Baylor dominated Houston 78–59 on Saturday in the men’s NCAA basketball Final Four to secure a spot in the national championship game.
It was all Bears from the tip.
In the first half, the No. 2 seeded Cougars shot 7-for-26 (26.9%) from the field and only sophomore Marcus Sasser was a threat offensively. He scored 17 of Houston’s 20 first half points and senior Dejon Jarreau was the only other player for Houston to make a basket when he shot 1-for-7.
Meanwhile, No. 1 seeded Baylor shot 16-for-28 (57.1%) and made over half of its three-pointers. The Bears entered the half with the fourth largest Final Four halftime lead in men’s March Madness history at 45–20. And it never let it go.
The halftime score ended up being the largest lead of the game for Baylor and its dominance never wavered throughout the second half.
Sophomore Jared Butler led the Bears with 17 points while junior Davion Mitchell finished with a double-double at 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Sasser led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting in the losing effort. The next leading scorer for Houston was junior Quentin Grimes with 13 points.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson was 22–0 against Baylor heading into the matchup — making it his first loss to the program as a head coach.
The Bears have never won a men’s NCAA basketball championship but will get its chance. Baylor will play the winner of Gonzaga-UCLA for the title on Monday at 9 p.m. ET.
SI’s tournament newsletter analyzes everything you need to know about the Big Dance: what just happened and what’s happening next. Sign up for Morning Madness here.
