Caleb Lohner 'grateful' for strong showing

Baylor took care of business in their first-round matchup of the men’s NCAA tournament against UC Santa Barbara. The Bears cruised to an 18-point, 74-56, victory over the Gauchos and advanced to the Round of 32. Baylor received solid scoring from their backcourt, led by LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler. But the Bears also got a lift in scoring off the bench from forward Caleb Lohner. After the game, when asked about his season-high performance, Lohner expressed nothing but gratitude, saying he was ‘grateful’ for the opportunity to have that strong showing.

“First of all, I want to thank my team. I want to thank the man above for giving me the opportunity to play this game,” said Lohner. “And I’m just so grateful for all the teammates that I have and coaches that have instilled confidence into me.

“And I was ready when my number was called. And I think my role on this team is just to do whatever I can to help win. At the end of the day, today was the day that I needed to step up a little bit. I’m so grateful that we can be moving on and keep playing basketball.”

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Lohner put up 13 points in just 18 minutes, but he did it in such an efficient manner. The six-foot-eight junior from Flower Mound, TX, was a perfect 5-5 from the field and connected on his only shot from deep. Lohner also brought down five rebounds to help Baylor pick up the victory.

Baylor’s offense was in peak performance against UC Santa Barbara. The Bears nearly shot 55 percent from the field connecting on 28 of their 51 field goal attempts. They also at a decent night shooting from beyond the arc, going 8-22. The only downfall in Baylor’s offensive performance in the opening round was their free throw shooting. The Bears have been one of the nation’s better free-throw shooting teams but shot a lowly 62.5 percent against the Gauchos. Baylor only made ten of their 16 attempts from the charity stripe.

The backcourt for Baylor combined for 42 of the Bears’ 74 points. Flagler led all scoring with 18 points going 7-10 from the field and 3-5 from beyond the arc. The savvy veteran guard also recorded five assists and one rebound. Cryer had 15 points on 6-13 shooting. But for a freshman phenom Keyonte George, it was a rough night scoring. George was only 2-9 from the field and only connected on one of his seven 3-point attempts.

As the tournament progresses, the competition only gets tougher from here. And up next for the Bears is a matchup with the six-seed in the South as they will take on the Creighton Blue Jays. Creighton took down the 11-seeded NC State Wolfpack in their first-round match up 72-63. Currently, ESPN’s matchup predictor has this contest as a proverbial coin flip but gives Baylor the edge with a 51.2 percent chance of victory.