Baylor reached the Final Four for the first time in 71 decades, getting 22 points out of MaCio Teague along with also a dominating defensive performance in Davion Mitchell to conquer Arkansas 81-72 on Monday night.
The South Region closing has been a reunion of former Southwest Conference apps intending to combine yet another (Houston) at the Final Four.
The top-seeded Bears (26-2) hadn’t managed to get over the Elite Eight hump in 2 previous attempts under Scott Drew and seemed to be barreling toward a blowout.
The Bears ran away out there, into next weekend’s Final Four from the Cougars.
Mitchell directed the stiff-arm fee as Arkansas missed 12 straight shots and Teague struck on a set of 3-pointers to place it out of reach.
The anticipated fast-twitch South Region final was likely to become a drought-ender, only an issue of how long.
The Razorbacks hadn’t clawed this down the bracket because playing at the 1995 national title match. Coach Eric Musselman has set them into hyper drive through his two seasons, conjuring up the sort of excitement not found in Fayetteville because the Nolan Richardson”40 Minutes of Hell” days.
Baylor was in this area before under Drew, reaching the Elite Eight in 2010 and 2012. Both mount runs finished in flameouts into the eventual national champions, leaving the Bears brief of the last Four dating back to if the mount was just eight teams.
The Bears repeatedly defeat the Razorbacks off the dribble to lead by 12 just four minutes , then on backdoor cuts to extend it into 18.
The Mus Bus, like it had two earlier in March, discovered the ideal equipment to climb out of this hole.
After the mind of Baylor’s defensive snake moved into the seat with about 8 minutes , Arkansas took advantage by beating the Bears off the dribble and getting to the rim.
The Razorbacks struck 10 of 11 shots during a stretch to pull in 44-38 and were just eight at halftime despite fighting for a very long stretch.
