Cox Returns as No. 6/6 WBB Hosts Morehead State Monday



	#6/6 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (9-1) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes	#6/6 BAYLOR (9-1) VS. MOREHEAD STATE (4-7) December 30, 2019 • 7 p.m. Waco, Texas • Ferrell Center (10.284) LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast/1660 AM/92.3 FM WATCH: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ Talent: Lincoln Rose (PBP), Jim Haller (Analyst) LISTEN: Tune In Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Color) Baylor Social Media:

	MOREHEAD STATE EAGLES (4-7) Location: Morehead, Ky. Conference: Ohio Valley Head Coach: Greg Todd Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            After missing the last eight games with a stress reaction in her right foot, Baylor senior All-American forward Lauren Cox is scheduled to return when the sixth-ranked Lady Bears (9-1) host Morehead State (4-7) at 7 p.m. Monday in the last pre-conference game.
            "She looks out of shape, but Lauren can play on one leg and be out of shape and be better than the majority of the people in the country," coach Kim Mulkey said. "It's good to have her back. We're a more confident team with her on the floor."
            The preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, Cox said it was difficult to miss the last seven weeks, particularly the 74-59 loss to South Carolina in the last of three games in three days in the Virgin Islands.
            "Any competitor wants to be on the court helping her team any way they can, whether it's a close game or we're up 20 or 30," said the 6-foot-4 Cox, who averaged 12.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in a pair of blowouts at the start of the season. "Just seeing the (South Carolina) game and seeing things that I could have done to help, it was extremely difficult."
            Looking at it in a positive light, Cox said the time off could make her fresher at the end of the year.
            "I think it will be (beneficial), because at the end of the year last year I was dead," she said. "I was actually tired of basketball last year, and I wanted to just chill out and not do anything. So, I think it's definitely going to help down the road."
            Baylor was 7-1 in the games without her, with the lone loss coming to South Carolina at the Paradise Jam. The Lady Bears defeated South Florida, Washington State and Indiana and are coming back from an extended Christmas break after a 113-43 win over Arkansas State on Dec. 18.
            In that last game, senior guard Juicy Landrum hit an NCAA-record 14 3-pointers and scored a career-high 42 points to earn Big 12 Player of the Week honors. Going into that game, Landrum had hit just 10-of-26 from outside the arc and was averaging 8.7 points per game.
            "I hope she plays differently. I want Juicy to shoot the ball more," Mulkey said. "I hope it gives her confidence that I see what Coach is saying now: 'We will be better if I take more shots.' She turns down way too many shots. . . . As I tell all of them, keep shooting it. If yo go 0-for-10, shoot it again. I'll tell you when it's a bad shot, and very few times have I ever had to tell a player, 'That's a bad shot.' They know."
            Including Cox and Landrum, the Lady Bears have five players averaging double-digit points. Sophomores NaLyssa Smith and Queen Egbo lead the way with 15.9 and 14.6 points, respectively, while grad transfer point guard Te'a Cooper is averaging 11.9 points and a team-high 5.3 assists.
            Playing just its third game in the month of December, Baylor will take on Morehead State for the second-straight year before opening Big 12 play on Saturday at Oklahoma (7-5), followed by a high-profile matchup against top-ranked Connecticut (10-0) on Jan. 9 in Storrs.
            "(Monday's game is) certainly not more important than conference, but it's one to get (Cox) back in the groove," Mulkey said. "I'm sure we won't look as smooth as we need to be, but we've got some athletes on the floor that came back from the Christmas break that you wouldn't know they took a break because they're just so athletic and in shape."
            Morehead State is 0-5 on the road, including losses to a pair of ranked teams in Kentucky (79-54) and Michigan State (93-48). One of three players averaging double-digit points, 5-10 freshman guard Tomiyah Alford (10.0 ppg) has earned back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week honors.
            A balanced scoring attack is guard-dominated, with 5-5 senior guard Breuna Jackson leading the way at 10.2 points and 6-0 freshman Ariel Kirkwood averaging close to a double-double with 10.1 points and a team-high 9.3 rebounds.
            Mulkey said the game will "mainly be getting back in condition" after a nine-day Christmas break.
            "It will mainly be about us," she said. "And then after Morehead State, we'll start doing really detailed scouting reports on Oklahoma and, of course, UConn. And then from here on out, it's the real deal."
            Monday's game will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Lincoln Rose and former Baylor men's basketball coach Jim Haller calling the action.

COX RETURNS MONDAY AFTER MISSING EIGHT GAMES; BICKLE STILL OUT
   Baylor senior forward Lauren Cox missed eight games due to a foot injury after playing two contests for the Lady Bears this season. Cox had earned preseason All-America status from four different entities heading into the season before the setback. In limited minutes in Baylor's first two lop-sided victories over New Hampshire and Grambling State, Cox averaged 12 points, 10 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. She will return to the lineup Monday vs. Morehead State, the last game before Baylor's Big 12 opener at Oklahoma Jan. 4.
   Caitlin Bickle suffered a minor knee injury and had successful surgery following the Dec. 4 contest with Georgia. Although the timetable for return is uncertain, Bickle is not expected to take a medical redshirt and intends to return at some point in the 2019-20 season. Bickle averaged 5.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in eight games leading up to the injury.

JUICY'S REWRITES HISTORY VS. ARKANSAS STATE DEC. 18
   Senior guard and Waco native Juicy Landrum entered Dec. 18's game with Arkansas State with 10 3-pointers to her credit through the first nine games of the season, while shooting .385 from beyond the arc. After Baylor's 111-43 win over the Red Wolves, Landrum set Baylor, Big 12 and NCAA single-game records by draining 14 treys on 23 attempts. Her shooting percentage beyond the arc jumped 105 points to .490 and she jumped four spots on the BU ladder for career 3-point field goals from 11^th to a tie for seventh.
   Five 3-point field goals was the most in a game for Landrum before that afternoon, which she nearly tripled, and the most she'd attempted in a game prior to Dec. 18 was 13. All 42 of her points came from beyond the arc, and it was the most points by a Baylor player in more than five years, when Nina Davis had 43 points Dec. 7, 2014, at Ole Miss.
   Landrum's performance was featured on the 10 p.m. ESPN SportsCenter broadcast as anchor Scott Van Pelt's "Best Thing I Saw Today" later that evening.
   Landrum now has 24 3-point field goals on the season and ranks 9^th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.490).

HOME WIN STREAKS ON THE LINE ON THE LINE VS. MOREHEAD STATE
     After another lengthy break, Baylor will gun for its 47th-straight win at the Ferrell Center and 57th-straight home win over a non-conference opponent. A win over the Eagles would give the Lady Bears the 20th best home win streak in NCAA history and the second-best home win streak in BU history (69, 2011-2014). Baylor's last loss at home came Feb. 6, 2017 to Texas. The Lady Bears' last non-conference home loss came Jan. 13, 2014 to UConn.

LADY BEARS PASS 100 STRAIGHT WEEKS RANKED IN THE AP TOP 10
   On Dec. 8, 2014 Baylor moved from No. 11 to No. 9 in the AP poll setting up Baylor for an amazing run that reached 101-straight weeks in the Top 10, Monday. Baylor's win over Arkansas State Dec. 18 gives the Lady Bears a 176-13 record (.931) during the streak. In addition, Baylor has been ranked for 307-straight weeks in AP Top 25 poll.

LADY BEARS ON THE RUN
   Through 10 games the Lady Bears have 20 double-digit runs this season, including a season-high 37-0 run to begin the game vs. New Hampshire Nov. 5. In addition to the transition game on offense, Baylor's defense has allowed just 32 fast-break points on the season. Baylor is outscoring teams on the break by an average of 18.1-3.2.

SCORING EFFICIENCY & MARGIN OF VICTORY HIGHLIGHT NATIONAL RANKINGS
   The 9-1 Lady Bears rank in the top 10 nationally in 11 categories through games played through Dec. 28. Baylor ranks tops in scoring margin (41.1) and field goal percentage (.525) while ranking in the top five in the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio (2^nd, 1.69:1), assists per game (2nd, 23.1), field goal percentage defense (2nd, .298), scoring offense (2^nd, 88.5) and scoring defense (3rd, 47.4).
   Three players rank in the Top 25 nationally in assists-to-turnover ratio, led by Juicy Landrum (8^th, 3.0:1), Te'a Cooper (9^th, 2.94:1), and DiDi Richards (16^th, 2.72:1). Queen Egbo ranks 15^th in the nation and 1^st in the Big 12 in field-goal percentage at 63.0 percent while NaLyssa Smith ranks 21^st in the nation and third in the Big 12 at 60.8 percent. Juicy Landrum went from being unranked to ninth nationally and second in the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage after her 14-23 performance from deep vs. Arkansas State Dec. 18 gave her a .490 mark.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT: LADY BEARS INK TWO TOP-10 RECRUITS FOR 2020
     Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey announced the signing of two of the top 10 players in the country Wednesday, with Irving MacArthur standouts Sarah Andrews and Hannah Gusters signing national letters of intent to join the Lady Bears in 2020.
     Gusters was the first to verbally commit to Baylor in May. The 6-4 post player is the No. 9 overall ranked player in the 2020 class and the No. 2 center by espnW's Hoopgurlz. The Dan Olson Collegiate Basketball Report ranks her ninth and second, respectively as well. After helping Duncanville High School win a state championship as a freshman, Gusters averaged 14.5 points per game as a sophomore in leading the Pantherettes to a 39-2 record and the Class 6A region finals. Gusters played AAU ball for Nike ProSkills, and her maternal grandfather, Dewey Turner, played football for the University of Texas.
     Andrews verbally committed to Baylor on social media Nov. 2 during an official visit. The 5-7 point guard is ranked No. 7 overall and the No. 2 point guard by espnW's HoopGurlz recruiting rankings and carries the same ranking from the Dan Olson Collegiate Basketball Report. Among Andrews' honors as a point guard for Irving MacArthur High School, she was a two-time TGCA 6A All-State selection in 2018 and 2019. USA Today named Andrews to the second-team All-Texas team in 2019 as well. The Dallas Morning-News named Andrews the top recruit in Texas. As a junior, she was the District 6-6A MVP after averaging 15.1 points, 7.0 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 2.9 steals for a MacArthur team that went 29-9. Andrews played AAU ball for Nike ProSkills.

I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE, SOMEBODY'S WATCHIN' ME
     Winning a national title puts a lot of extra eyes on a program, and the Baylor Lady Bears have been honored entering the 2019-20 season with several acknowledgments from national entities for individual awards. The WBCA/Naismith Hall of Fame has an annual Starting Five, which honors the best player at each position. Te'a Cooper (Nancy Liberman Award), Juicy Landrum (Ann Meyers Drysdale Award), DiDi Richards (Cheryl Miller Award), Lauren Cox (Katrina McLain Award) and Queen Egbo (Lisa Leslie Award) were all honored as a part of the preseason watch lists.
     Cox earned a trifecta when she was named to the John Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy and Wade Trophy watch lists for collegiate player of the year. Landrum and Richards were each named to the Wooden Award watch list as well and Cooper earned a look from the Naismith Trophy.

MULKEY PASSES HER COLLEGE HEAD COACH, FORMER BOSS AND FORMER BU ASSISTANT COACH IN ALL-TIME WINS
     Leon Barmore coached Kim Mulkey in college at Louisiana Tech, hired her to be an assistant coach when she was done playing, and later rejoined his pupil as an assistant coach at Baylor. In 19 seasons as head coach at Louisiana Tech, Barmore won 576 games and the 1988 NCAA national title with Mulkey as an assistant. Baylor's 97-29 win over New Hampshire Tuesday at the Ferrell Center gave Mulkey 577 career wins.

SCORING IS TOUGH VS. THE LADY BEARS
   Baylor ranked tops in the nation in 2018-19 in the following categories: Assists (850), Assists Per Game (22.4), Blocked Shots (274), Blocked Shots Per Game (7.2), Defensive Rebounds Per Game (32.0), Rebound Margin (+17.0), Rebounds (1,790), and won-lost percentage (97.4). However, the Lady Bears ranked first in field goal percentage defense (.318) marking the third-straight year to lead the nation. Baylor has also ranked in the top five in eight of the last nine years.

Cox Returns as No. 6/6 WBB Hosts Morehead State Monday

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Players Mentioned

Caitlin Bickle

Te'a Cooper

Lauren Cox

Queen Egbo

Juicy Landrum

DiDi Richards

NaLyssa Smith

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Cox Returns as No. 6/6 WBB Hosts Morehead State Monday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Caitlin Bickle

Te'a Cooper

Lauren Cox

Queen Egbo

Juicy Landrum

DiDi Richards

NaLyssa Smith

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