round bye in the conference tournament. But they might have lost starting forward Darryl Dora, who exited with a torn right knee ligament with 4:47 left in the game.
Tech extended a four-point halftime lead to 10 points twice in the second half but didn't deliver the knockout punch until the final 30 seconds.
After rallying from a nine-point deficit, Baylor (9-17, 1-14) pulled within 69-66 with 2:02 remaining on a layup by center Tommy Swanson.
But in the final minute, Baylor ran out of time, and freshman guard Aaron Bruce ran out of energy. With his team still within reach on its final three possessions, Bruce, the nation's leading freshman scorer, committed a critical turnover and threw up two airballs from 3-point range. Before that, Bruce had been 5-of-7 from 3-point range.
"It was a situation where going against (Tech leading scorer Ronald) Ross for 39 minutes comes into effect," Drew said.
Bruce finished with a game-high 19 points, and Swanson added 15 in his return to the Baylor lineup after missing two games with an injured left eye.
Baylor had lost by an average 19 points in its previous 11 defeats, including the 103-60 loss last week at Oklahoma. The Bears managed to stay close Wednesday by hitting 10 of 12 free throws.
"This loss hurts more than getting blown out," Bruce said, "for the simple fact we felt we had a chance down the stretch."
Ross led the Raiders with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Tech's frontcourt of Devonne Giles and Dora combined for 28 points on 13-of-16 shooting.
Drew said the Baylor game plan was to use a zone defense to take away the 3-pointer from Ross and Jarrius Jackson, but it left a soft spot in the middle for the Red Raiders to hit several jumpers from inside the free-throw line.
"Pick your poison," Drew said. "Take away something, and you're going to give up something."
In 39 seasons, including his fourth at Tech, Knight has a career record of 850-330 and trails only Dean Smith (879) and Adolph Rupp (876) on the NCAA's all-time victory list. And after winning by a narrower margin than he might have liked, Knight showed he hasn't lost his sense of humor along the way.
"We couldn't overpower Our Lady of the Harbor (tonight)," Knight said.
