Baylor beatdown: Bears win title, hang 86-70 loss on Gonzaga - Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — There was another team out there that was marching through the season undefeated, that looked unstoppable at times, that had all arrows pointing toward a national title.

The fresh-as-can-be Bears obliterated wobbly-legged Gonzaga’s march to its own undefeated season Monday night.

Jared Butler scored 22 points and MaCio Teague had 19 for the Bears (28-2), who were ranked second or third in the AP poll all year long.

Less than 5 minutes into the final, the Bears were ahead of Gonzaga by double digits.

Pounding the offensive glass — Baylor won that battle 16-5 — and winning the lion’s share of the 50-50 balls, the Bears weren’t about to let this one come down to a Jalen Suggs miracle.

The Gonzaga freshman’s buzzer-beater from near the half-court logo got the Zags to the final in a game that stood as their first true test of the season.

The freshman finished with 22 points, most of them after this game was out of hand, and likely will be heading to the NBA draft next.

Gonzaga’s first loss in 32 games this season — 36 dating to 2019-20 — leaves Indiana’s 1975-76 team as the last to go undefeated.

They faced their biggest deficit of the season — 15 points — with 7:10 gone.

But more than anything he did in the title game, it was Suggs’ memorable basket two nights earlier that laid the groundwork for Gonzaga in this one.

Few, now 0-2 in title games, gave full credit to Baylor, and didn’t blame his own team’s fatigue.

But it was Baylor, not Suggs, jumping on top of the scorer’s table and cheering for the fans at the end.

Drew’s introductory news conference was trending after the title game.