No. 3 Kansas tops No. 2 Baylor in a heavyweight battle that lived up to its billing

Baylor vs. Kansas was billed as a night of nevers. Never before had the Bears won at Allen Fieldhouse. Never before had a Bill Self-coached Kansas team lost to a top-five opponent at home. And never have the Jayhawks failed to win a Big 12 title over the past 12 seasons.

Over 40 rollicking minutes Wednesday night in Lawrence, the second-ranked Bears threatened to turn nevers into firsts. They frustrated the third-ranked Jayhawks, answered every Kansas run, responded to every blow with a blow of their own.

They came up just short.

Josh Jackson’s double-double and Frank Mason’s free-throw perfection allowed Kansas to hold off the formidable visitors, 73-68, and claim sole possession of first place in the Big 12.

The two Jayhawk stars also allowed Kansas to reinforce an inescapable truth: The road to the Big 12 title runs through Lawrence. Always has, at least in the recent past. Always will, at least for the foreseeable future. And man, that road is difficult to navigate.

But even in defeat, the Bears asserted that if any team is to navigate it this year and keep Kansas from cruising to a 13th conference regular season championship in a row, they are that team. A win would have left Baylor with a golden opportunity to do something nobody has done since Tony Allen, John Lucas and Oklahoma State in 2004; a loss, and especially a loss in a game that was so tightly-contested throughout, doesn’t make doing so an inevitability.

Baylor, the top defensive team in the Big 12 and one of the nation’s best on that end of the floor, used its length to halt the Jayhawk offense for much of the first half. Kansas scored just 0.90 points per possession on 37 percent shooting. Scott Drew’s constantly shifting defense — at times it was zone, at times it looked more like man — confused Kansas, and even limited National Player of the Year contender Frank Mason to four points on 1-of-6 shooting.

Baylor also annihilated Kansas on the boards. The Bears rebounded more than 50 percent of their own misses, and got the majority of their first-half points inside from Johnathan Motley (14), Terry Maston (6) and Jo Lual-Acuil (5). They led by eight before a Mason floater cut the deficit to six, 34-28, at halftime.

Ish Wainright made the first bucket of the second half, but then Kansas took off on the run that changed the game. Devonte’ Graham and Mason set the Jayhawks on their way before Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk hit back-to-back threes, the second of which gave Kansas its first lead since 16-14. The home team scored 14 in a row, and Mason’s runner put it up 42-36 less than four minutes into the half.

Baylor’s most impressive stretch, though, was arguably the one that followed. Many teams would have folded. The Bears did not. They found their footing in the same way they had controlled the first half, and regained the lead with a gradual 7-0 spurt. The subsequent 14 minutes were tough; they were physical; and they were even.

Baylor continued to pummel Kansas on the glass, but it was the offense of Wainright and point guard Manu Lecomte that kept the Bears in the game. Wainright got going with some help from the backboard on his first three of the night; he would hit another one from the top of the key with just over three minutes remaining to knot the score at 64. Lecomte hit three triples, each one of them quieting a raucous Allen Fieldhouse crowd.

A key sequence that began with 2:44 left looked like it might finally give the game to Kansas. Baylor followed up a Jackson dunk with a turnover, which led to a runout that sent Mason to the free throw line for two free throws. Those freebies gave Kansas a four-point lead. But Lual-Acuil cut the lead to two, and after Landen Lucas re-extended it to four, Lecomte banked in a circus shot from just inside the arc with 52 seconds left.

Down two coming out of a timeout, Drew sprung a surprise on Kansas. He went to a 1-3-1 zone that got the Bears what could have been a critical turnover. But Wainright missed a three on the other end, and Baylor was forced to foul Mykhailiuk. The junior made just one of two, but then forced Baylor into disarray on its final possession with a near steal. Motley regained possession, but his pass eluded Lecomte and went out of bounds. Kansas escaped.

The Jayhawks, behind 23 points from Jackson and 19 from Mason on 12-for-12 from the foul line, improve to 20-2 on the season and 8-1 in the Big 12. Baylor also now sits at 20-2, but, crucially, 7-2 in the conference.

Wednesday night’s battle makes the return leg of the season series all the more enticing. It will come in just 17 days in Waco. That will be the day for Baylor to prove it can challenge Kansas for the regular season title.

In the meantime, though, the Bears should no longer have to prove that they are for real. They are — just as real as Kansas’ Big 12 dominance is seemingly never-ending.