 | | MEDIA INFORMATION | | Date | Wednesday, Jan. 21 | 7:00 p.m. CT | | Location | Waco, Texas; Ferrell Center (10,284)
| | Tickets | Purchase Tickets Online | | TV | FSSW-Plus and FCS Atlantic
| | TV Talent | John Morris (pxp), Jim Haller (color)
| | Web Video | N/A | | National Radio | Sirius 108 / XM 199 / TuneIn App
| | BU Radio | ESPN Central Texas | | BU Talent | Pat Nunley (pxp), Nick Joos (color) | | Stats | | | Game Notes | Baylor | Huston-Tillotson
| | Twitter | @BaylorMBB | #SicHT | BAYLOR BEARS
| | Record | 13-4 | | Ranking | 21 (AP), 21 (Coaches)
| | Head Coach | Scott Drew
| | Career: 237-165 (13th season)
| | BU Record: 217-154 (12th season)
| HUSTON-TILLOTSON RAMS
| | Record | 3-12
| | Ranking | NR (AP), NR (Coaches)
| | Head Coach | Thomas Henderson
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STORY LINES
• Wednesday is the first-ever series meeting between Baylor and Huston-Tillotson.
• Baylor is 28-4 against in-state opponents since 2011-12 and 42-8 against Lone Star State teams since 2009-10.
• Baylor is 4th nationally with 16.1 offensive rebounds per game and 10th with 40.8 total boards per game.
• The Bears have posted equal or more second-chance points than their opponents in all 17 games this season.
• Baylor also ranks 5th nationally in rebounding margin (+9.9) and 38th in points-per-possession defense (0.92)
• Baylor's defense has held teams to an average of 10.5 points below their season scoring averages.
• Baylor moved to No. 21 in Monday's AP?Top 25 and No. 21 in the coaches' poll. The Bears have been ranked in eight straight seasons, joining Kansas as the only Big 12 schools to make that claim.
• Baylor was the only Division I team to hold all non-conference opponents to 66 or fewer points this season.
• Baylor ranks 19th nationally in scoring defense (57.6) after allowing only 980 points over its first 17 games.
• Baylor has held opponents under 30 first-half points in 13 of 17 games this season, including 9 times at 25 or fewer.
• Baylor is 26th nationally in 3-point FG defense at 29.1% and 57th in FG?percentage defense at 39.4%.
• All 5 Baylor starters average 7.8-11.2 points per game, and reserve Taurean Prince leads the team with 12.1 ppg.
• Baylor shot 29.8%?in last Saturday's win at TCU, the worst shooting in any of Scott Drew's 216 wins at BU.
• Baylor and Louisville are the nation's only teams ranked by the AP in football and men's and women's basketball.
• Over the last 7 seasons, Baylor is 35-20 in games decided by 5 or fewer points and 10-1 in overtime games.
• Baylor has more Big 12 wins in the last 7+ seasons (64-59) than its first 11 years in the league combined (45-131).
• Baylor is 72-7 when leading at the half over the last four seasons -- 11-3 this season, 18-2 in 2013-14, 17-1 in 2012-13 and 26-1 in 2011-12. BU is 175-31 when leading at the half during the entire Drew era.
• BU?has won 39% of its games (20-31) when tied or trailing at half since 2011-12, including 2-1 this season.
• BU is 81-5 under Drew when holding teams under 60 points, and the Bears have done so 9 times this season (8-1).
• Rico?Gathers ranks 2nd nationally with 5.4 offensive rebounds per game and 5th nationally in total rebs/gm (11.2).
• Johnathan Motley is averaging 13.0 ppg, 5.9 rpg and 2.7 bpg in his last 9 games, and has led BU in scoring four times in that stretch. He averaged 6.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 0.6 bpg in his previous 8 games.
• Baylor is 183-85 (24 wins per season) over the last eight seasons and has made six postseason appearances?(NCAA Tournament -- 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014; NIT -- 2009, 2013) with six 20-win seasons.
• Baylor's last 4 games have been decided by a combined 11 points, including two 1-point games, a 2-point game and a 7-point overtime victory.
• Kenny Chery hit a game-winning shot with 4 seconds left to give Baylor a 74-73 win vs. No. 11 ISU last?Wednesday.
• Prior to allowing a season-high 73 points at Oklahoma on Jan. 3, Baylor's 12 straight games holding opponents to 66 or fewer points was its longest such streak since 1950.
• Baylor is 15-3 in overtime games under Drew, including wins in 10 of its last 11 OT games.
• Drew is coaching his 372nd game at Baylor (217-154). His .585 winning percentage is best in BU history among coaches with 60+ games, and his teams have a .683 winning percentage (183-85) since 2007-08.
• Baylor is 27-10 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last six seasons.
• Baylor is coming off a 2014 NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, which made Drew the youngest of 11 coaches nationally to take his current team to three Sweet 16s in the last five years.
• BU has six 20-win seasons in the last 7 years. BU had only three 20-win seasons prior to Drew's arrival.
• Baylor's 5 NBA?Draft picks in the last 3 years ranks 5th nationally behind Kentucky, Duke,?Kansas and Syracuse.
• Baylor is one of only 12 schools nationally to play in the Sweet 16 in three of the last five seasons.
• All 31 of Baylor's regular-season games will be televised this season, including 22 games on the ESPN?family of networks. The Huston-Tillotson game will be Baylor's 121st consecutive televised contest.
• Baylor has the nation's second-best postseason winning percentage over the last six years (17-4; .810).
• Baylor finished undefeated in December for the 6th time in the last 8 years (accomplished just twice prior; `96, `00)
• Drew is tied with Kansas' Bill Self as the second-longest tenured head coach in the Big 12 Conference. Drew, who is in his 12th season at Baylor, is second only to Texas' Rick Barnes (17th season at UT).
• Baylor has the Big 12's 2nd-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 749 consecutive games.
SERIES HISTORY
• Wednesday is the first-ever series meeting between?Baylor and Huston-Tilloton, an NAIA?school out of Austin.
• Baylor is 28-4 against in-state opponents since 2011-12 and 42-8 against Lone Star State teams since 2009-10.
A WIN WOULD ...
• Give Baylor a 14-4 start to the season for the fifth time in the last eight years.
• Give Baylor a 26-7 record over its last 33 games dating back to Feb. 12, 2014.
• Make Baylor 44-50 in January games under Drew, including a 36-26 mark since the 2007-08 season.
• Give Baylor a 93-38 record since the start of the 2011-12 season.
• Make Baylor 184-85 since the start of the 2007-08 season, good for a .684 winning percentage.
• Give Baylor wins in 14 of its last 15 home games, with the lone loss a 1-point defeat vs.?Kansas on Jan. 7.
KEYS TO VICTORY
• Baylor is 13-2 this season when scoring 60-plus points and 0-2 when being held under 60 points.
• Baylor is 11-1 this season when recording more points off turnovers than its opponent and 2-3 when not doing so.
• Baylor is 10-1 this season when posting 12-plus assists and 3-3 when recording fewer than 12 assists.
• Baylor is 9-2 this season when getting more than 15 points from the bench and 4-2 when getting 15 or less.
• Baylor has held 9 of 17 opponents under 60 points, and the Bears are 81-5 in the Drew era when doing so.
• Baylor is 4-2 in games decided by 5 or fewer points and 1-0 in overtime games this season. The Bears are 35-20 in games decided by 5 or fewer points over the last 7 seasons and are 10-1 in overtime games over that span.
BEST DEFENSIVE TEAM OF DREW ERA
• Baylor?was the only Division I team to hold every non-conference opponent to 66 or fewer points this season.
• BU's 12 straight games holding opponents to 66 or fewer points was its longest such streak since 1950.
• Baylor's current 57.6 points per game allowed is 6.4 points better than the Bears' best defensive season of the Scott Drew era (2010-11, 64.0 ppg allowed). The last time BU held opponents below 64 ppg was 1985-86 (61.2).
• Baylor has held 13 of 17 opponents under 30 first-half points, including 9 times at 25 or fewer first-half points.
• For the first time since 2009-10, Baylor has held four Division I opponents below 50 points.
HOLDING TEAMS UNDER SCORING AVERAGES BY 10.5 PPG
• Through 17 games, Baylor opponents are averaging 10.5 fewer points than their season averages against the Bears.
• Baylor?has held 16 of 17 opponents below their season average, including 10 of 17 at least 12 points below.
BEARS SHOW TOUGHNESS IN CLOSE GAMES
• The Bears are 4-2 this season in games decided by 5 or fewer points, with wins at South?Carolina, at Vanderbilt, home against Southern and home against Iowa State. BU also won at TCU in its only overtime game.
• Over the last 7 seasons,?Baylor is 35-20 in games decided by 5 or fewer points and 10-1 in overtime games.
MOTLEY TAKING GAME TO NEW LEVEL
• Redshirt freshman Johnathan Motley has nearly doubled his production over the last nine games.
• He's averaging 14.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg and 2.8 bpg over the last eight games, up from 6.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 0.6 bpg over his first eight collegiate games.
• After going scoreless in back-to-back games, Motley has led the team in scoring in four of the last eight games.
GATHERS ONE OF NATION'S BEST REBOUNDERS
• Rico?Gathers ranks 2nd nationally with 5.4 offensive rebounds per game, and he leads the Big 12 and ranks 5th nationally with 11.2 total rebounds per contest.
• He leads the Big 12 with 8 double-doubles this season, more than his first two seasons combined (7).
• Gathers' 15 career double-doubles and 28 career double-digit rebound games are both tops among active Big 12 players.
• Gathers is 1 of 5 power-5 conference players averaging a double-double (10.0 ppg and 11.2 rpg), joining Auburn's Cinmeon Bowers, Washington State's Josh?Hawkinson, LSU's Jordan Mickey and UCLA's Kevon Looney.
• In his 20 career starts, Gathers is averaging 10.6 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.
• Gathers had a career-high 18 rebounds at TCU?(1/10), tying the 2nd-most ever by a Baylor player in a Big 12 game.
• Gathers is tied for 7th in Baylor history with 3 games of 15+ rebounds, trailing only Jerome Lambert (11), Lawrence Roberts (6), Kevin?Rogers (5), Ekpe Udoh (5), Brian Skinner (4) and Alex Holcombe (4).
O'NEALE DOES IT ALL
• During his four years of Division I basketball, Royce O'Neale has 1,100 points, 697 rebounds, 344 assists, 138 steals and 38 blocks in 118 games played.
• Last season, O'Neale became the first player in program history to post 200+ rebounds and 100+ assists in the same season. He ranked second on the team with 110 assists and fourth with 205 rebounds in 2013-14.
• Including his two seasons at Denver, O'Neale has 25 career games played touching all five stat categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks).
• O'Neale currently ranks 10th in the Big 12 in assists (3.4) and 11th in rebounding (6.1), placing him with Iowa State's Bryce Dejean-Jones as the only Big 12 Conference players in the top 15 in both categories.
ONE OF TWO BIG 12 TEAMS RANKED EIGHT STRAIGHT SEASONS
• Baylor joins Kansas as the only Big 12 Conference schools to be ranked in each of the last eight seasons. The Bears were unranked in the preseason for the first time since 2009-10, but cracked the rankings at No. 22 on Dec. 22.
• Baylor has been ranked for at least three weeks in each of the last seven seasons (2008-09 through 2014-15).
BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
• Baylor has benefited from a balanced scoring attack that has seen eight different players combine to score in double figures 46 times this season. Additionally, five different players have scored 20+ points a total of 10 times.
• BU?has had six different players lead the team in scoring -- Johnathan?Motley four times, Taurean Prince four times, Royce O'Neale four times, Rico?Gathers three times, Kenny Chery three times and Deng Deng once.
• Prince leads the team with 12.1 points per game, while BU's five starters average between 7.8 and 11.2 ppg.
CHERY BACK AT FULL STRENGTH
• Kenny Chery is back at full strength after missing 5 starts with plantar fasciitis (came off bench once).
• Chery has 38 assists and 17 turnovers in 8 games since returning to the starting lineup. He had 14 assists and 16 turnovers in 5 games before taking the time to rest and recover.
• Chery has scored 72 points in his last 4 games, including a season-high 25 points against Kansas on?Jan. 7, and that 4-game point total is just 2 shy of the 74 points he scored in his previous 9 games this season.
PRINCE LEADS TEAM IN SCORING AS 6TH MAN
• Taurean Prince entered the season averaging 5.2 points in 11.2 minutes over 62 games played in two seasons, but he is leading the team in scoring at 12.1 points per game in 25.4 minutes per game.
• Prince has scored in double figures in 11 of 16 games played this season after never going more than two straight games scoring in double figures in his first two seasons.
• Prince has played 25+ minutes in 11 games this season after doing so in just 2 games over his first two seasons.
• Prince has also led the team in scoring 4 times this season, after doing so in just 3 games over his first two seasons at Baylor. He's led the Bears in bench scoring in 8 of 11 games as a reserve this season.
FREEMAN IS FIRST GUARD OFF BENCH
• Redshirt freshman Al Freeman is typically Baylor's first guard to enter the game off the bench, and he has led Baylor in bench scoring in seven of the last 13 games.
• Freeman has posted double figure scoring off the bench three times. He had a career-high 13 points in 22 minutes vs. Norfolk?State and posted 10 points against both Texas A&M and New Mexico State.
• Freeman averages 18.2 minutes per game, mostly at the two-guard spot with either Kenny Chery or Lester Medford running the point.
MEDFORD PROVIDES SECOND OPTION AT THE POINT
• Baylor starting point guard Kenny Chery missed 5 starts with a foot injury, allowing Lester Medford to slide from his starting shooting guard position to the starting point guard role.
• Medford posted 30 assists and 7 turnovers in his 5 starts at point guard. Despite returning to his shooting guard spot, Medford still ranks 5th in the Big 12 with a 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio and 9th with 3.5 assists per game.
• Medford hit a game-ahead 3-pointer with 1:10 left in the Bears' win over Iowa State on Jan. 14, and in the previous game against TCU he had a game-tying 3-point play with 2:45 left in regulation.
WAINRIGHT DROPS WEIGHT, BECOMES DEFENSIVE SPECIALIST
• Sophomore guard/forward Ishmail Wainright has improved his quickness by dropping 10 pounds to get to 235.
• Wainright has often been used in late game situations because of his defensive presence (7'2 wingspan). He was on the floor for Iowa State's last two offensive possessions in the 74-73 win on Jan. 14.
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS PAYING OFF
• Baylor has won 91% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12. The Bears are 72-7 when leading through the first 20 minutes in that stretch (11-3 this season, 18-2 in 2013-14, 17-1 in 2012-13 and 26-1 in 2011-12).
• BU has won 39% of games in which its been tied or trailing at the half since 2011-12, going 20-31 in those.
• BU has led at halftime in 79 of 130 games over the last four seasons. With wins in 72 of those 79 games, and victories in 20 of 51 games it has trailed or been tied at the half, Baylor is 92-38 since 2011-12.
BU AND LOUISVILLE ONLY SCHOOLS RANKED IN FB, MBB AND WBB
• Baylor and Louisville are the nation's only schools ranked by the AP in football and men's and women's basketball.
• Baylor football is ranked No. 7, men's basketball is No. 21 and women's basketball is No. 3.
• Baylor, Duke, Louisville and Michigan State were the only teams to finish the 2013-14 academic year ranked in the final AP polls for all three sports.
DREW IS PROGRAM'S ALL-TIME WINS LEADER
• Scott Drew holds Baylor's school record with 217 career wins as head coach.
• Drew became the all-time wins leader by defeating Texas on March 14, 2014 for his 202nd Baylor victory, passing Bill Henderson (201 wins; 1941-43 and 1945-61) for the all-time wins mark.
• Drew's .585 winning percentage is the best ever by a Baylor coach with 60+ games at the helm.
UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS
• Baylor has enjoyed unprecedented success over the last seven-plus seasons under 12th-year head coach Scott Drew. Since the start of the 2007-08 season, Baylor is 183-85 (24 wins per season) and has made six postseason appearances?(NCAA -- 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014; NIT?-- 2009, 2013) and posted six 20-win seasons.
• Prior to 2007-08, Baylor won only 135 games in the first 11 seasons of the Big 12 era (12.3 wins per season).
• Baylor has made 13 postseason appearances (six under Drew) and won 20+ games just nine times (six under Drew) in the program's first 108 seasons.
DREW AMONG NATION'S ELITE
• Head coach Scott Drew is the youngest of 11 coaches nationally to take his current program to three Sweet 16 appearances in the last five seasons.
• Drew (44) is joined by Arizona's Sean Miller (46), Ohio State's Thad Matta (47), Florida's Billy Donovan (49), Kansas' Bill Self (52), Kentucky's John Calipari (55), Michigan State's Tom Izzo (59), Louisville's Rick Pitino (62), Wisconsin's Bo Ryan (67), Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (67) and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (70).
UP NEXT
• The 21st-ranked Bears host No. 19 Oklahoma at 5 p.m Saturday on ESPN2. It's a rematch of the Jan. 3 game in Norman, which OU won 73-63.
• Following Saturday's game, BU heads back on the road for Tuesday's game at Oklahoma State, which tips at 8 p.m. on ESPNews.
