Devonte Bandoo and MaCio Teague each scored 16 points as No. 1 Baylor extended the nation's second-longest active winning streak to 16 games with a 72-61 victory over host Florida on Saturday night in the Big 12/SEC Challenge at Gainesville, Fla.
Davion Mitchell scored 12 points and Mark Vital grabbed 10 rebounds for the Bears (17-1), whose winning streak trails only San Diego State's current 20-game string.
Keyontae Johnson scored 20 points and Andrew Nembhard added 16 for the Gators (12-7), who committed just seven turnovers but were outrebounded 37-26.
Baylor shot 43.6 percent (24 of 55) overall and was 9 of 19 from 3-point range. Florida was just 4 of 17 (23.5 percent) from behind the arc and shot 44.2 percent (23 of 52) overall.
Leading by nine points, Baylor went on a 13-3 spurt early in the second half to go ahead 53-34 with 13:58 remaining. Five different Bears scored during the run. Florida never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
Teague sank 3-pointers to start and end a 13-2 run during the final 4:42 of the first half to give Baylor a 40-29 lead at the break.
Bandoo scored 11 first-half points on 4-of-6 shooting, including two of three 3-pointers. Baylor committed more turnovers (8-3) in the first half but outrebounded Florida 19-10.
The Bears trailed by as many as eight points (17-9) with 13:39 remaining in the half, but 3-pointers by Jared Butler and Bandoo cut the deficit to two points at 12:33.
Baylor played without 6-foot-10 reserve junior forward Tristan Clark (4.5 points, 2.2 rebounds), who sat due to knee soreness.
The Gators never have won a regular season game vs. the top-ranked team (0-14) and fell to 2-17 all-time vs. No. 1. They defeated top-ranked Duke in the 2000 NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 and Ohio State in the 2007 national title game.
--Field Level Media
Baylor | Florida | |
Devonte Bandoo 16 | Scoring | Keyontae Johnson 20 |
Davion Mitchell 6 | Assists | Andrew Nembhard 8 |
Mark Vital 10 | Rebounds | Keyontae Johnson 5 |
Davion Mitchell 7 | Free Throws Made | Andrew Nembhard 4 |
Freddie Gillespie 1 | Steals | Kerry Blackshear Jr. 2 |
Freddie Gillespie 1 | Blocks | Omar Payne 3 |