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BAYLOR BEARS (16-8, 7-4)
Location: Waco, Texas
Conference: Big 12
Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
BAYLOR (15-8, 6-4) at 15/15 TEXAS TECH (20-5, 8-4)
February 16, 2018 • 1:01 p.m. CT
Lubbock, Texas • United Supermarkets Arena (15,098)
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
WATCH: ESPN | ESPN App
Talent: Clay Matvick (pxp), Tim Welsh (analyst)
LISTEN: Baylor-IMG College | ESPN Central Texas
Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (analyst)
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TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS (20-5, 8-4)
Location: Lubbock, Texas
Conference: Big 12
Head Coach: Chris Beard (Texas, 1995)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Like two teenagers arguing on the school ground, Freddie Gillespie and Flo Thamba try their best to one-up each other.
Only, they're not on the school ground, they're at a media session before the Baylor Bears (16-8, 7-4) face 15th-ranked Texas Tech (20-5, 8-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock.
"There are times (where) I beat Freddie and he just wants to go home and cry," said Thamba, a 6-10 freshman who had two blocks in Monday's 59-53 win over Oklahoma.
Gillespie, a 6-8 junior forward, counters with, "I set harder screens." Thamba comes back with, "I get better rebounds." And then Gillespie shoots back, "No, you hand check. I'm old school."
Finally, Gillespie admits that Thamba does occasionally block some of his shots. "We've been going one-on-one for like a year now, so I have to be more creative," he says. "I double-faked once. Now, I'm like a triple-pump fake, and he still won't bite."
If they're nervous about a closing stretch that will see the Bears play the Big 12's four ranked teams all on the road, they certainly don't show it.
"Eighteen- to 22-year-olds don't stress as much about things as us older people do," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "And I can promise you, they sleep better at night than we do."
In arguably their biggest win of the season, the Bears hit 11 3-pointers to knock off then-No. 8 Texas Tech last month at the Ferrell Center. Jared Butler and Makai Mason combined for 35 points, hitting 6-of-15 from outside the arc, while Gillespie had six points and five boards in one of Baylor's first games after losing 6-9 sophomore center Tristan Clark to a season-ending knee injury.
"We made a lot of 3's against them," Drew said of that Jan. 19 matchup. "They do such a good job with their help defense and keeping you out of the paint . . . the 3-point shot is there if you work the ball enough. You just have to make them."
Texas Tech has the best defense in the country, giving up just 57.0 points per game and limiting opponents to 36.2 percent shooting from the floor and 27.3 from 3-point range. Baylor shot just 41.4 percent overall in the first meeting, but was 11-of-29 from long range and 14-of-16 from the free throw line.
"The better defenses you face, the more you have to be willing to go deeper in the shot clock," Drew said. "Texas Tech is No. 1 in the nation defensively, so you don't get a lot of easy things. The worst thing to do is turn it over. The second-worst thing to do is take a bad shot, because that's like a turnover."
Drew credits Texas Tech assistant coach Mark Adams, a defensive guru who won the NJCAA national championship in 2010 at Howard College and has been a head coach in previous stops at Clarendon College, Wayland Baptist, West Texas A&M and Texas-Pan American.
"Mark Adams needs to sell that book on his defensive philosophy," Drew said. "It's legendary in junior college basketball. (Former Baylor assistant coach Grant) McCasland always talks about it. But, their help-side defense is tremendous(Tech head coach Chris) Beard does a great job making sure they allocate practice time toward it, and obviously he prioritizes it. Otherwise, they wouldn't be good at it. The big thing is they get their guys to play hard and believe in the scheme."
Tech's loss in Waco was part of a three-game skid, but the Red Raiders have bounced back to win five of their last six and are coming off a 78-50 blowout of Oklahoma State just three days ago in Stillwater.
Three players are averaging double-digit points, led by 6-6 sophomore forward Jarrett Culver with 17.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. South Dakota transfer Matt Mooney is averaging 10.8 points, while sophomore guard Davide Moretti is averaging 10.6 points and has knocked down a team-best 43 treys.
Mason leads the Bears with 15.8 points per game, but is just 3-of-21 in his last two games and missed last Saturday's loss to Kansas State with a bruised toe on his right foot. Senior guard King McClure has missed the last two games with a knee injury.
"That's always my first question every day to (trainer) David Chandler," said Drew, when asked for an update on the two senior guards. "Both of them are progressing. . . . (Mason) played well (Monday against Oklahoma). The big thing was the soreness afterwards and just how he continues to recover and progress from that. It's been explained to me that it will probably be a longer process to get him back to when he was playing really well and pain-free."
Saturday's game will be broadcast by ESPN, with Clay Matvick and Tim Welsh calling the action.
The Bears continue a two-game road swing with a matchup against No. 22/23 Iowa State on Tuesday in Ames before back-to-back home games against West Virginia and Texas.
STORY LINES
• Baylor looks for a season sweep of Texas Tech when the teams meet in Lubbock at 1 p.m. CT Saturday.
• Saturday is the 138th all-time series meeting dating back to 1937. Baylor is 19-8 vs. Texas Tech since 2006, including 7-6 in Lubbock in that span and 6-3 in Lubbock since 2010.
• Baylor defeated No. 8 Texas Tech 73-62 when the teams met in Waco on Jan. 19. BU looks to sweep the season series vs. Tech for a 6th time in the last 12 seasons (2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015).
• BU is coming off a 59-53 win over Oklahoma on Monday, completing a sweep of the Sooners.
• BU snapped its first 2-game losing streak of the season and improved to 7-2 in its last 9 games.
• BU played without Makai Mason (toe) and King McClure (knee) in last Saturday's game vs. K-State, and with Tristan Clark and Jake Lindsey out for the season, BU was without 4 projected starters.
• Mason returned and had a career-high 8 assists on Monday vs. OU, while McClure was held out.
• BU entered the season with 3 returning letterwinners after losing its top 4 scorers from last season.
• In 10 games since Tristan Clark's season-ending injury, BU is shooting 39% on 3-pointers and making 9.7 treys per game. Those numbers are up from 29% and 6.6 made 3's per game prior to the injury.
• Clark was ruled out for the season after suffering a left-knee injury in the Jan. 20 win over Iowa State.
• Four Bears are shooting 40%+ from 3-point range and making 1.5+ 3FGs/game since Clark's injury – Devonte Bandoo (49%, 1.9), McClure (43%, 1.9), Mason (42%, 2.4) and Jared Butler (40%, 2.5).
• BU is averaging 73.3 ppg in 10 games since Clark's injury, up from 71.4 ppg prior to losing Clark.
• Scott Drew is in his 16th season in Waco and is the Bears' all-time wins leader (312-203).
• Baylor is 28-2 when leading at halftime since the start of the 2017-18 season (13-2 this season).
• Mario Kegler is averaging 11.3 ppg and 5.4 rpg while shooting 52% over his last 7 games.
• Jared Butler joined the starting lineup with Clark out and is averaging 11.8 ppg and 3.7 apg in 10 starts.
• Butler is shooting 40% on 3FGs (25-62) since becoming a starter after 23% (10-44) in his first 14 games.
• Butler is 6th in the Big 12 with 3.5 assists/gm in league play. He has 49 assists in his last 13 games (3.8 apg) after 14 assists in his first 11 games (1.3 apg). He has also made a 3-pointer in 10 straight games.
• Mason needs 9 points to reach 1,000 for his Division I career (680 at Yale, 311 at Baylor).
• Mark Vital leads the Big 12 and ranks 12th nationally with 3.5 offensive rebounds per game.
• Flo Thamba and Freddie Gillespie have combined for 8.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg and 2.2 bpg in 32.2 mpg in 10 games since Clark's injury. Prior to the injury they averaged 2.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 0.9 bpg in 12.8 mpg.
• Bandoo is 2nd in the Big 12 in 3FG% in league play (.512) and is averaging 17.0 ppg in the last 2 games.
• Gillespie is averaging 8.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.7 bpg and shooting 77% (23-30) in 20.3 mpg over the last 6 games. He entered that stretch with 25 points all season, including 8 DNPs in 9 games preceding Clark's injury.
• Baylor is 33-35 in Big 12 road games since 2012, second-best in the league behind only Kansas (43-23).
• BU is 2nd nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (38.4), its 6th straight year in the nation's top 10.
• In Big 12 play, Baylor leads the league in scoring (74.0), scoring margin (+5.8), assists (15.6/game), rebounding margin (+5.8), effective FG% (.534), 3-point pct. (.392) and 3-pointers made (9.4/game).
ON THE CALL
• Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN with Clay Matvick and Tim Welsh calling the action.
• Matvick is working his 2nd Baylor game this season. He called Baylor's 90-64 win over TCU two weeks ago.
• Welsh is calling his 3rd BU game this season after working Baylor's last two Saturday games vs. TCU and K-State.
• The duo is also scheduled to call Baylor's next two Saturday games vs. West Virginia and at Kansas State.
QUICK HITS
• BU is 84-18 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (16-3 this season).
• BU is 96-73 in Big 12 play in 10 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons.
• Baylor is one of nine teams to be nationally ranked in each of the last 11 seasons dating back to 2007-08 – Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan State, Notre Dame and North Carolina.
• BU is 40-68 against AP-ranked teams since 2007-08 after going 0-27 in Drew's first 4 rebuilding seasons.
• Baylor defeated 7 top-10 teams in the last 3 seasons, including a 6-3 mark vs. top-10 teams in Waco.
• Baylor is 12-22 against AP Top 10 teams since March 2012. BU started the Drew era 1-26 vs. top-10.
• Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (147-18).
• Baylor is 187-87 over the last 7 seasons, averaging 24.4 wins per season since 2012.
• Baylor's 187 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (229).
• Baylor is 278-134 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• Baylor beat Alabama to move to 5-1 all-time in Big 12/SEC Challenges, the best record of any team in either league.
• Baylor has the nation's 11th-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 893 straight games — the last time Baylor failed to make a 3-pointer was nearly 29 years ago, on Feb. 21, 1990 vs. Texas Tech (0-8).
SERIES HISTORY VS. TEXAS TECH
• Saturday is the 138th all-time series meeting dating back to 1937.
• Baylor is 59-78 in the series, including an 18-48 mark in Lubbock and a 19-12 mark in the Scott Drew era.
• Baylor is 19-8 vs. Texas Tech since 2006, including 7-6 in Lubbock in that span (6-3 in Lubbock since 2010).
BEARS GET BACK ON TRACK, SWEEP SEASON SERIES OVER OKLAHOMA
• Baylor got 19 points off the bench from Devonte Bandoo, including a 3-pointer that gave BU the lead for good as part of a game-ending 9-2 run to finish off a season sweep of Oklahoma with a 59-53 win on Monday.
• Makai Mason returned after missing one game and posted 8 assists, the most by a BU player this season.
• Jared Butler added 11 points and 5 rebounds and combined with Bandoo to go 8-of-13 from 3-point range.
• Freddie Gillespie's lone points came on a putback that gave BU a 57-53 lead with 36 seconds left.
3-GUARD LINEUP LEADING BEARS' RESURGENCE
• Baylor switched to a 3-guard lineup after Tristan Clark's season-ending injury, swapping freshman guard Jared Butler into the starting lineup. The Bears moved 6-foot-5 sophomore Mark Vital to the starting 5-spot.
• In 10 games without Clark, Baylor is making 3.3 more 3-pointers per game (9.7 from 6.4) and shooting 10.2% higher from 3-point range (39.4 from 29.2). BU's 2-point percentage has suffered, dropping from 55% to 49%.
• Baylor is averaging 1.9 more points per game despite missing Clark's 14.6 PPG and 6.3 RPG.
• Butler is averaging 5.3 more ppg, 1.7 more rpg and 1.9 more apg in 10 games since joining the starting lineup.
• Freddie Gillespie and Flo Thamba are combining for 8.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg and 2.2 bpg in 32.2 mpg in 10 games since Clark's injury. Prior to the injury they averaged a combined 2.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 0.9 bpg in 12.8 mpg over 14 games.
A WIN WOULD ...
• Be Scott Drew's 313th win at Baylor and the 333rd of his Division I coaching career.
• Give Baylor its 6th season sweep of Texas Tech in the last 12 seasons (2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2019).
• Make Baylor 20-8 vs. Texas Tech since 2006, including 8-6 in Lubbock in that span (7-3 in Lubbock since 2010).
• Improve Baylor's record against ranked opponents to 3-1 this season and 41-68 since 2007-08.
• Give Baylor a 34-35 record in Big 12 road games since 2012, which is 2nd-best in the league.
• Improve Baylor's record to 97-73 in Big 12 play since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons.
PROTECTING HALFTIME LEADS
• Baylor went 15-0 last season when leading at halftime and is 31-2 in its last 33 games when leading at the half.
• Baylor has won 89% of its games (146-18) when leading at the half since 2011-12 (13-2 in 2018-19, 15-0 in 2017-18, 18-3 in 2016-17, 18-2 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 37% of games in which its been tied or trailing at the half since 2011-12, going 41-69 in those.
• BU has led at halftime in 164 of 274 games over the last eight seasons, and BU is 187-87 since 2011-12.
TWENTY-TWO WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS IN LAST FIVE SEASONS
• Baylor has gone 22-28 against ranked teams since the start of the 2014-15 season (2-1 this season).
• BU's 2-1 record this year includes wins vs. No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 20 Iowa State and a loss to No. 7 Kansas.
• BU is 40-68 against AP-ranked teams since 2007-08 after going 0-27 in Drew's first four rebuilding seasons.
• Baylor has won multiple games vs. AP Top 25 teams in each of the last 12 seasons. The Bears have defeated at least five ranked teams in four of the last five seasons dating back to 2013-14.
• BU has knocked off seven AP top-10 teams in the last 3 seasons (7-7 vs. AP Top 10).
BIG 12'S SECOND-BEST ROAD MARK SINCE 2012
• Baylor is 33-35 in Big 12 road games since 2012, 2nd-best in the league behind only Kansas (44-26) thru 2/15/19.
• BU is 24-26 in Big 12 road games since 2014, which is also second-best in the league behind only Kansas (31-21).
UP NEXT
• BU heads to Ames, Iowa, for a Tuesday night game at Iowa State. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.
• Baylor then returns home for its first of three remaining home games. BU hosts West Virginia at 1 p.m. on Feb. 23 and Texas at 8 p.m. on Feb. 27. After a trip to K-State on March 2, BU hosts Oklahoma State at 8 p.m. on March 6.
• The Bears wrap of the regular season with a trip to Lawrence, Kan., to face Kansas at 1 p.m. on March 9.
