On Sunday, March 19, the Baylor Bears fought an intense battle with the University of Southern California Trojans which resulted in a 82-78 win to take the Bears to their fourth Sweet 16 since 2010. Shooting guard, Manu Lecomte started off the game with 0-6 shooting, but his seventh shot helped the Bears extremely. The game seemed out of reach for the Bears, but Lecomte’s three pointer and two free throws helped the Bears move seal the deal and move onto the next round of the tournament. “They kept believing in me,” said Lecomte of his teammates. “They kept me in the game. They trusted me with the ball in my hands, so I just had to go out there and make plays.”
In the last minute and a half of the game, the Bears played without their star forward, Jonathan Motley who fouled out with 19 points and 10 rebounds. “Just being out there and contributing and out there making plays for us to get to this point, it just means the world to me,” said Motley, who endured first-round NCAA losses in ’15 and ’16. The Baylor Bears will go on to play No. 7 South Carolina on Friday at 6:30 p.m.