After getting a birthday enhance, Baylor will look to safe a berth within the Gamers Period males’s championship recreation when it opposes No. 14 St. John’s on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
The Bears knocked off Creighton 81-74 on Monday behind Cameron Carr, who scored 21 factors, pulled down 9 rebounds and notched two blocks.
Carr led 5 Bears starters who all scored in double figures, and the efficiency got here on his twenty first birthday. Baylor coach Scott Drew serenaded him postgame, singing the primary few traces of “Pleased Birthday” and saying he is “thrilling to teach.”
Dan Skillings Jr. scored 14 factors, Obi Agbim tallied 13 factors, Tounde Yessoufou had 11 factors and Michael Rataj chipped in 10 factors and 5 assists for the Bears (4-0).
Carr, a redshirt sophomore switch from Tennessee, feels supported by his new teammates at Baylor, and the outcomes are displaying on the court docket.
“I am grateful for my teammates and the folks I’m round,” Carr stated. “They push me to be higher. Once I’m going by a tricky time, they inform me to maintain my head up and hold going. I am grateful for the folks round me.”
In two seasons at Tennessee, Carr averaged lower than 5 factors per recreation. At Baylor, Carr (23.5 factors per recreation) is the crew’s main scorer.
“Actually, it is my confidence,” Carr stated when requested what has modified most in his time with the Bears. “I do know what I can do and what I can management. I wish to benefit from that and be the very best I may be for my teammates. Once they depend on me, I’ve to step up in these moments. And I’ve to carry them to the identical customary as effectively. It is simply believing in myself and realizing and trusting the method.”
St. John’s (3-2) dropped a tightly contested recreation, 83-82, to No. 15 Iowa State within the opening spherical on Monday. Zuby Ejiofor’s 3-point try to tie the sport within the ultimate seconds was unsuccessful, and Dillon Mitchell’s put-back on the buzzer wasn’t sufficient.
Oziyah Sellers led the Pink Storm with 20 factors, taking pictures 5 of 6 from past the arc. Ejiofor and Bryce Hopkins every tallied 16 factors, and Mitchell chipped in 12 factors. Ejiofor and Mitchell every pulled down a game-high 9 rebounds.
“That was one other robust recreation for us,” St. John’s coach Rick Pitino stated. “The trouble was nice, the play was terrific, however with the sport on the road, we did not give you the rebounds to place (Iowa State) away.”
Despite the fact that the Pink Storm had been solely outrebounded 38-36 in opposition to the Cyclones, when St. John’s squares off with the Bears, Pitino needs his crew to hit the glass laborious.
“Each Joson (Sanon) and Ian (Jackson) give nice effort,” Pitino stated, referring to 2 of his gamers who had been each held with out a rebound. “I give the opposite crew credit score for enjoying good protection on them, however they should do higher rebounding.”
The Pink Storm’s two losses this season got here within the crew’s solely two video games in opposition to power-conference opposition. St. John’s fell 103-96 to then-No. 15 Alabama on Nov. 8.
In its three wins, St. John’s has generated 23.3 takeaways per contest. Alabama (seven) and Iowa State (11) mixed for simply 18 whole turnovers of their victories over the Pink Storm.
–Area Degree Media
