Baylor routs Houston, now seeks 1st NCAA championship

INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly two decades ago, Scott Drew decided to leave his comfort zone at tiny Valparaiso for the scandal-plagued basketball program at Baylor, explaining to his father there was nowhere for the Bears to go but up.

Now, they’re one win away from the top.

Led by Jared Butler and the rest of their brilliant backcourt, a defense that refused to give Houston an inch and a coach intent on making the most of his first trip to the Final Four, the Bears roared to a 78-59 victory Saturday night in their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament semifinals in 71 long years.

“Every day you’re grinding, and you don’t really look back. You’re pressing forward,” Drew said afterward, “but I’m so blessed to have these unbelievable players that bought into what we like to do with the program.”

Or, as Butler put it: “This is what we came to Baylor to do.”

Butler scored all 17 of his points in the first half, but just about everyone from Baylor (27-2) got into the act, with five players scoring in double figures. They doubled up Houston after 10 minutes, built a 45-20 lead by halftime and coasted the rest of the way in the first Final Four showdown between schools from the Lone Star State.

They’ll face Gonzaga, the overall No. 1 seed, or upstart UCLA on Monday night for their first national championship.

“That was one of my goals, to leave a legacy at Baylor,” Butler said, “and you have to win national championships. You have to win. You have to be a great program, be about great things, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Marcus Sasser had 20 points, and Quentin Grimes scored 13 for the cold-shooting Cougars (28-4), whose dream path to their first Final Four since 1984 — they faced teams seeded 15th, 10th, 11th and 12th along the way — ended with a whimper.

“We had a great run,” Sasser said as he choked back tears. “Just fell short this year.”

Their end came against an opponent that spent most of the year ranked No. 2 behind Gonzaga, one that had been focused on reaching the Final Four since the moment last year’s tournament was canceled by the pandemic.

For Drew, the wait had been even longer.

Eighteen years ago, he took over a program embroiled in arguably the biggest controversy in college basketball history: the graphic shooting death of player Patrick Dennehy, his teammate Devon Dotson pleading guilty to his murder, attempts by then-coach Dave Bliss to cover it all up and NCAA sanctions that lasted well into Drew’s tenure.

Yet somehow, the son of longtime Valpo coach Homer Drew always could picture the very scene that unfolded Saturday night: His team playing selflessly, almost effortlessly, never once feeling the pressure of college basketball’s biggest stage, then celebrating their success at midcourt when the final buzzer sounded.

The Bears controlled the game from the jump, unleashing a 14-3 run fueled by the crisp passing, silky shooting and dastardly defense that made them unbeatable before a 23-day covid-19 pause late in the regular season.

When the Cougars finally scored, the Bears ripped off another 16-3 run later in the first half, carving up the nation’s top 3-point field-goal defense with ruthless efficiency.

By the time Davion Mitchell made back-to-back 3-pointers to end the first half, the Bears had a 45-20 lead that felt insurmountable.

Sasser did everything he could to keep Houston alive, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 17 himself. But the rest of the Cougars were 1 of 15 from the field, including their All-American guard Grimes (0 for 5) and DeJon Jarreau (1 for 7), who earned MVP honors in the Midwest Region.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, to be honest with you,” Butler said. “I think it’ll sink in later in life, or two months from now, and I’ll think, ‘Wow, we were in the national title game.’ Or next year when I watch it, I’ll think, ‘Wow, we were there.’ ”