WACO, Texas — Robert Wright III, decked in BYU blue rather than Baylor gold, raised his arms near midcourt as the small but vocal contingent of traveling fans chanted his new school's letters with the Cougars close to ending a four-game losing streak.
The night began with boisterous boos during the pregame introduction of a player who backed out on a deal to return to the Bears for his sophomore season. It ended with his first career 30-point game in a 99-94 victory Tuesday night as the 22nd-ranked Cougars stopped a skid that dropped them 13 spots in the AP Top 25.
When Wright wasn't being booed — which was nearly every time he touched the ball — the Baylor students chanted “traitor” several times. None of it was a surprise to the 20-year-old from Wilmington, Delaware, who is the Bears' freshman record-holder for assists in a season and a game.
“I remember when we played LJ last year and what he got here, so I was kind of expecting that,” Wright said, referring to LJ Cryer's return to Waco with Houston last season, when those Cougars hung on for a 65-61 win. “But I think I handled it pretty well.”
Wright's 30 points came on 12-of-21 shooting, and he and freshman AJ Dybantsa, a top NBA prospect, combined to make five consecutive shots as the Cougars (18-6, 6-5 Big 12) erased a 12-point deficit in the first half. Dybantsa had his fifth 30-point game, finishing with 36.
Baylor trimmed a 17-point deficit with less than five minutes remaining to four in the last 26 seconds, but the Bears never had the ball with a chance to tie. When the Cougars were building their biggest lead, the boos for Wright had finally faded.
Then came the “B-Y-U” chants from the patches of blue throughout Foster Pavilion, and the reaction from Wright while one of his teammates was shooting free throws.
“I was just glad to have some people here on our side, just rooting for our team,” Wright said.
The fifth loss in six Big 12 home games for Baylor (13-11, 3-9) was a freshman-sophomore showcase. Bears freshman Tounde Yessoufou scored a season-high 37 points, and sophomore Cameron Carr had 24. Carr made his first three 3-pointers to help Baylor to its 33-21 lead.
The score was tied at halftime (41-41), as were each of the top two scorers (Dybantsa and Yessoufou with 18, Wright and Carr with 15).
“Someone would have to tell me when the last time in a Big 12 game three guys had over 30,” BYU coach Kevin Young said. “There’s some high-level stuff going on with all three of them. I thought AJ was unreal.”
Less than a week after calling out Oklahoma State fans for a profane anti-Mormon chant that led to a $50,000 fine for the school, Young had to brace for whatever the reaction would be to Wright. He didn't have to be asked what he thought of the Baylor crowd.
“I actually have to give the Baylor fans credit,” Young said. “They kept it classy. You know they’re gonna go at him and it was in a way that was, I thought, good, good, if that makes sense. You know what I mean? And I thought the way Rob responded by having a tremendous game and helping us pull it out at the end was pretty cool.”
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