Baylor put a historic winning streak on the line against Kansas last season and saw it crumble against their main Big 12 nemesis. Fast forward a season and the no. 2 Bears experience deja vu after their unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday night in a 71-58 defeat against the Jayhawks no. 17 in Phog Allen Fieldhouse, leaving Gonzaga as the last unbeaten team of college basketball.
The Bears (18-1, 10-1 Big 12) started slowly in both halves and never recovered in the second half against a Kansas team that dominated the boards and the paint. Jayhawks center David McCormack played a big part in the comparison, scoring 20 points in a redemptive effort after a poor header in the first event Baylor won last month.
Kansas (18-8, 12-6 Big 12) has now won six of its last seven games with only a non-conference game against UTEP on Thursday on its schedule before the post-season begins. The Jayhawks, according to CBS Sports Bracketology expert Jerry Palm, entered the night as a projected No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and that will not change immediately. But the win is a feather in the cap for a program that has struggled a bit this season.
The Bears will remain a projected No. 1 seed, but will slip to overall No. 3, with Michigan taking over overall No. 2 in Palm’s projected bracket. The Wolverines improved to 18-1 on Saturday and in the Big Ten 13-1 with a win over Indiana on Saturday as they have won five consecutive wins since returning from a 23-day hiatus earlier this month.
Baylor appear to be still searching for its rhythm after returning from a 21-day hiatus on Tuesday with a slim victory over a poor Iowa State team. The Bears’ struggle in the game was an accurate prediction of the problems they faced on Saturday. Just like last season, when Baylor had a 23-game winning streak in the second game with Kansas, the Jayhawks avoided a whip and spoiled Baylor’s dominance.