 | | MEDIA INFORMATION | | Date | Tuesday, Jan. 27 | 8:00 p.m. CT | | Location | Stillwater,Okla.; Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)
| | Tickets | Purchase Tickets Online | | TV | ESPNews
| | TV Talent | Dave Armstrong (pxp), Bryndon Manzer (color)
| | Web Video | WatchESPN | | National Radio | Sirius 91 / XM 91 / TuneIn App
| | BU Radio | ESPN Central Texas | | BU Talent | John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (color) | | Stats | | | Game Notes | Baylor | Oklahoma State
| | Twitter | @BaylorMBB | #SicOSU | BAYLOR BEARS
| | Record | 15-4, 3-3 | | Ranking | 20 (AP), 19 (Coaches)
| | Head Coach | Scott Drew
| | Career: 239-165 (13th season)
| | BU Record: 219-154 (12th season)
| OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS
| | Record | 13-6, 3-4
| | Ranking | NR (AP), NR (Coaches)
| | Head Coach | Travis Ford
| | Career: 328-229 (18th season) | | OSU Record: 128-81 (7th season) |
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STORY LINES
• Tuesday is the 75th all-time series meeting, and OSU leads the series 52-22, including a 25-5 mark in Stillwater.
• Baylor is 10-6 in its last 16 games against OSU after starting the series 12-46.
• BU's 76-70 win against the 8th-ranked Cowboys in Stillwater last season was Baylor's 3rd all-time road win vs. an AP top 10 team. The Bears won without starting PG?Kenny Chery, who sat out with a turf toe injury.
• Baylor has won 2 of its last 3 games in Stillwater, and the loss was a 2-point overtime defeat in 2013.
• Baylor and Kansas are the only teams to win multiple games in?Stillwater over the last 4 seasons.
• Baylor is 3rd nationally with 16.1 offensive rebounds per game and 5th with 41.5 total boards per game.
• The Bears have posted equal or more second-chance points than their opponents in all 19 games this season.
• Baylor also ranks 3rd nationally in rebounding margin (+10.8) and 27th in points-per-possession defense (0.91)
• Baylor's defense has held teams to an average of 12.0 points below their season scoring averages. The Bears have held 17 of 19 opponents under their season scoring averages, including 12 times at least 10 points below.
• Baylor is 1 of 10 Division I teams to hold all opponents under 75 points this season.
• Baylor was the only Division I team to hold all non-conference opponents to 66 or fewer points this season.
• Baylor has held opponents under 30 first-half points in 14 of 19 games this season, including 10 times at 25 or fewer.
• All 5 Baylor starters average 8.2-11.4 points per game, and reserve Taurean Prince leads the team with 12.2 ppg.
• Five BU players have scored 20+ points in a game this season (Chery, Gathers, Motley, O'Neale and Prince).
• Seven different BU players have led the team in scoring this season, and none have done so more than 4 times.
• 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 (65-59) than its first 11 years in the league combined (45-131).
• Baylor is 74-7 when leading at the half over the last four seasons -- 13-3 this season, 18-2 in 2013-14, 17-1 in 2012-13 and 26-1 in 2011-12. BU is 177-31 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 82-5 under Drew when holding teams under 60 points, and the Bears have done so 10 times this season (9-1).
• Rico?Gathers ranks 2nd nationally in both offensive (5.5) and total rebounds (11.9) per game.
• Gathers posted a Big 12 and school-record 28 rebounds?Wednesday, most by a DI player since Paul Millsap in 2006.
• Baylor ranks 19th nationally and 3rd in the Big 12 Conference in scoring defense (57.8).
• Baylor leads the Big 12 and ranks 23rd nationally in 3-point FG defense (29.3%).
• Baylor moved to a season-high No. 20 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 is 185-85 (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 shot 29.8%?in the Jan.10 win at TCU, the worst shooting in any of Scott Drew's 216 wins at BU.
• Kenny Chery hit a game-winning shot with 4 seconds left to give Baylor a 74-73 win vs. No. 11 ISU on Jan. 14.
• 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 374th game at Baylor (219-154). His .587 winning percentage is best in BU history among coaches with 60+ games, and his teams have a .685 winning percentage (185-85) 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 Oklahoma State game will be Baylor's 123rd 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 751 consecutive games.
SERIES HISTORY
• Tuesday's game is the 75th all-time meeting between?Baylor and Oklahoma State.
• Baylor is 10-6 in its last 16 games against OSU dating back to the team's second meeting in 2007. Prior to the recent 16-game stretch, BU had lost 18 of 19 games against Oklahoma State.
• Baylor has won 2 of the last 3 meetings in Stillwater, with the lone loss a 2-point overtime defeat in 2013.
• Baylor's wins in Stillwater have come in 1959, 1972, 2003, 2012 and 2014.
• Baylor and Kansas are the only teams to win multiple games in?Stillwater over the last 4 seasons.
A WIN WOULD ...
• Be Baylor's 3rd win in its last 4 trips to Stillwater -- the most by any team since the start of the 2011-12 season.
• Make Baylor 11-6 in its last 17 games against OSU after dropping 18 of the previous 19 meetings.
• Move Rico Gathers into sole possession of 10th on Baylor's all-time wins list (65) and all-time Big 12 wins list (22).
• Give Baylor a 16-4 start to the season for the fourth time in the last eight years (2007-08, 2009-10, 2011-12).
• Give Baylor a 28-7 record over its last 35 games dating back to Feb. 12, 2014.
• Make Baylor 46-50 in January games under Drew, including a 38-26 mark since the 2007-08 season.
• Give Baylor a 95-38 record since the start of the 2011-12 season.
• Make Baylor 186-85 since the start of the 2007-08 season, good for a .685 winning percentage.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• Kenny Chery has scored in double figures in a career-best 5 straight games. He's averaging 17.0 points per game in that stretch after averaging 8.2 points per game in his previous 9 games this season.
• Taurean?Prince has scored in double figures a team-high 13 times this season -- he entered the season with 12 career double-figure scoring games in 62 games played over two seasons.
• Rico?Gathers has posted double-digit rebounds in 14 of the last 17 games, but he's been limited to 14 rebounds over his last two Big 12 games (6 at Kansas State, 8 vs. Oklahoma).
• Gathers has 16 career double-doubles and the Bears are 15-1 in those games (8-1 this season).
• Royce O'Neale is the Big 12's only player ranked in the league's top 10 in assists and rebounds. He's posted multiple assists in 17 of 18 games this season, and at least 4 rebounds in 17 of 18 games.
• Lester Medford had a career-high 17 points on Saturday vs. OU, equaling his point total from 3 previous Big 12 games. He had gone 8 straight games without scoring in double figures prior to Saturday's outburst.
• Medford has 14 assists and 5 turnovers over his last 3 Big 12 games -- he had 1 assist and 5 turnovers over his first 3 Big 12 contests.
• Johnathan Motley has 31 blocks over his last 10 games -- he had 5 blocks in the previous 9 games.
• Motley has scored in double figures in 5 of the last 11 games, but he's totaled 11 points over the last 3 games.
• Al Freeman has led Baylor in bench scoring 7 times this season, and the Bears have won all of those games.
• Deng Deng played 10 minutes off the bench Saturday vs. OU, doubling his season total in Big 12 play.
• Ishmail?Wainright did not play Saturday, snapping a streak of 14 straight games played. He's averaging 12.0 minutes per game while serving as a defensive specialist off the Baylor bench.
KEYS TO VICTORY
• Baylor is 15-2 this season when scoring 60-plus points and 0-2 when being held under 60 points.
• Baylor is 13-1 this season when recording more points off turnovers than its opponent and 2-3 when not doing so.
• Baylor is 12-1 this season when posting 12-plus assists and 3-3 when recording fewer than 12 assists.
• Baylor is 11-2 this season when getting more than 15 points from the bench and 4-2 when getting 15 or less.
• Baylor has held 10 of 19 opponents under 60 points, and the Bears are 82-5 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.
SOONER STATE SUCCESS
• After posting a combined 6-48 record against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in the first 13 seasons of the Big 12 Conference, Baylor is 14-11 in its last 25 against the league's Sooner State schools?(7-7 vs. OU; 7-4 vs. OSU).
• 17 of Baylor's 20 Big 12 wins against the Oklahoma schools have come under head coach Scott?Drew.
BEST DEFENSIVE TEAM OF DREW ERA
• Baylor is 1 of 10 Division I?teams to hold all opponents below 75 points this season (Baylor, Cincinnati, George Washington,?Louisiana-Monroe, Mississippi State, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon State, Saint Peter's, Utah).
• BU?was the only Division I team to hold every non-conference opponent to 66 or fewer points this season.
• Baylor's current 57.8 points per game allowed is 6.2 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 14 of 19 opponents under 30 first-half points, including 10 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 OPPONENTS UNDER SCORING AVERAGES BY 12 PPG
• Through 19 games, Baylor opponents are averaging 12.0 fewer points than their season averages against the Bears.
• Baylor?has held 17 of 19 opponents below their season average, including 12 of 19 at least 10 points below.
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.
GATHERS ONE OF NATION'S BEST REBOUNDERS
• Rico?Gathers ranks 2nd nationally in both offensive (5.5) and total (11.9) rebounds per game. He also leads the Big 12 and ranks 29th nationally in defensive rebounds per game (6.4).
• Gathers leads the Big 12 with 9 double-doubles this season, more than his first two seasons combined (7) and 3 more than any other player.
• Gathers' 16 career double-doubles and 29 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 (10.7 ppg and 11.9 rpg), joining Auburn's Cinmeon Bowers, Washington State's Josh?Hawkinson, LSU's Jordan Mickey and UCLA's Kevon Looney.
• In his 22 career starts, Gathers is averaging 11.1 points and 11.8 rebounds per game.
• Gathers set Big 12 and Baylor records with 28 rebounds Wednesday, most by a DI player since Paul?Millsap in 2006.
• Gathers is tied for 5th in Baylor history with 4 games of 15+ rebounds, trailing only Jerome Lambert (11), Lawrence Roberts (6), Kevin?Rogers (5) and Ekpe Udoh (5), and tied with Brian Skinner (4) and Alex Holcombe (4).
O'NEALE DOES IT ALL
• During his four years of Division I basketball, Royce O'Neale has 1,110 points, 702 rebounds, 346 assists, 139 steals and 38 blocks in 119 games played.
• O'Neale is the only Big 12 Conference player to rank in the league's top 10 in rebounding and assists -- he currently ranks 10th in the Big 12 in assists (3.3) and 10th in rebounding (6.1).
• 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.
• O'Neale has started 49 consecutive games against DI opponents -- (sat out vs. Huston-Tillotson on?Jan. 21).
• Including his two seasons at Denver, O'Neale has 25 career games played touching all five stat categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks).
MOTLEY TAKING GAME TO NEW LEVEL
• Redshirt freshman Johnathan Motley has nearly doubled his production over the last 11 games.
• He's averaging 11.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg and 2.8 bpg over the last 11 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 11 games.
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 40 assists and 20 turnovers in 9 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 85 points in his last 5 games, including a season-high 25 points against Kansas on?Jan. 7, and that 5-game point total is more than 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 12.2 points per game in 25.3 minutes per game.
• Prince has scored in double figures in a team-high 13 of 18 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 12 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 9 of 12 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 15 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 18.5 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 and another for rest (vs. Huston-Tillotson), allowing Lester Medford to slide from his starting shooting guard position to the starting point guard role.
• Medford posted 35 assists and 8 turnovers in his 6 starts at point guard. Despite returning to his shooting guard spot, Medford still ranks 4th in the Big 12 with a 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio and 7th with 3.6 assists per game.
• Medford hit a go-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.
• Medford led the team in scoring for the first time in Saturday's win vs. No. 19 OU, posting a season-high 17 points.
WAINRIGHT DROPS WEIGHT, BECOMES DEFENSIVE STOPPER
• 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.
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 53 times this season. Additionally, five different players have scored 20+ points a total of 11 times.
• Seven different BU players have led the team in scoring this season, and none have done so in more than four games -- Johnathan?Motley four times, Taurean Prince four times, Royce O'Neale four times, Rico?Gathers four times, Kenny Chery three times and Lester?Medford and Deng Deng once.
• Prince leads the team with 12.2 points per game, while BU's five starters average between 8.2 and 11.4 ppg.
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS PAYING OFF
• Baylor has won 91% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12. The Bears are 74-7 when leading through the first 20 minutes in that stretch (13-3 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 81 of 132 games over the last four seasons. With wins in 74 of those 81 games, and victories in 20 of 51 games it has trailed or been tied at the half, Baylor is 94-38 since 2011-12.
BAYLOR 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. 20 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 219 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 .587 winning percentage is the best ever by a Baylor coach with 60+ games at the helm.
COACHING STABILITY
• Baylor's Scott Drew is tied with Kansas' Bill Self as the Big 12 Conference's second-longest tenured head coach. Drew, who is in his 12th season at BU in 2014-15, trails only Texas' Rick Barnes (17th season at UT).
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
• Baylor returns home to host No. 19 Texas at 5 p.m. CT?Saturday on?ESPN2.
• The Bears are 8-5 in their last 13 games vs. Texas, including a win in last season's Big 12 Championship semifinals.
• BU is 29-4 against in-state opponents since 2011-12 and 43-8 against Lone Star State teams since 2009-10.
