Men's Hoops Takes on St. John's in Charleston
11/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
 vs.  |
| No. 16/17 Baylor vs. NR/NR St. John's Nov. 18, 2012 | 5 p.m. CT Charleston, S.C. | TD Arena (5,100) TV: ESPNU | Radio: ESPN Central Texas |
 Watch |  Listen |  Gametracker |  Notes |  Tickets |
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
STORY LINES
• Sunday's game is Baylor's fifth game in a season-opening stretch that features five games in 10 days.
• Baylor's game against St. John's will be televised on ESPNU, one of 21 games Baylor will play on ESPN networks this season.
• Cory Jefferson (Player) and Isaiah Austin (Rookie) €ˆswept the season's first Big 12 weekly honors. It was the fourth time in program history the Bears won both awards in the same week.
• Baylor jumped three spots to No. 16 (AP) and one spot to No. 17 (Coaches) in the latest top 25 polls released Monday.
• Baylor has been ranked in 22 consecutive polls dating back to the 2011-12 preseason (No. 19 or better in every poll).
• Baylor set Scott Drew era records with 68 points in the paint, 28 assists and a 64.5 FG% in the season opener vs. Lehigh.
• Baylor PG Pierre Jackson was named Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year, the 2nd straight year a Bear has been honored.
• Jackson is one of 50 players on the Wooden Award and Naismith Award watch lists -- both presented to nation's best player.
• Jackson has scored in double figures in 12 straight games, averaging 18.6 points and 6.5 assists per game during the streak.
• Baylor is one of only two Big 12 schools to be ranked in each of the last six seasons (Kansas).
• In the last five seasons entering 2012-13, Baylor went 121-55 (24.2 wins per season) and made four postseason appearances €ˆ(2008 NCAA, 2009 NIT, 2010 NCAA, 2012 NCAA) with four 20-win campaigns.
• Baylor was picked 2nd in the 2012-13 Big 12 Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll, its highest ever projection.
• Baylor has the Big 12's 2nd-longest active streak with at least one 3-point field goal made in 661 consecutive games.
• All 31 of Baylor's regular-season games will be televised this season, including 22 games on CBS or the ESPN €ˆfamily of networks. Baylor tied a program record with 34 televised games last season, posting a 26-8 record in those contests.
• Baylor is one of only six schools nationally to play in the Elite Eight in two of the last three seasons.
• Baylor is coming off a school-record 30-win campaign, marking the second time in the last three seasons the Bears have established a school record for wins (28 victories in 2009-10).
• Drew's last five recruiting classes have all been ranked in ESPN's top 25 nationally (21st, 22nd, 18th, 5th, 14th, respectively).
• Baylor has signed 10 top 50 national recruits in the last seven years -- LaceDarius Dunn (2007), Anthony Jones (2008), Nolan Dennis (2009), Perry Jones III €ˆ(2010), Quincy €ˆMiller (2011), Deuce Bello (2011), Isaiah Austin (2012), Rico €ˆGathers (2012), Ishmail €ˆWainright (2013) and Dominic Woodson (2013).
• The Bears have four 20-win seasons in the last five years. Baylor had only three all-time 20-win seasons prior to Drew's arrival.
UP NEXT
• Baylor takes on College of Charleston at the Ferrell Center at 8 p.m. Saturday in a Charleston Classic non-bracketed game. The game will be televised on ESPN3. Following the game against the Cougars, Baylor heads to Rupp Arena to face Kentucky at 11:30 a.m. €ˆCT on CBS. The Bears will be looking to hand UK its first home loss under third-year head coach John €ˆCalipari.
SERIES HISTORY
• Sunday will be the second all-time meeting between Baylor and St. John's. The Bears lost 83-82 when the teams met in Queens, N.Y. on Dec. 7, 1978. Baylor is 5-9 all-time against teams currently playing as members of the Big East Conference.
• The Bears' last game against a then-Big East Conference opponent came in the 2011 Las Vegas Classic championship game, which the Bears won 83-81 in overtime against West Virginia on Dec. 23, 2011.
• he last time Baylor played a current Big East member was a 74-72 win against Georgetown on March 18, 2009, in the opening round of the NIT €ˆat the Ferrell Center. Baylor went on to play in the NIT €ˆFinal €ˆRound.
REGULAR SEASON TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Baylor is 96-98 all-time in regular season tournaments, including a 15-8 record in the Scott Drew era.
• The Bears are making their debut in the Charleston Classic, but they appeared in the 1970 Palmetto Classic in €ˆCharleston, going 1-1 with a 132-113 win against Mississippi and a 78-76 overtime loss to Navy.
• Baylor's 132 points scored in the 1970 Palmetto Classic game against Mississippi rank as the second most in school history.
• Baylor has posted a winning record in four of its last five regular season tournaments.
A WIN WOULD ...
• Give Baylor a winning record in five of its last six regular season tournaments.
• Make Baylor 4-1 through five games for the first time since 2009-10 -- the Bears were 5-0 in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
• Be Drew's 161st career win as Baylor head coach -- 40 shy of Bill Henderson's Baylor record.
• Improve Baylor's record in its last 18 November games to 17-1.Improve its record to 40-7 in the month of November in the Drew era, including a 32-4 record in the last six seasons.
• Improve Baylor's record in regular-season tournaments to 16-8 in the Drew era.
• Improve its record to 88-24 against non-conference competition in the Drew era.
• Tie the all-time series against St. John's at 1-1 and improve the Bears' record against current Big East teams to 6-9.
JACKSON NEXT IN LINE FOR 1,000-POINT CLUB
• Pierre Jackson entered the 2012-13 season on pace to become the 26th 1,000-point scorer in school history. Jackson, who scored 523 points in his first season in Waco last year, needs 395 points to become the eighth 1,000-point scorer in the Scott Drew era, joining Aaron Bruce, Curtis Jerrells, Henry Dugat, Kevin Rogers, LaceDarius Dunn, Tweety Carter and Quincy Acy.
• Jackson needs to average 14.6 points per game over the next 27 games to reach 1,000 points prior to the postseason.
• Jackson has scored in double figures in 12 straight games, averaging 18.6 points and 6.5 assists per game during the streak.
TELEVISION COVERAGE
• Sunday's game against St. John's will be televised live on ESPNU and will be available on WatchESPN.com. Bob Picozzi (play-by-play) and Jay Williams (analyst) will serve as the talent. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. CT.
• The game is Baylor's third straight on ESPNU, and the Bears are 12-5 all-time when playing on the network.
WINNING AWAY FROM HOME IN NON-CONFERENCE
• Baylor is 26-14 in non-conference games away from the Ferrell Center (road and neutral) in the Scott Drew era.
• Baylor has saved its best for the last four-plus seasons, winning 23 of its last 31 non-conference games away from home since the 2007-08 season (Baylor was 8-1 in non-conference away games in 2011-12).
ANOTHER NATIONALLY RANKED SIGNING CLASS ...
• Baylor's five-player 2012 signing class is ranked among the nation's top-5 by numerous publications. The class of Isaiah Austin, Rico Gathers, L.J. Rose, Chad Rykhoek and Taurean Prince is ranked No. 4 by Scout.com, No. 5 by both ESPN and MaxPreps.com and No. 6 by Rivals.com.
• Drew's last five recruiting classes have all been ranked in ESPN's top 25 nationally. The 2009 class was ranked 21st, 2010 was 22nd, 2011 was 18th, 2012 set a program-best as the nation's No. 5 ranked recruiting class, and 2012 was 14th.
... AND MORE HELP ON THE WAY
• Baylor's three-player 2013 signing class (announced Nov. 16) is the program's sixth straight ranked in the top 25 by ESPN.
• Ishmail €ˆWainright, Dominic Woodson and Johnathan Motley are all top-100 recruits who will join the team in 2013-14.
• Wainright is ranked No. 27 nationally by MaxPreps.com, Woodson is No. 33 by 247Sports.com and Motley is No. 83 by 247Sports.com. Woodson is the nation's No. 2 center according to Rivals.com.
• Drew's 2013 class is ranked No. 9 nationally by 247Sports.com, No. 12 by CBSSports.com and No. 14 by ESPN.com.
