Get-away games before the Christmas break can be an issue, but the second-ranked Baylor Bears weren't about to get tripped up.

Dominating from opening tip to the final buzzer, the Bears (6-0) took a 43-point first-half lead and coasted to a 99-42 win over Arkansas Pine-Bluff Monday night at the Ferrell Center in their second game in three days and just their second home game of the season.

"You want to make sure your guys haven't mentally left, and I thought the upperclassmen made sure we were locked-in and ready from the jump," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "This is a team, they like to control tempo. And if you're not on-point, then you're in for a long time. Us getting separation made them play faster, which obviously favored us. Very impressed how the guys got off to a great start."

UAPB (1-8) had a double-digit first-half lead at Iowa State and was only down by four at the half in last Tuesday's game at North Texas.

But this one, was all but over by the second media timeout when freshman guard LJ Cryer hit a pair of 3-pointers and a free throw in a stretch of 1 ½ minutes that saw Baylor blow out to a 24-4 lead.

"LJ's a guy that knows how to put the ball in the hole," Drew said of Cryer, who was 4-of-6 from outside the arc in scoring a team-high 15 points. "He shoots the ball like that quite often. What we like is he's doing a better job defensively, knowing our rotations, doing a better job blocking out, starting to take more charges. "

With Cryer leading the way, Baylor's bench outscored the Golden Lion reserves, 55-0, even with shooting guard Adam Flagler (15.7 ppg) missing his second-straight game. Matthew Mayer poured in 12 points and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua had 10 points and eight boards, while freshmen Zach Loveday and Jordan Turner both had their career highs with eight and seven points, respectively.

"I feel we have the best starters in the country," Cryer said. "We go against them every day in practice, and it's only going to make us better. When we come into the game, we're really confident, because we feel we go up against the best every day."

Starting with a dunk by Tchamwa Tchoutchoua off an assist from Mayer, the Bears reeled off 22 unanswered points and pushed the lead to 39-4 with five minutes left in the half. Jared Butler, who had 14 points and seven assists, capped off the run with a bounce pass to Mitchell for a fast break layup.

"Jared is doing a good job of taking what the defense gives him," Drew said of Butler, who had a career-high 13 assists in Saturday's 100-69 conference-opening win over Kansas State. "He's such a proven scorer, they put so much attention on him. And when they do that, it means other people are open. Instead of forcing things, he's doing a great job of making the right reads, the right plays. That's phenomenal growth for him."

With potential COVID-19 issues, developing depth has never been more important than it is right now. Baylor has shown that it can go 10 or 11 players deep, particularly if Loveday and Turner continue to develop.

Getting by far their most playing time of the year, Loveday was 4-of-5 from the field and Turner knocked down a 3-pointer and was 4-of-4 from the line.

"It's really important to get Jordan, Zach and LJ those quality minutes," Drew said. "They can practice all they want, but being out there live gives them the confidence and allows them to grow. LJ has been in the rotation. But for Jordan and Zach, we're an injury or an illness away (from putting them in the rotation), so they've got to be ready."

MaCio Teague gave the Bears their fifth double-figure scorer with 13 points, knocking down two 3-pointers and hitting 5-of-5 from the line, while Pine Bluff's Shaun Doss had 20 of his game-high 25 points in the second half.
Baylor has scored 80-plus points in all six games this season and won five of its six games by at least 30 points.

"All of our guards do an excellent job of sharing the sugar and giving us some pretty easy buckets," Loveday said. "When you draw two guys like that – and I'm standing under the rim – it would be, not foolish, but wouldn't be smart to just shoot through two to three people like that."

Baylor takes the next seven days off for an extended Christmas break before hosting Central Arkansas (1-6) at 3 p.m. Dec. 29 and Alcorn State (0-2) at 2 p.m. Dec. 30, in a scheduling change that was just released on Monday.
"I feel it's real important for all of us to go home and see our families," Cryer said, "but we're looking forward to getting right back to it when we get back."