KU’s comeback win over Baylor thrills a crowd that includes Cole Aldrich, Brandon Rush

Former Kansas and NBA center Cole Aldrich filed out of the northwest tunnel of Allen Fieldhouse — just ahead of 2008 NCAA title teammates Brandon Rush and Tyrel Reed — with a big smile on his face after the 2022-23 Jayhawks rallied from a 17-point deficit and beat Baylor 87-71 on Saturday afternoon in a battle for first place in the Big 12 Conference standings.

“That was awesome,” the 6-foot-11 Aldrich said after witnessing his alma mater trail by 17 and win by 16. “You don’t see it, especially against a really, really good team. That’s what the Fieldhouse does, though,” Aldrich added of the noise level and energy in KU’s tradition-rich building.

This particular rally from a 45-32 halftime deficit was witnessed by a frenzied crowd of 16,300 that included current NBA players Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun off KU’s 2022 national title team, as well as former Jayhawk players Rush, Aldrich, Reed, Nick Collison, Remy Martin, Archie Marshall, Mitch Lightfoot, Landen Lucas, Tyshawn Taylor, Chris Teahan and others.

The No. 5-ranked Jayhawks — who made one three-pointer in the first half to No. 9-rated Baylor’s nine — outscored the Bears 55-26 the final 20 minutes.

“You knew it was going to be a battle,” Aldrich told The Star as he headed to KU’s locker room. “We got down by quite a bit the first half but found a way to keep attacking after leaving a bunch of points on the board. The guys stuck to it. Really impressive,” Aldrich added.

Rush was also impressed.

“It looked difficult, but they (Jayhawks) made it look easy out there,” Rush told The Star. “Baylor started off hot. The guards over there are tough, but we shut them down the second half. When we were down 17 I knew we’d be able to come back. KU has been a second-half team all year. I’m really proud of them. They’ve been handling business all year.”

KU coach Bill Self cited several reasons for a comeback win that kept KU in a tie with Texas for first place in the league standings at 10-4. Baylor fell to 9-5, while Kansas State and Iowa State are 8-6, all with four games to play.

Self cited the defense of guards Dajuan Harris and Kevin McCullar, who helped hold the Baylor guard tandem of LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler to 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting the final half. Cryer and Flagler had scored 27 points on 10-of-19 shooting the first half. Also, guard Keyonte George, who scored 15 points the first half on 5-of-8 shooting, was held to five points on 2-of-7 marksmanship in the second half.

Point guard Harris, who had zero points in the first half and three assists, finished with 14 points, nine assists and two steals. McCullar, who had two points the first half, finished with nine points and eight boards.

“Juan and Kevin carried the water the second half,” Self said.

KU’s Big 12 player of the year and first-team All-America candidate Jalen Wilson scored nine points on 2-of-8 shooting with five rebounds the first half. He finished with 21 points on 6-of-16 shooting (9-of-10 from the free-throw line) with 13 rebounds.

“I hadn’t seen Jalen be that out of character in a long time,” Self said of the first-half Wilson. “He looked like ‘freshman Jalen’ when things didn’t go well early. It seemed to me when things didn’t go well (including two missed layups) he lost some energy defensively.

“He’s a winner. It’s what the kid does,” Self quickly added of the forward from Denton, Texas. “To have a night like that and still get 21 and 13 speaks volumes for him.”

Self saluted Wilson’s desire to win on Saturday.

“I will not say his will is greater than others, (but) his will is as good as anybody we’ve had play here in a long time,” Self said, indicating Wilson’s will to win was on par with KU greats Sherron Collins and Frank Mason.

In discussing the remarkable comeback, Self noted the Jayhawks, who were buried in a deep hole down 40-23 with 3:33 to play in the first half, “got punched in the mouth the first half. We didn’t fight back. We delivered most of the blows the second half. Dajuan and Kevin set the whole tone defensively the second half.”

“The thing about this building,” Self noted, “our fans are great. They played a huge role in us winning today, but you’ve got to do something to have the fans have something to get excited about. That comes with energy.”

The 17-point deficit was the largest deficit overcome by KU since defeating Kansas State 78-75 on Jan. 22, 2022 after also trailing by 17.

“We had to gain our composure a bit,” Wilson said. “It was not the way we wanted to start out. It’s such a long game. We were never going to quit. We preached in the timeouts: staying together. There are no 20-point plays. We started chipping away.”

Wilson at one point ripped off the sleeve he was wearing.

“I always believe just because of what I saw last year,” he said of KU rallying from 15 points at halftime to beat North Carolina in the NCAA title game.

“I never think we are counted out, especially in the Fieldhouse. A place like this, anything is possible,” Wilson stated.

KU, which dished 17 assists (Baylor had eight) to just four turnovers (Baylor had 11), hit 50.9% of its shots, 63.3% the final half. Baylor hit 51.6% the first half and 44.1% for the game. Baylor hit 10 of 25 threes. The Bears were 1 of 11 from behind the arc the final half. KU hit 6 of 21 threes.

“The first half we saw what we’re capable of. The second half we saw what Kansas is capable of,” said Baylor coach Scott Drew. His Bears beat KU by six points on Jan. 23 in Waco. “We had a complete breakdown. Things snowballed.”

KU will next meet TCU at 8 p.m., Monday in Fort Worth Texas.