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No. 6 Baylor Tops Sun Devils 75-63 in Battle 4 Atlantis Opener

Nov 24, 2021
DJ Horne hit a career-high six three-pointers against Baylor.

Defending NCAA champion Baylor (5-0) topped Arizona State (2-3) 75-63 Wednesday night in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis opening round game.

ASU led 18-12 with 13:22 in first half, but the Bears outscored the Sun Devils 33-13 the rest of the half as ASU had 11 first-half turnovers, after averaging just 11 in the previous three games. ASU made just 1-of-7 from the floor to close the half and didn't have a field goal in final 3:59. ASU tied the game 23-23 with 8:28 left in the first half.

The Bears (5-0) then opened the second half with a 19-11 run.
 
DJ Horne led ASU with 20 points, including six three-pointers. Marreon Jackson added 11rebounds and and 10 assists.
 
ASU coach Bobby Hurley said Baylor's overall talent contributed to many of the struggles that his squad endured, especially in the first half.
 
"It's hard to see an obvious weakness in them," Hurley said of the Bears. "We play with pace. We like to get up-and-down. But it felt like the speed of this game was different in terms of how impressive they are moving. How they screen on offense, their physicality. And then how they get in the passing lanes on defense. The skill of multiple players on their team is super-impressive."

"At the beginning of the game, Arizona State was making a lot of tough shots. It wasn't like they were wide-open easy ones," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "They kind of put us back on our heels at first, but our guys responded well. We started getting in transition and became much more efficient from that point on."

ASU will now play Syracuse at 7:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. MT on Thanksgiving on ESPN2.
 
STARTERS
ASU started DJ Horne, Luther Muhammad, Marreon Jackson, Kimani Lawrence and Alonzo Gaffney, its fourth starting lineup in its five games.