Oregon vs. Baylor: Score and Twitter Reaction from Bears' Upset Win

The Baylor Bears are looking to bounce back from last season's disappointing loss to Yale in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and it took them all of two games to earn a head-turning win in the 2016-17 campaign.

Baylor handled the Oregon Ducks on Tuesday in commanding fashion, 66-49. The Ducks are No. 4 in the Associated Press Top 25 and are coming off an Elite Eight appearance and Pac-12 championship, but they struggled to keep up with the Bears throughout the game.

ESPN Stats & Info noted it was a historical victory for the Bears:

Baylor Athletics shared the game highlights on its YouTube page:

While Baylor's win was a marquee one for the program and the Big 12, it must be noted the Ducks were playing without last season's leading scorer. According to Andy Katz of ESPN.com, Oregon expects Dillon Brooks to return by Monday from a broken foot, but the playmaker was not available against the opportunistic Bears.

Baylor's defense set the tone against the shorthanded Ducks and held them to 19-of-58 shooting from the field (32.8 percent) and 3-of-21 shooting from three-point range (14.3 percent). Oregon also committed 10 turnovers and never established much of an offensive rhythm on the road.

Evan Daniels of Scout praised Baylor's effort on the defensive end:

Dylan Ennis led the way for the visitors with 16 points, while Jordan Bell just missed a double-double with eight points and 11 rebounds.

Oregon also received 12 points and a monster dunk from Chris Boucher, as the team passed along:

The trio wasn't enough to overcome Baylor's offensive tandem of Manu Lecomte and Johnathan Motley. Lecomte scored a game-high 18 points and drilled four of his five attempts from long range. Motley tallied 17 points and seven rebounds and was too much for the Ducks inside the lane.

Daniels pointed to Lecomte's versatility, while Greg Peterson of 750 The Game in Portland, Oregon, realized Motley was making the Ducks pay on the defensive end:

Baylor also dominated the glass to the tune of 41-30, thanks largely to the efforts of Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. The big man finished with 14 rebounds—six of which were on the offensive side—and seven blocks as a dominant force in the paint on both ends. 

CJ Moore of Bleacher Report underscored just how dangerous Baylor can be if Lual-Acuil Jr. continues to play at such a high level:

Oregon actually seized a quick lead when Boucher drilled a three-pointer, but Baylor answered with an 8-0 run and never trailed again on the way to victory. Bell cut the deficit to 15-14 with a layup, but the Bears responded with a 10-0 run and eventually went into halftime with a 33-23 advantage.

The Ducks trimmed the deficit to one point again at 33-32 when Boucher dunked home an assist from Bell, but that was as close to the lead as they would get the rest of the game.

Motley pushed the advantage back to double digits with a dunk with less than eight minutes remaining, and Baylor put things on cruise control from there.

What's Next?

Baylor faces Florida Gulf Coast, VCU and Sam Houston State before another Top 10 showdown against No. 7 Xavier on Dec. 3. That will mark a chance to add a second resume-shaping victory well before Big 12 play even begins, which will prove critical come Selection Sunday—whether the Bears are on the bubble or fighting for favorable seeding.

As for Oregon, it doesn't play another true road game until Jan. 4 against Washington. While it plays notable opponents such as Georgetown and UCLA in that span, it has a golden opportunity to build an impressive early resume despite Tuesday's loss, especially when Brooks returns.

Postgame Reaction

Motley talked about the win, per Stephen Hawkins of the Associated Press (h/t Charlotte Observer): "It gives us confidence knowing we can go out there and beat a good team like Oregon and maybe keep things going. I was pretty fired up."

Baylor coach Scott Drew discussed the victory as well, per Hawkins: "A lot of times, you play in big games and you play out of character, you're too nervous, you're too excited. We've played against a lot of good Big 12 teams in the top five that have beaten us. And I think we did a good job of staying poised."

Oregon coach Dana Altman looked at things from the other perspective, per Hawkins: "Didn't play very well, and didn't make plays for each other, so we've got a tremendous amount of work to do. It's difficult (without Brooks), but that's the way it goes...There's no doubt he's a good player, but we've got some other good players that didn't play very well."

Fortunately for Altman and Oregon, Brooks will join those other good players in the near future.