No. 25/23 MBB Hosts No. 16/13 Vanderbilt
12/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
 vs.  |
| No. 25/23 Baylor (5-1) vs. No. 16/13 Vanderbilt (6-1) Dec. 6, 2015 | 7:00 p.m. CT Waco, Texas | Ferrell Center (10,284) TV: ESPNU Radio: ESPN Central Texas |
|
 |
| 
Listen Online | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
STORYLINES
- Sunday's game will be televised on ESPNU,à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Baylor's 144th straight televised game.
- Sunday will mark the 11th series meeting. Baylor is 2-8 all-time vs. Vanderbilt, including a 66-63 win last year.
- Sunday will be the first home non-conference game in program history with both teams ranked.
- Baylor has won 29 consecutive non-conference home games - last loss toà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Northwestern on Dec. 4, 2012.
- Baylor ranks top-10 nationally in assist pct. (3rd, 74.3), offensive rebound pct. (6th, 42.2) and steal pct. (7th, 13.2).
- The Bears are 19th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency (112.4) and 18th in adj. defensive (92.9) efficiency.
- Baylor leads the Big 12 in assists (22.2), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7) and rebounding defense (29.3).
- Baylor and Vanderbilt are both top-5 nationally in scoring margin. BU is 4th at +25.7 and Vandy is 3rd at +26.3.
- Baylor is 6-0 against SEC teams since 2012-13, including wins last season against USC,à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Vandy and Texas A&M.
- Baylor is ranked No. 25 by the AP and No. 23 in the coaches poll. BU has been ranked for 16 consecutive polls.
- Baylor was the only major conference team to hold every opponent under 75 points last season, and the Bears have gone 51 consecutive games without allowing 75 points.
- Baylor, Michiganà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € State and Oklahoma are the only schools AP-ranked in football and men's and women's basketball.
- Baylor has a .706 winning percentage over the last four-plus seasons (108-45).
- Ricoà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Gathers has 907 career rebounds and needs 9 more to break Brian Skinner's school record of 915.
- Taureanà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Prince has scored in double figures in 22 of the last 24 games, averaging 15.5 ppg in that stretch.
- Al Freeman has scored in double figures in 5 of 6 games this season - he had 7 double-digit scoring games last year.
- Lester Medford has 12 career starts at point guard and has 69 assists and 22 turnovers in those games (3.1 A-T ratio).
- Ishmail Wainright is the Big 12's only player averaging at least 5 rebounds (5.7) and 4 assists (4.0).
- Sophomores Johnathan Motley and Terryà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Maston and freshman King McClure combine to average 27.5 points per game off the bench. They've accounted for 87 percent of Baylor's bench scoring (165 of 189 points).
- Baylor is 41-14 in its last 55 games dating back to Feb. 12, 2014. Twelve of the 14 losses have been away from home (7 road, 5 neutral) and nine losses have been against ranked teams.
- Baylor has posted more bench points and 2nd-chance points than its opponents in all 6 games this season, and the Bears have tied or won the rebounding battle in every game.
- Baylor is 302-70 in football and men's and women's basketball since 2011-12, the nation's best record in that span.
QUICK HITS
- Drew is coaching his 395th game at Baylor (233-161). His .591 winning percentage is best in BU history among coaches with 60+ games, and his teams have a .683 winning percentage since 2007-08.
- Baylor is 47-7 in November/December games when ranked in the AP poll and 60-12 in home games when APà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € ranked.
- Baylor is 199-92 (24 wins per season) over the last 8-plus seasons and has made 7 postseason appearancesà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € (NCAA Tournament - 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015; NIT - 2009, 2013).
- Baylor's 17-5 postseason record since 2009 is the nation's 4th-best among teams with 3+ NCAAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € appearances.
- Baylor is one of only 14 schools nationally to play in the Sweet 16 in 3 of the last 6 seasons.
- Baylor made back-to-back NCAAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Tournaments for the first time in program history in 2014 and 2015.
- Baylor is 87-11 when leading at the half over the last four seasons, including 5-0 this season.
- BUà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € has won 38% of its games (21-34) when tied or trailing at half since 2011-12, including 0-1 this season.
- Baylor is 37-22 in games decided by 5 or fewer points and 10-2 in overtime games since 2008-09.
- Baylor has been ranked in the AP Preseasonà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Poll in 5 of the last 6 seasons - last year was the lone exception.
- Baylor is one of 13 teams to be nationally ranked in each of the last nine seasons.
- Baylor was picked 5th in the Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll, behind Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa State and Texas.
- Drew is tied with Kansas' Bill Self as the longest tenured head coach in the Big 12 Conference (13th seasons).
- Baylor has more Big 12 wins in the last 7 seasons (73-63) than its first 11 years in the league combined (45-131).
- Baylor is 28-12 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last seven seasons.
- Baylor's 5 NBAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Draft picks in the last 4 years ranks 8th nationally behind Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse, Kansas, Arizona, North Carolina and UCLA.
- BU is 87-6 under Drew when holding teams under 60 points, including a 12-2 mark last season.
- Baylor has the Big 12's 2nd-longest active streak (16th-longest nationally) with at least one 3-point FG made in 772 consecutive games. The last time BU didn't make a 3-pointer was Feb. 21, 1990, a win vs.à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Texas Tech.
SERIES HISTORY
- Sunday will mark the 11th series meeting betweenà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Baylor and Vanderbilt and first in Waco since Dec. 8, 1984.
- Baylor won its first game against Vanderbilt in 1949, but the Commodores won the next eight games in the series before Baylor snapped the streak with a 66-63 win in Nashville on Dec. 4 last season.
- Baylor is 6-0 against SECà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € teams since the start of the 2012-13 season.à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € BU beat Kentucky in 2012-13, South Carolina and Kentucky in 2013-14, and Texas A&M, Southà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Carolina and Vanderbilt last season.
LAST TIME VS. VANDERBILT
- Baylor raced out to a 34-25 halftime lead and held off a Vanderbilt rally to win 66-63 in Nashville.
- The Bears shot .556 (10-18)à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € from 3-point range while holding Vandy to .176 (3-17) from long range.
- With Kenny Chery out due to injury, Lester Medford started at PG and posted 7 points, 7 assists, 6 rounds, 3 steals and just 1 turnover in 35 minutes. Walk-on Austin Mills served as back-up PG and had 5 points in 7 minutes.
- Taurean Prince had 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in 32 minutes.
ONE OF THREE RANKED IN FB, MBB AND WBB
- Baylor, Michigan State and Oklahoma are the only schools ranked by the AP in football, men's and women's basketball.
- Baylor men's basketball is ranked No. 25, football is No. 12 and women's basketball is No. 4.
- Michigan State is ranked No. 5 in football, No. 3 in men's basketball and No. 19 in women's basketball. Oklahoma is No. 3 in football,à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € No. 6 in men's basketball and No. 21 in women's basketball.
- Baylor, Louisville and Michigan State were the only teams to finish the 2014-15 academic year ranked in the final AP Polls for all three sports.
FIRST HOME NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUP OF RANKED TEAMS IN PROGRAM HISTORY
- Sunday is Baylor's first-ever non-conference home game pitting two ranked teams against each other.
- Baylor has hosted a ranked non-conference opponent three previous times in program history. The last non-conference home game against a ranked team was Nov. 30, 2007, a 67-64 loss to No. 6 Washingtonà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € State.
- Baylor's only other non-conference home games against ranked teams in program history were a 51-45 loss on Dec. 17, 1951, against No. 14 Wyoming and a 76-65 loss on Jan. 3, 2004, against No. 21 Purdue.
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS
- Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12. The Bears are 87-11 when leading at the break in that stretch (5-0 in 2015-16, 21-7 in 2014-15, 18-2 in 2013-14, 17-1 in 2012-13 and 26-1 in 2011-12).
- BU has won 38% of games in which its been tied or trailing at the half since 2011-12, going 21-34 in those.
- BU has led at halftime in 98 of 153 games over the last four-plus seasons. With wins in 87 of those 98 games, and victories in 21 of 55 games it has trailed or been tied at the half, Baylor is 108-45 since 2011-12.
PRINCE IN DOUBLE FIGURES IN 22 OF 24
- Taureanà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Prince has scored in double figures in 22 of the last 24 games dating back to Jan. 17.
- Prince is averaging 15.5 points per game during that 24-game stretch, including eight 20-point games after scoring 20+ in three of his 77 previous games.
- Prior to this 24-game span,à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Prince had 22 career double-figure scoring games in 77 career games played.
GATHERS NINE REBOUNDS FROM BREAKING SCHOOL RECORD
- Rico Gathers ranks 2nd in Baylor history with 907 rebounds, just 8 back of Brian Skinner's school record of 915.
- Gathers has 27 career double-doubles, tops among active Big 12 players and tied for 2nd-most in Baylor history.
- Gathers is 27 rebounds away from passing Kansas' Eric Chenowith (933) for 10th on the Big 12's career list.
- Gathers and Prince are in a race to become Baylor's 29th player to reach 1,000 career points. Gathers needs 71 more points and Prince needs 133 more. The first one to reach 1,000 will be the 11th of the Scott Drew era.
FREEMAN GROWING INTO STARTING ROLE
- Sophomore Alà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Freeman has moved into the starting shooting guard role after coming off the bench last year.
- Freeman has scored in double figures in 5 of 6 games this season after scoring 10+ points in back-to-back games just once as a freshman. He also posted back-to-back 20-point games against Oregon and Jackson State.
- Freeman ranks 6th in the Big 12 in scoring (15.5), 3rd in 3-pointers made (2.5/gm), 6th in minutes played (30.3), 7th in 3-point percentage (.469) and 13th in field goal percentage (.525).
THREE M'S PROVIDING SPARK OFF BENCH
- Sophomores Johnathan Motley and Terryà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Maston and freshman King McClure combine to average 27.5 points per game off the bench. They've accounted for 86 percent of Baylor's bench scoring (165 of 189 points).
- Motley started all 34 games as a redshirt freshman last year, but he's come off the bench this season and is averaging 14.7 points in 21.2 minutes per game, including double-digit scoring in 5 of 6 games.
- Maston has already more than doubled his points and minutes totals from last seasonà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € (40 points in 85 minutes; 19 points in 36 mintues last year). He's averaging 6.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game.
- McClure is averaging 6.2 points in 14.8 minutes per game off the bench. He's scored in double-figures twice and connected on at least one 3-pointer in 5 of 6 games. He ranks 5th in the Big 12 with in 3-point percentage (.500).
IMPROVED FREE THROW SHOOTING
- Baylor has shot .872 from the free-throw line over the last 3 games, connecting on 68-of-78 attempts.
- Rico Gathers, a .581 career free-throw shooter entering those games, has made 19-of-20 attempts.
- The Bears shot.638 (44-of-69) at the charity stripe over the season's first 3 games.
- BU made 21-of-24 (.875) vs. Savannah State, 26-of-30 (.867) vs. Arkansas State and 21-of-24 (.875) vs. PVAMU.
DREW VS. RANKED TEAMS
- Baylor is 7-6 against top-25 ranked teams since the start of the 2014-15 season.
- Drew is 26-46 against ranked teams since 2007-08 after going 0-27 in his first four rebuilding seasons at Baylor.
ELITE OFFENSIVE EFFICIENCY
- Baylor's offense has ranked among the nation's top 20 in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency metric in 7 of the last 8 seasons entering 2015-16, joining Duke as the only teams to make that claim.
- Through six games this season,à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Baylor is No. 19 nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency.
- Baylor was No. 18 in 2014-15, No. 9 in 2013-14, No. 14 in 2012-13, No. 8 in 2011-12, No. 3 in 2009-10, No. 11 in 2008-09 and No. 11 in 2007-08.
- Most times ranked inà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € nation's top-20 from 2007-08-2014-15: Duke-8, Baylor-7, Arizona-5, Kansas-5, Kentucky-4, Northà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Carolina-4, Ohioà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € State-4.
2ND-MOST WINS AMONG BIG 12 TEAMS SINCE 2011-12
- Baylor is 108-45 since 2011-12, which trails only Kansas (120-33) among Big 12 teams (thru 12/4/15).
- Iowa State (105-40) is 3rd, Oklahoma State (93-56) is 4th, Kansas State (90-50) is 5th, Oklahoma (87-49) is 6th, Texas (84-60) is 7th, West Virginia (80-59) is 8th, TCU (59-76) is 9th and Texas Tech (51-81) is 10th.
RANKED IN NINE STRAIGHT SEASONS
- Baylor joins Kansas as the only two Big 12 Conference schools to be ranked in each of the last nine seasons.
- Baylor has been ranked for at least three weeks in each of the last nine seasons, including an active streak of 16 consecutive weeks ranked.
- Baylor is one of 13 schools to be nationally ranked in each of the last nine seasons.
PICKED FIFTH IN BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL
- Baylor was picked to finish fifth in the 2016 Big 12 Conference Preseason Poll in a vote by the league's head coaches in October. It's the fifth time in the last six seasons BUà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € has been picked in the top half of the league.
- In the last nine seasons, BU has been picked 9th in 2007-08 (NCAA Tournament), 3rd in 2008-09 (NIT runner-up), 10th in 2009-10 (Elite Eight), 4th in 2010-11, 3rd in 2011-12 (Elite Eight), 2nd in 2012-13 (NITà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € champions), 3rd in 2013-14 (Sweet 16), t-6th in 2014-15 (NCAAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Tournament) and 5th (2015-16).
NATION'S BEST IN 3 MAJOR SPORTS OVER LAST 5 SEASONS
- Since 2011-12, Baylor has the nation's most combined wins across football and men's and women's basketball.
- The Bears are 304-70 in that span, giving Baylor 79 more wins than any other Big 12 team, and eight more than the next closest team nationally (Notre Dame at 294-74).
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 six seasons.
- Drew (45) is joined by Xavier's Chris Mack (45), Arizona's Sean Miller (47), Ohio State's Thad Matta (48), Kansas' Bill Self (52), Kentucky's John Calipari (56), Michigan State's Tom Izzo (60), Louisville's Rick Pitino (63), Wisconsin's Bo Ryan (67), Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (68) and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (71).
ALL-TIME WINS LEADER
- Scott Drew holds Baylor's school record with 233 career wins as head coach.
- Drew's .591 winning percentage is the best ever by a Baylor coach with 60+ games at the helm.
BAYLOR BASKETBALL ON THE RADIO
- Baylor basketball is aired live via the Baylor-IMG College Radio Network on ESPNà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Central Texas and flagship station 1660AM ESPN Radio (KRZI) in Waco and worldwide on Sirius XM Radio. All games are broadcast by the "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and former Baylor basketball standout Pat Nunley. Morris is in his 28th year doing Baylor broadcasts, while Nunley is in his 33rd season as color analyst.
- The radio call from all of Baylor's games can be heard live on the Internet at www.BaylorBears.com.
MEASURABLES
- Johnathan Motley has Baylor's longest wingspan at 7'3.5", followed by Jo Acuil at 7'3", Ishmail Wainright at 7'1.5", Taureanà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Prince at 6'11.5", Terry Maston at 6'11" and Ricoà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Gathers at 6'10.5".
- John Heard has Baylor's highest vertical jump at 39.5", followed by Lester Medford and Alà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Freeman at 37". Motley's 36" vertical is best among big men, followed by Prince, Gathers and Maston at 34.5".
- Gathers has the longest hands at 10.5", followed by Maston, Acuil and Prince at 9".
- Jake Lindsey has the team's widest hands at 10.25", followed by Motley and Wainright at 9.5".
- Wendell Mitchell recorded the fastest NBA Sprint Test at 3.01, followed by Prince and Manu Lecomte at 3.02.
UP NEXT
- Baylor wraps up its stretch of six consecutive home games with Tuesday's 7 p.m. game against Northwesternà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € State.
- Following the Northwestern State game, BU will take an 8-day break for final exams before hosting a game at Fort Hood's Abrams Gym on Dec. 16 against Hardin-Simmons.
