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Baylor’s comeback throws a damper on UT’s tourney hopes

spt-120220-quincyacy

Mike Miller

Let’s forget, for a second, that Baylor has been so disappointing this season, because if you look at this game in a vacuum, this is a good win for the Bears.

They go on the road to face Texas, a team that has been playing well of late and is currently fighting for their bubble lives. They manage to dig themselves a 10-point halftime hole, scrapping their way back in the second half on the strength of 22 points and 16 boards from Quincy Acy and 25 points and six assists from Pierre Jackson. That’s a good win.

And although its concerning that Perry Jones III continues to struggle with his aggressiveness and consistency -- he finished with 10 points and three boards on 3-14 shooting on Monday -- the fact that the Bears were able to go on the road and comeback from a deficit is a good sign. We’ve been looking for a sign of fight out of this group, and we might found it.

The bigger issue at hand, however, is that Texas may have just cost itself a bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Longhorns were in a bad situation coming into the game. They were just 17-10 overall and 7-7 in Big 12 play, without a win over one of the top three teams in the league. That put them squarely on the NCAA tournament’s cut line. With a chance to host Baylor, Texas had what may have been its last real opportunity to earn a marquee victory. Wins at Texas Tech and at home against Oklahoma are not exactly going to boost an NCAA tournament resume, and I think we can all agree the Longhorns are a longshot to beat Kansas in Lawrence.

Rick Barnes’ team is now almost assuredly going to have to win a game or two in the Big 12 tournament if they want to go dancing.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @ballinisahabit.