DENVER — For the second year in a row, the Baylor Bears were upset in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.
No. 3-seed Baylor lost to No. 6-seed Creighton, 85-76, inside Ball Arena in Denver in an NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament 2nd round game in the South Region.
The Bears trailed by 10 at the half, despite shooting 37 percent from the field and just 14.3 percent from 3-point range.
LJ Cryer was electric, offensively, for the Bears, scoring 30 points on 13-of-22 shooting. He made his first seven shots on the evening.
Ryan Nembhard scored 30 for the Bluejays, leading them to the win.
The Bears forced 12 turnovers with Adam Flagler (15) and Jalen Bridges (12) also scoring in double-figures. But Trey Alexander (17) and Ryan Kalkbrenner (11) did the same alongside Nembhard for Creighton.
Arthur Kaluma scored late for the Jays to reach double-digit scoring (11).
Baylor cut the Creighton lead, which ballooned to almost 20, to just nine shortly after the final media timeout but failed to cut into the lead further in the next seven possessions, going: Stop, miss, stop, offensive foul, stop, turnover, foul.
The Bears finish the 2022-23 season 23-11. Creighton improves to 23-12 and advances to its second Sweet 16 in three seasons.