Baylor
Oklahoma State
MBB Hosts Oklahoma State on Senior Night
3/5/2019 10:04:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Bears will honor King McClure, Makai Mason, Jake Lindsey and Obim Okeke prior to tipoff
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BAYLOR BEARS (19-10, 10-6) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
BAYLOR (19-10, 10-6) vs. OKLAHOMA STATE (10-19, 3-13) March 6, 2019 • 8:05 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Ferrell Center (10,284) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN2 | ESPN App Talent: Clay Matvick (pxp), Tim Welsh (analyst) LISTEN: Baylor-IMG College | ESPN Central Texas Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (10-19, 3-13) Location: Stillwater, Okla. Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Mike Boynton (South Carolina, 2003) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
While Jake Lindsey had to "hang it up and move on," fellow seniors Makai Mason and King McClure and redshirt junior guard Obim Okeke will suit up for their final game at the Ferrell Center when Baylor (19-10, 10-6) hosts Oklahoma State (10-19, 3-13) at 8 p.m. Wednesday for Senior Day.
"It's definitely going to be a little bittersweet," said Mason, a grad transfer from Yale who played only one season at Baylor. "Just having the opportunity to play in front of this crowd and in this great arena is really special. It's been a fun year as well. To have that come to a close is bittersweet, but I'm just thankful I had the opportunity in the first place."
Lindsey revealed in his Champions' TriBUne story on Monday that his basketball playing career is over after being diagnosed with Parsonage-Turner syndrome, a rare condition where "the nerves around your shoulder just die." The senior guard had offseason hip surgery last May, but the nerve problem in his left shoulder popped up post-op and never went away. "I had to make a decision with my health," Lindsey said, "and I can't really put myself out there with that kind of risk, not knowing whether or not my shoulder is stable. . . . It's just one of those things where you kind of have to hang it up and move."
Although he eventually came to grips with the decision, "you're never at peace with it," he said.
"I still wish I was out there. You can act like you're at peace with it, but you really want to be out there. You just have to learn how to deal with it, and it never truly goes away."
Lindsey and McClure were part of the same 2015 recruiting class and played together the last three years before Lindsey was sidelined this season. McClure, who's averaging a career-high 9.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists, has made 56 starts and played in 124 career games.
"King and Jake are special from the standpoint that they've been here four years," coach Scott Drew said. "You don't normally have people who care more about the program than they care about themselves. Both of them, huge hearts, great people. . . . The great ting is both of them are going to be really successful in life and represent Baylor in a great way, and I know we're awful proud to have been both of them be a part of our program."
Mason has made his mark on the program in a short period of time, averaging a team-high 14.4 points and 3.1 assists.
"I think a lot of Coach Drew's euphemisms will stick with me the most when I think back on it," Mason said. "Really, the relationships with the guys We have a great group of guys, really fun dudes just to be around, and hanging out with the guys. Coming together on the court, from being doubted at the beginning of the year. No one thought this team would really amount to much, but we proved some doubters wrong. That's something I'll definitely be proud of when I look back on it."
Equating coaching to parenthood, Drew said, "One minute, they're driving you crazy. Next minute, they're leaving the house and gone."
"You look at it, four years in college, it seems like a long time," he said. "And then you snap your fingers and say, 'Where did that go?' Then, you watch some video of their freshman years, and you're like, 'Boy, they were young back then.' The older we get, the quicker time moves. I wish they could do another four years. Unfortunately, they can't."
Drew is trying to convince Okeke to stay on for his final season of eligibility, but he will be recognized before the game along with the senior trio. He walked on to the basketball team in December 2017 after playing three years of football and has played a total of 52 minutes in 15 games over the last year and a half.
"You love having him part of the team and love having him around," Drew said. "Career-wise, I think he could work on a master's that could help him as well. There are several different paths he can go down and be very successful. Hopefully, that's playing another year here and working on that graduate degree."
In the final home game of the year, the Bears get an Oklahoma State team that took 11th-ranked Texas Tech to overtime in an 84-80 loss on the road before blowing a late lead in falling at home to No. 15 Kansas, 72-67.
Junior guards Lindy Waters (11.9 ppg) and Thomas Dziagwa (11.6 ppg) rank among the top four in the league in 3-point shooting percentage at 46.3 and 44.4, respectively. Cameron McGriff leads the Cowboys with 12.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
"They've got several guys that not only shoot a lot of (3-pointers) but make a lot of them," Drew said. "We've got to do a great job making sure those shots are contested and tough, especially in transition Other than that, they do a great job turning you over, getting in the passing lanes and disrupting your offense. They're aggressive, similar to West Virginia, as far as denying every pass and trying to make things tough."
Baylor closes out the regular season with a matchup against Kansas (22-8, 11-6) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Lawrence. The Jayhawks' streak of 14 consecutive Big 12 championships officially ended Tuesday night with an 81-68 loss at Oklahoma.
STORY LINES
• Baylor looks for its 4th sweep this year when it hosts Oklahoma State for Senior Night on Wednesday.
• Wednesday is the 84th series meeting. OSU leads the series 54-29, but BU leads 19-16 in Waco.
• BU has won 7 straight games vs. Oklahoma State, doubling its longest prior streak vs. OSU (3 in 2012-13).
• BU swept the series for a 3rd straight time last year, winning 76-60 in Waco and 67-56 in Stillwater.
• BU has swept the series in 5 of the last 7 seasons after not doing so in any of the Big 12's first 15 years.
• BU is 12-4 vs. OSU since 2012 and 17-15 in the Drew era. Prior to Drew, BU was 12-39 vs. OSU.
• The Bears won 73-69 when the teams met in Stillwater on Jan. 14. King McClure had 29 points.
• Baylor entered the game in Stillwater with a 9-6 record, but that win started a 10-4 stretch.
• With a win, BU can improve to 11-6 in Big 12 play, tying the 3rd-most conference wins in program history.
• BU is coming off a 66-60 loss at K-State. The game was tied with 13:50 left before a 14-2 KSU run.
• Baylor will honor four players prior to the game. King McClure and Jake Lindsey are fourth-year seniors who already hold BU degrees, Makai Mason is in BU grad school and Obim Okeke will graduate in May.
• BU can tie its school record with its 7th Big 12 home win of the season (2010, 2015, 2017).
• Baylor has double-digit Big 12 wins for the 4th time in the last 5 seasons and 6th time in 10 years. Prior to 2010, Baylor hadn't won 10+ conference games since 1988 Southwest Conference play.
• Mason has been limited in the last 7 games with a toe injury, McClure has missed 5 of 7 with a knee injury, Tristan Clark has missed 15 straight games, and Lindsey has missed the entire season.
• All told, those 4 projected starters have missed 56 total games, including 35 in Big 12 play.
• Mario Kegler has led BU in scoring in its last 3 games, averaging 20.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg in that stretch.
• Devonte Bandoo is averaging 13.7 points and 2.4 made 3-pointers per game over the last 7 games.
• Flo Thamba and Freddie Gillespie have combined for 8.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 2.0 bpg in 32.2 mpg in 15 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.
• Gillespie is averaging 7.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.6 bpg and shooting 72% (38-53) over the last 11 games. He entered that stretch with 25 points, 30 rebounds and 4 blocks over his previous 10 games (2.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.4 bpg).
• Jared Butler joined the starting lineup with Clark out and is averaging 12.5 ppg and 3.6 apg in 15 starts.
• Butler is shooting 45% on 3FGs (41-92) since becoming a starter after 23% (10-44) in his first 14 games.
• Butler is 6th in the Big 12 with 3.4 assists/gm in league play and has made a 3-pointer in 15 straight games.
• Over his last 11 games, Kegler is averaging a team-best 13.2 points and ranks 3rd with 5.7 rebounds.
• Kegler is shooting 42% on 3FGs (15-36) in his last 11 games after 14% (5-35) in his previous 12 games.
• Mark Vital leads the Big 12 and ranks 11th nationally with 3.5 offensive rebounds per game.
• Five Bears are shooting 37%+ from 3-point range since Clark's injury – Bandoo (45%, 2.0/gm), Butler (45%, 2.7/gm), McClure (43%, 1.6/gm), Kegler (38%, 1.2/gm) and Mason (37%, 2.1/gm).
• BU leads the nation in offensive rebounding percentage (38.9), its 6th straight year in the nation's top 10.
• In Big 12 play, BU leads the league in scoring offense (73.4), assists (14.8/gm), 3-point pct. (.393), 3-pointers made (9.3/gm), rebounding margin (+6.9/gm), rebounding offense (37.2) and rebounding defense (30.2).
ON THE CALL
• Wednesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN2 with Clay Matvick and Tim Welsh calling the action.
• Matvick is working his 3rd Baylor game this season. He called Baylor's home win over TCU and loss at Texas Tech.
• Welsh is calling his 5th BU game this season after working BU games vs. TCU, vs. K-State, at Tech and vs. WVU.
QUICK HITS
• Baylor has won 19+ games in 8 straight seasons and is seeking its 10th 20-win season in the last 12 years.
• Scott Drew is in his 16th season in Waco and is the Bears' all-time wins leader (315-205).
• Drew is coaching his 521st game at Baylor (315-205). His .606 winning percentage is best in BU history among coaches with 40+ games, and his teams have a .674 winning percentage since 2007-08 (281-136).
• Baylor is 34-37 in Big 12 road games since 2012, second-best in the league behind only Kansas (44-23).
• Baylor is 1 of 16 teams nationally to appear in every postseason since 2012 (5 NCAAs, 2 NITs).
• Baylor is 29-2 when leading at halftime since the start of the 2017-18 season (14-2 this season).
• BU is 87-19 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (19-4 this season).
• BU is 99-75 in Big 12 play in 10 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons.
• BU has won 8+ Big 12 games in 8 straight seasons after winning 8+ just 3 times in the league's first 15 years.
• 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 41-70 against AP Top 25 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 (148-18).
• Baylor is 190-89 over the last 7 seasons, averaging 24.4 wins per season since 2012.
• Baylor's 190 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (232).
• Baylor is 281-136 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 898 straight games — the last time Baylor failed to make a 3-pointer was more than 29 years ago, on Feb. 21, 1990 vs. Texas Tech (0-8).
SERIES HISTORY VS. OKLAHOMA STATE
• Wednesday's game is the 84th all-time meeting between Baylor and OSU. BU trails 29-54 in the series
• Baylor is 17-8 against OSU since March 2007 after going 12-46 vs. the Cowboys from 1917 through 2006.
• BU swept the series vs. OSU last year for the 5th time (2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018) – all in the last 8 seasons.
• OSU has swept the series 8 times, but only once since 2006 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2015).
• The home team has won 16 of 23 regular-season series meetings since 2008.
BEARS RALLY FROM 15 DOWN BUT COME UP SHORT AT K-STATE
• Baylor overcame a 24-9 deficit and led 37-36 with 15 minutes left before falling short 66-60 at K-State on March 2.
• K-State built a 53-41 lead with 8 minutes left, but the Bears got back within 3 with 24 seconds left.
• Mario Kegler led BU in scoring for a 3rd straight game with 13 points, while Makai Mason added 11 points and Jared Butler had 10 points. The Bears out-rebounded K-State 37-27, but had a season-low 7 offensive boards.
• Baylor committed 19 turnovers, its most in a Big 12 game this season, and K-State had a 21-5 edge in points off TOs.
CELEBRATING FOUR BEARS ON SENIOR NIGHT
• Baylor will recognized four players for Senior Night prior to the game. Jake Lindsey and King McClure are fourth-year seniors who already hold Baylor degrees, while Obim Okeke will graduate in May. Makai Mason is in BU grad school.
• McClure has played in 124 games and made 56 starts during his BU career.
• Lindsey played in all 103 games and made 18 starts over his first three seasons before a career-ending injury.
• Okeke has played in 15 games over 2 seasons on the BU basketball team after spending 3 seasons with BU football.
• Mason, the first grad transfer in program history, has started 24 games in his lone season at Baylor.
• Baylor is 6-1 on Senior Nights since 2012, with the lone loss to No. 10 West Virginia in 2016.
FOUR PROJECTED STARTERS HAVE MISSED SIGNIFICANT TIME
• Baylor has had four projected starters miss significant time due to injuries. Makai Mason (toe) and King McClure (knee) have both missed 5 games, while Tristan Clark (knee) and Jake Lindsey (hip) are out for the season.
• Those four starters all missed the Feb. 9 game vs. K-State and the Feb. 16 game at Texas Tech, both losses.
• All told, those four starters have combined to miss 56 games this season, including 35 games in Big 12 play.
3-GUARD LINEUP AND UNHERALDED BIG MEN 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 15 games without Clark, Baylor (10-5) is making 3.1 more 3-pointers per game (9.5 from 6.4), shooting 10% higher from 3-point range (39% from 29%) and scoring 1.5 more points per game (72.9 from 71.4).
• Butler in 15 games since becoming a starter — 12.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.6 apg, 2.7 3FGM/gm and 45% on 3-pointers.
• Butler's first 14 games prior to Clark injury — 6.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.9 apg, 0.7 3FGM/gm and 23% on 3-pointers.
• Freddie Gillespie and Flo Thamba combined in 15 games since Clark's injury — 8.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.0 bpg in 32.2 mpg.
• Prior to the injury Gillespie and Thamba combined to average 2.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 0.9 bpg in 12.8 mpg.
• Devonte Bandoo's first 14 games — 6.8 ppg, 34% 3FGs; Bandoo's last 15 games — 10.1 ppg, 45% 3FGs.
• Mario Kegler is averaging 11.9 ppg, up from 8.8 ppg, and shooting 3-pointers at 38% (18-47), up from 8% (2-24).
A WIN WOULD ...
• Be Scott Drew's 316th win at Baylor and the 336th of his Division I coaching career.
• Give BU 11 Big 12 wins, tying the 3rd-most in program history behind only the 12-6 records in 2012 and 2017.
• Clinch at least a 4th place finish in the Big 12 standings and a top-4 seed at the Big 12 Championship.
• Improve Baylor's record on Senior Nights to 7-1 since 2012.
• Give Baylor a 7-2 home record in Big 12 play this season, tying the most home Big 12 wins in program history.
• Extend Baylor's winning streak vs. OSU to 8 straight and improve BU's record vs. OSU to 13-4 since 2012.
• Give BU 20+ wins in 10 of the last 12 seasons. BU had 20+ wins in only 3 seasons prior to that stretch.
• Improve Baylor's record to 100-75 in Big 12 play since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons.
UP NEXT
• The Bears wrap up the regular season with a trip to Lawrence, Kan., to face Kansas at 1 p.m. CT on March 9.
• Baylor can be seeded anywhere from No. 3 to No. 6 at the Big 12 Championship. The Bears have earned a first-round bye and will play a quarterfinal game on March 14 at either 11:30 a.m. (4 vs. 5) or 8 p.m. (3 vs. 6).
