No. 2/1 WBB to Honor Davis Ahead of Top 25 Clash with WVU



	#2/1 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (14-1, 3-0) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes	#2/1 BAYLOR (14-1, 3-0) VS WEST VIRGINIA (13-2, 2-1) January, 18, 2020 \| 7 PM Waco, Texas \| Ferrell Center (10,284) LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast RADIO: 1660 AM/92.3 FM WATCH: FS1 Talent: Ron Thulin (PBP), Brenda Vanlengen (Analyst) LISTEN: Tune In Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Color) Baylor Social Media:

	#17/18 WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS (13-2, 2-1) Location: Morgantown, W. Va. Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Mike Carey Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            During her playing days at Louisiana Tech, Kim Mulkey said the Lady Techsters were so deep that their second five was probably good enough to be ranked in the top 10 in the country.
            Baylor's bench might not be quite at that level, but the six subs did score 37 points in the Lady Bears' 90-47 rout of Kansas Wednesday night in Lawrence.
            "I don't think our depth gets talked about enough," said Mulkey, whose second-ranked Lady Bears (14-1, 3-0) host No. 17 West Virginia (13-2, 3-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday. "I think with depth, you also have to have kids that understand their roles and play their roles. Some of those kids on that bench, if you played them more minutes, would average the same as the starters. But, it's not their time to do that. This is what we need you to do."
            Sophomore guard Trinity Oliver had career highs with 10 points and seven rebounds in the win over Kansas, while 6-3 sophomore post Queen Egbo and freshman guard Jordyn Oliver added nine points apiece.
            "Me getting out there and executing and doing the little things I was told to do really boosts my confidence and gives (Mulkey) more confidence in me," said Oliver, who is averaging a career-high 4.2 points and 2.5 rebounds. "When you can defend and do all the little things, then everything else will fall in place. There's no pressure. Just get out there and do what I'm capable of doing."
            Mulkey said that when all 11 players "get it, that there's a bigger picture out there than my stats, you're going to win a lot of championships."
            "I enjoy coaching this bunch as much as any team I've coached," she said. "They have come through an injury of a great player (6-4 All-American senior forward Lauren Cox) and never batted an eye. They have changed roles and accepted roles from last year, and they expect to win and they're very confident."
            Baylor, hoping to extend a school- and Big 12-record 44-game conference winning streak, faces the only other ranked team in the conference. But, the Mountaineers are coming off a stunning 73-49 home-court loss to Oklahoma on Wednesday, when the Sooners' Taylor Robertson knocked down eight 3-pointers and scored 31 points.
            "Those kids can light you up," Mulkey said. "But, I think some of it, too, if you look at the film, I think West Virginia missed a lot of shots. That could be attributed to Oklahoma's defense, I don't know, but they missed shots that they don't normally miss."
            West Virginia shot just 23.7 percent from the floor, including 1-of-13 from 3-point range, but also gave up its second-highest point total of the year. This is a team that went into Starkville, Miss., and beat a top-10 Mississippi State team and also has wins over Michigan State, Syracuse and Texas.
            Guards Kysre Gondrezick and Tynece Martin rank among the Big 12 leaders, averaging 17.3 and 16.2 points, respectively, while 6-1 sophomore forward Kari Niblack chips in with 8.8 points and a team-high 6.8 boards per game.
            "(Martin) can elevate when you're guarding her and shoot it right in your face, and there's not a whole lot you can do," Mulkey said. "Kysre brings a new dimension. She started out at Michigan, and now she's a scoring threat for them. They rebound the ball hard. Niblack and those kids go in there and give them extra shots. And then, you're not going to just make a simple pass against West Virginia. You're going to have to focus and you're going to have to take care of the ball. And they're going to make you pay if you get lazy."
            Prior to the game, two-time All-American forward Nina Davis will have her No. 13 jersey retired. One of just six players in program history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds, Davis joins an elite list of players who have had their jersey retired – Suzie Snider-Eppers (1973-77), Sheila Lambert (2000-02), Sophia Young (2002-06) and Melissa Jones (2007-11).
            "Nina is one of the greatest players to play here," Mulkey said of Davis (2013-17), who is now a sports broadcaster based in Los Angeles. "I still have those visions of Nina going in there and getting rebounds. How she could do that at her size, she was one of the best at following up her own misses. Sometimes, when kids miss shots, they bale out. She would follow up and get her own miss and put it back in. And at her size, that was always just amazing to me."
            Saturday's game is an FS1 broadcast, with Ron Thulin and Brenda VanLengen calling the action.

SATURDAY BRINGS TOP 25 CLASH, HONORING OF NINA DAVIS
   Baylor will take on No. 17/18 West Virginia before a nationally-televised audience Saturday at 7 p.m. on FS1. The Lady Bears lead the series 15-3 and are 15-2 under Mulkey vs. the Mountaineers. The last matchup was the Big 12 regular-season finale in March where Baylor cemented its perfect 18-0 record in league play, but not without a fight, squeaking out a 63-57 win in Morgantown, W. Va., March 4.
            Baylor is 75-47 all-time when playing a Top 25 opponent at the Ferrell Center and 70-17 (.804) under Kim Mulkey. Since the 2010-11 season, Baylor is 40-3 vs. Top 25 opponents at the Ferrell Center.
   Former Lady Bear Nina Davis will have her No. 13 jersey retired in a pregame ceremony Saturday. Davis was one of six Baylor players to have 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. She ranks fifth all-time in both scoring and rebounding and earned All-America status in all four seasons with the team by various entities.

LADY BEARS PICK UP SIGNATURE WIN AT NO. 1 UCONN
   Prior to last year's meeting with UConn at home, Baylor was 0-11 in the NCAA era vs. No. 1-ranked opponents. However, after a 67-58 win over the top-ranked Huskies in Waco Jan. 3, 2019 and a 74-58 win at No. 1 UConn Thursday, Baylor now has two-straight wins over No. 1s. Both Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey and UConn head coach Geno Auriema downplayed the impact of game and the result pregame and postgame, respectively. However, for Baylor it gives their non-conference resume some punch after falling to No. 5/6 South Carolina (74-59) in St. Thomas, USVI Nov. 30.
   The Lady Bears moved to 3-1 vs. ranked opponents in 2019-20 and improved to 60-15 vs. Top 25 programs away from Waco since the 2010-11 school year.
   Baylor is now 4-4 all-time vs. UConn, and the Lady Bears have stopped two impressive streaks in the last two victories over the Huskies. Baylor snapped UConn's 126 regular-season game win streak in 2019 before ending the Huskies' 98-game home win streak Thursday. It also marked UConn's worst home loss since Dec. 5, 2005 when North Carolina beat the Huskies by 23.
   For the second-straight season, Baylor held UConn to below 30 percent shooting from the floor. The Huskies managed just a .294 shooting mark in Waco before holding UConn to a .290 effort Thursday on 20-69 shooting.

STREAKS CONTINUE TO BE ON THE LINE FOR BAYLOR
   Baylor has tied the Big 12 and BU record with 44-straight Big 12 wins in the regular season after Wednesday's win at Kansas. Forty-four-straight conference wins in the regular season is tied for the 12th best conference win streak in NCAA history. Baylor can take sole possession of the Big 12 and Baylor record with a win over West Virginia Saturday and sole possession of 12^th place all-time.
   Baylor's home win streak of 48 games is the longest active streak in the NCAA after the Lady Bears ended UConn's 98-game home win streak Jan. 9. Forty-eight straight wins at the Ferrell Center is tied for the 18^th-best home win streak in NCAA history, and the Lady Bears are 393-97 (.802) all-time in Waco.

WRAPPING UP A NINE-YEAR RUN OF DOMINANCE FOR BAYLOR'S LADY BEARS
     Baylor closed 2019 with a 335-23 record between Jan. 2, 2010 and Dec. 30, 2019 for a .936 winning percentage. Last decade produced two national championships (2012, 2019), three Final Fours (2010, 2012, 2019), 10 Sweet 16s, 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, nine Big 12 regular season championships, and eight Big 12 Tournament titles. It also saw 11 players receive WBCA First-Team All-America honors, seven earned Associated Press All-Americans, eight were named USBWA First-Team All-Americans, Kim Mulkey earned seven different National Coach of the Year honors and six Big 12 Coach of the Year awards. Six players were named Big 12 Player of the Year and 22 players earned First-Team All-Big 12.

LADY BEARS ON THE RUN
   Through 15 games the Lady Bears have 28 double-digit runs this season, including a season-high 37-0 run to begin the game vs. New Hampshire Nov. 5 and a Big-12 best 29-0 run at Oklahoma Jan. 4. In addition to the transition game on offense, Baylor's defense has allowed just 61 fast-break points on the season. Baylor is outscoring teams on the break by an average of 18.6-4.1.

LADY BEARS PIQUING ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL THROUGH FIRST 15 GAMES
   The 13-1 Lady Bears rank in the top 10 nationally in 14 categories through games played through Jan 12. Baylor ranks tops in the nation in assists per game (23.2), field goal percentage (.515), scoring margin (38.6), scoring offense (87.4) and field goal percentage defense (.296). Baylor also ranks in the top five in the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio (2nd, 1.72:1), blocked shots per game (5th, 6.5) assists (3rd, 325), rebound margin (14.6), three-point field goal percentage (4th, .399) and scoring defense (2nd, 48.8).
   DiDi Richards ranks fourth nationally in assists-to-turnover ratio (3.35:1) while Juicy Landrum ranks 17th (2.60:1) and Jordyn Oliver checks in at 24th (2.41:1); the trio ranks first through third, respectively in that category in the Big 12 rankings. NaLyssa Smith ranks 14th in the nation and second in the Big 12 at 60.5 shooting from the floor while Queen Egbo is 20th and third, respectively with a .592 mark. Juicy Landrum is shooting .468 from beyond the 3-point arc, which ranks her eighth in the nation and second in the Big 12.

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.

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). But perhaps the most consistent category the Lady Bears led the nation in, was field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a .318 clip. That marked the third-straight year to lead the nation in that category while also ranking in the top five in eight of the last nine years.

No. 2/1 WBB to Honor Davis Ahead of Top 25 Clash with WVU

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Players Mentioned

Lauren Cox

Queen Egbo

Juicy Landrum

Jordyn Oliver

Trinity Oliver

DiDi Richards

NaLyssa Smith

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No. 2/1 WBB to Honor Davis Ahead of Top 25 Clash with WVU

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lauren Cox

Queen Egbo

Juicy Landrum

Jordyn Oliver

Trinity Oliver

DiDi Richards

NaLyssa Smith

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