Nothing about this was easy.
Unlike the two previous blowout victories against Nicholls and Northwestern State, sixth-ranked Baylor had to sweat this one out. But the Bears used a 10-0 second-half run to pull away for a 78-60 win over the Seton Hall Pirates Tuesday night in the Big East/Big 12 Battle at the Ferrell Center.
One of four double-figure scorers, Toledo transfer RayJ Dennis had 17 points, seven assists and five rebounds to help Baylor (9-0) beat its fourth Power Six opponent of the year and pick up its 400th all-time win in the 35-year-old history of the Ferrell Center.
"I'm glad we got (the 400th win), because we don't have a lot of games left here," Drew said of the Bears closing out the Ferrell Center with a Dec. 22 game against Mississippi Valley State before moving to the new Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion.
"Really proud of this team and just how throughout the years they've taken representing the Big 12 very seriously. We're 14-4 in challenge games (against the Pac-12, SEC and Big East). And I think it's great that Baylor's done a great job representing the Big 12 – I know tonight we won the (Big East/Big 12 Battle). We're 7-3 with one game left. That's important, because we're proud of the Big 12 Conference and the great basketball we have."
After trailing by as many as 14 in the first half, Seton Hall (5-3) cut the deficit in half with a pair of buckets by 6-10 center Jaden Bediako sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Dylan Addae-Wusse. But the Bears grabbed the momentum back when Langston Love nailed a corner 3-pointer just before the buzzer, making it a 42-32 game at intermission.
"That's what basketball is, a game of runs," Dennis said. "I think we're built to withstand those runs and make runs of our own."
Particularly in the first half, Baylor's defense struggled to contain 6-6 point guard Kadary Richmond and the two-game with Bediako. Richmond hit his only 3-point attempt and scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in the first half.
"Kadary Richmond's a real matchup problem," Drew said. "There's not a lot of 6-6 point guards that are as skilled and talented as him. When he made that first 3, I got a little worried, because he's so good in the paint. If he's hitting 3's, he's really, really hard to guard."
The Pirates also bothered Baylor with their press, scoring 10 points off the Bears' nine first-half turnovers.
Another 7-0 run by Seton Hall at the start of the second half made it a three-point game, 50-47, with 13:15 left. But back-to-back 3-pointers by Dennis and freshman Ja'Kobe Walter and a Josh Ojianwuna dunk gave the Bears some breathing room.
"When they made their run, we didn't panic," said Walter, who hit his first three 3-point attempts and scored 15 points. "We just tried to stay calm. We can hit from anywhere. We hit shots, Josh made a big play, and I think that just gave the whole arena more energy. It just kept us going."
Scoring 10 unanswered points over a three-minute stretch, Baylor was able to finally pull away late. VCU transfer Jayden Nunn scored on a baseline drive and then hit a pair of free throws when the Pirates' Dre Davis was called for a flagrant 1 foul.
Love hit a tough floater off the glass before Dennis scored off a post-up to push the lead to 72-54 with under five minutes to play. Freshman Yves Missi had 13 points and eight rebounds, skying for an alley-oop pass from Dennis for a crowd-pleasing dunk, while Love had 11 of the Bears' 19 bench points.
"Coach (Shaheen) Holloway and his squad, they don't give up," Drew said. "They don't go away. It's a typical Big 12 game. Nobody's getting down and saying, that's a day. So, it's really good for us to get used to that."
Davis hit two of the Pirates' four 3-pointers and scored 12 points, while Bediako had 10 points, six rebounds and four blocks. One of the nation's top offensive rebounders coming into the game, Bediako was limited to one offensive board versus Baylor's inside rotation of Missi and Ojianwuna.
The Bears knocked down 10-of-22 from 3-point range and 51% overall, hitting 28-of-55 overall. After turning it over nine times in the second half, most of them on Seton Hall's press, Baylor had just three turnovers in the second half.
After a break for semester final exams, Baylor will play in back-to-back marquee games, facing Michigan State (4-4) on Dec. 16 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit and then No. 22/21 Duke (5-3) on Dec. 20 at Madison Square Garden.
The Bears, 400-169 all-time in their home arena since 1998, will close out the Ferrell Center with a Dec. 22 game against Mississippi Valley State before opening up the new Foster Pavilion with a matchup against Cornell on Jan. 2.