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3 takeaways from Baylor's loss to Texas Tech: Undermanned Bears continue downward spiral in Big 12 standings

Baylor (16-9, 7-5) couldn't complete the season sweep against Texas Tech (21-5, 9-4), falling 86-61 to the Red Raiders on Saturday in Lubbock.

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Here are three takeaways from the Bears' loss:

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Undermanned Baylor struggles

Baylor entered Saturday's game against Texas Tech with only eight available players.

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Starting senior guards Makai Mason (toe) and King McClure (knee) both sat out with injuries and the Bears were still without sophomore forward Tristan Clark, who is out for the season because of season-ending knee surgery.

It also didn't help that the Bears were facing the No. 15 team in the nation in Texas Tech, who had a 13-1 home record ahead of Saturday's matchup.

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With the Bears' top three scorers out, sophomore forward Mario Kegler got the Bears off to a fast start, scoring 10 of their first 12 points. The 20 percent 3-point shooter hit three shots from deep early, including the rare four-point play. Kegler finished with 15 points and 4 rebounds.

With the loss, the Bears missed an opportunity to sweep the season series with the Red Raiders and dropped to 2-2 on games vs. AP Top 25 opponents.

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Big 12 standings are still a mess

After a win over TCU on Feb. 2, Baylor sat atop the Big 12 standings with a 6-2 conference record that included wins over ranked Texas Tech and Iowa State. The only two losses came against Kansas and TCU, both by single digits.

Since then, the Bears have lost three of their last four and have plummeted to fifth place in the conference standings, sitting just a half-game ahead of sixth-place Texas and 2.5 games behind first-place Kansas State.

Had the Bears beat Texas Tech, they would be tied for second place.

With only six games remaining in the season, the Bears will have to take advantage of home meetings against teams behind them in the standings, including West Virginia, Texas and Oklahoma State to maintain their spot in the standings. If they want to move up, the Bears will have to do some damage on the road against Iowa State, Kansas State and Kansas.

The numbers don't lie

When the Bears pull off impressive wins this season, it typically was thanks to solid fundamental play and winning the hustle stats.

Unfortunately for the Bears, both were lacking against Texas Tech.

The Bears shot 34.7 percent from the floor and shot 18-28 from the free-throw line.

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Where the Bears struggled the most was distributing and taking care of the ball, finishing with 19 turnovers and six assists on 17 made baskets.