Antonia Rodriguez

On February 10, I had the pleasure of taking my roommate, Hannah, to her first Baylor Men’s Basketball game. We got to the Ferrell Center right when the doors opened, an hour and a half before tip-off, and got seats in the front of the Bear Pit. I remember the look on her face as she became energized with the atmosphere and her smile grew as more people filled the stands.

We watched wide-eyed as the intro video played, starting line-ups were introduced, and then…the tip-off.

During the first half, I saw a different Baylor team show up than the team that played Florida or Oklahoma. Every player was having a great game. Jo Lual-Acuil was sinking jumper after jumper and assisting with put-backs and offensive rebounds. Nuni Omot, who doesn’t spend a lot of time beyond the arc, was making crucial threes. Mark Vital, the redshirt freshman, has continued to show his value with clutch rebounds, offensive and defensive, and his secret reach allowed for that powerful block to end the half.

Manu Lecomte came through with some game-sealing threes in the second half even when Kansas came out reenergized and fighting. Lecomte’s performance in the second half increased Baylor’s offensive production to a double-digit lead that Baylor’s defense upheld, holding the Jayhawks to 19 percent behind the arc.

During a media timeout, I looked to Hannah who had been putting up with me pointing out different players on both sides of the ball and explaining penalties.

“Thank you for bringing me to this,” she gestured around us. The Bear Pit was taking a few minutes to sit down, as we were constantly on our feet during game time, but the energy never diminished. On the video board, they were showing a video of the Baylor players trying to sing songs for their teammates to guess. “This has been so much fun and such a good game.”

She did not know that Baylor had lost to Kansas in the last 11 meetings between our teams. She did not know how big of a deal the double-digit lead we held over the Jayhawks at halftime was crucial to scoring a win. She simply saw a great game between the Baylor Bears and the Kansas Jayhawks.

A minute and a half left in the game, my roommate and I were informed that we would be rushing the court, if we wanted to. With a cursory glance to each other, and matching excited smiles, we planned our decent to the court. The buzzer went off, “BAYLOR WINS 80-64,” and both of us jumped the railing. We ran to half court where the team was celebrating and joined the mass of Baylor students. Jumping and cheering in excitement, I looked over to my roommate.

She was so obviously happy and I got to experience that with her. Singing the alma mater with the Bear Pit, I wrapped an arm around Hannah, wanting to commit this memory to so many more we have together during our past three years at Baylor together. We could still feel the electricity in our veins as we followed the crowd out to the parking lot while imitating a couple of the big plays from the game. I wanted to bottle what we felt in that moment. I bet it would have looked a lot like lightning.