Baylor
Illinois
No. 2/1 MBB Readies for Top-5 Showdown vs. No. 5/10 Illinois
11/30/2020 8:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Wednesday marks the 6th top-5 matchup in Baylor program history
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2/1 BAYLOR BEARS (2-0, 0-0) Location: Waco, Texas Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (2-0) vs. ILLINOIS (3-0) Dec. 2, 2020 • 9 p.m. CT Indianapolis, Ind. • Bankers Life Fieldhouse (20,000) LIVE STATS: baylorstats.com WATCH: ESPN Talent: Dan Shulman (pxp), Dick Vitale (analyst), Holly Rowe (reporter) LISTEN: Baylor-IMG College | ESPN Central Texas Talent: Pat Nunley (pxp), David Kaye (analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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5/10 ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI (3-0, 0-0) Location: Champaign, Ill. Head Coach: Brad Underwood (Kansas State, 1986) Roster | Stats (PDF) | Game Notes (PDF) |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Coming out of a 10-day quarantine following a positive test for COVID, Baylor coach Scott Drew couldn't wipe that smile off his face if he had tried.
Reunited with the team Tuesday in Indianapolis, Drew will be at the helm for the first time this season when the No. 2/1 Bears (2-0) face No. 5/10 Illinois (3-0) at 9 p.m. CST Wednesday in the Jimmy V Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
In a pair of lopsided wins over Louisiana and Washington on Saturday and Sunday in the Vegas Bubble, Drew said, "A lot of our guys executed a lot of things offensively and defensively like we hoped they would."
"That's the advantage of going into the season with four returning starters," he said. "We're very blessed to have a staff that knows what they're doing and do a great job. Just being away from the team and the guys is the toughest thing, because you want to help, but you're not there to help. Zoom calls only do so much."
MaCio Teague led five double-figure scorers with 21 points in a 112-82 blowout of Louisiana in Saturday's season opener in Las Vegas, then the defense throttled Washington the next night in an 86-52 blowout that avenged last year's loss to the Huskies.
"Those games were really important, especially without scrimmages this year," Drew said. "First and foremost, if our guys had to practice another week against each other, they might have killed each other. They were ready to face somebody different. After that, it's important to start rotations and your team bonding and your roles, and hopefully that gets a little more shored up after this week."
This is a big step up in competition this week, with the Bears facing back-to-back top-5 teams. They play Gonzaga, ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll and No. 2 by the coaches, at noon Saturday in another nationally televised game (CBS) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
"Obviously, you have big goals for conference and hopefully postseason," Drew said, "so these two games will really help us moving forward. At the same time, I know when you play games like this, there's really no loser, because if you win it's a great win. And if you lose, it doesn't hurt you as far as your tournament resume goes."
Like Baylor, Illinois features a first-team preseason All-American and a pair of Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy candidates.
Junior point guard Ayo Dounmu (25.7 ppg, 6.7 assists) was joined by Baylor junior guard Jared Butler (18.5 ppg, 4.5 assists) as an AP preseason first-team All-American, while Teague (18.0 ppg, 6.5 rebounds) and the Illini's 7-footer, Kofi Cockburn (15.0 ppg, 11.7 rebounds), are also on watch lists for the Naismith and Wooden Award.
"I think it's a real big emphasis on those two players, because they can score the ball and they can hurt us," said junior guard Davion Mitchell, who is averaging 12.0 points and a team-best 6.5 assists. "I'm not saying the other players are not good, but I feel like we should be focused more on those two."
Besides having talent, Illinois has some proven, older players with experience.
"This will be a great opportunity for us to see just what areas we need to improve on and get better at," he said, "if we want to do what we'd like to do as far as the remaining of the year with the goals we've set."
Illinois is led by fourth-year head coach Brad Underwood, who was 0-4 against Baylor in previous stops at Oklahoma State and Stephen F. Austin.
"With Coach Underwood, I remember when he was an assistant at Western Illinois and I was an assistant at Valpo," Drew said. "We've known each other for a long time. One thing he's always going to do a great job of is adjusting to his personnel. At Oklahoma State, they went to a pack-line defense a little later on. . . . Coaches are who they are, and a lot of things don't change that way. Scheme-wise, you will always adjust to personnel if you're a good coach, and that's what he is."
Returning four All-Big 12 players, including senior forward Mark Vital (6.5 ppg, 8.5 rebounds), the Bears have to break in a new center after losing Freddie Gillespie and Tristan Clark. Over the weekend, sophomore Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua combined to average 12 points and 12.5 rebounds per game.
"Both of them have done a good job of embracing their roles," Drew said. "That's defensively contesting and making it tough to score in the paint area, doing a great job defending ball screens, and then both have really improved their finishing ability. When you have great guards that give you an advantage, the big thing is being able to finish that."
Wednesday's game will be nationally televised by ESPN, with Dan Shulman, Dick Vitale and Holly Rowe calling the action.
STORY LINES
• No. 2/1 Baylor takes on No. 5/10 Illinois in the Jimmy V Classic Wednesday night in Indianapolis.
• This is the 6th top-5 matchup in Baylor program history, the first in non-conference play or at a neutral site.
• Baylor is No. 1 in the preseason coaches' poll and No. 2 in the AP Top 25 – both highest preseason rankings in program history. This is the 7th time Baylor has been ranked No. 1 nationally.
• Baylor joins Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only programs ranked No. 1 in 3 of the last 5 seasons.
• Baylor is facing Illinois for the 4th time and is 0-3 in the all-time series (1986, 1987, 2014).
• Baylor returned four All-Big 12 players from a 2019-20 team which went 26-4 and spent five weeks ranked No. 1 nationally. The Bears finished last season ranked No. 4 in the coaches poll (No. 5 in AP).
• 2020 Big 12 Coach of the Year Scott Drew will coach his first game of the season after missing two games due to COVID-19. Associate head coach Jerome Tang served as BU's acting head coach.
• Baylor opened with a 112-82 win over ULL on Saturday. BU's 112 points were its most since 2017.
• BU then beat Washington 86-52 on Sunday in Las Vegas, out-rebounding the Huskies 50-19.
• Baylor is on a school-record streak of 13 straight weeks top-5 ranked (previously 6 straight in 2017).
• BU's streak of 22 consecutive AP polls ranked ties the 2nd-longest in program history (25 in 2016-17).
• Baylor's defense forced 15+ turnovers in 19 of 32 games since the start of the 2019-20 season.
• BU has led by at least 5 points in 32 consecutive games and built a double-digit lead in 26 of 32 games.
• Among BU returners is Jared Butler, who is the first preseason AP All-American in program history.
• BU also welcomes back MaCio Teague, an all-conference pick in all 3 of his collegiate seasons.
• BU returns two players who were semifinalists for the 2020 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. Mark Vital was 1 of 4 finalists, while Davion Mitchell joined Vital among the 10 semifinalists.
• Baylor is playing its 244th game as a ranked team under Drew – BU was ranked in 2 of 2197 games over the program's 97 seasons prior to Drew. Since 2008-09, BU has been ranked in 241 of 423 games.
• BU has been top-10 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage a nation's-best 7 straight years.
• Baylor is 1 of 5 Power-5 programs to win 18+ games in each of the last 12 seasons since 2008, joining Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State.
• Baylor has won 20+ games in 11 of the last 13 years. The Bears reached the 20-win mark only 3 times in 101 seasons prior to 2008. BU is averaging 24 wins per season since 2008.
• Head coach Scott Drew is in his 18th season in Waco and is BU's all-time wins leader (344-213).
• BU has advanced to 8 consecutive postseasons, tied as the nation's 10th-longest active streak.
• BU was picked to win the Big 12 in the league's preseason coaches' poll for the first time.
• Baylor signed the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history (No. 4) earlier this month. BU inked 5-star Kendall Brown, 4-star Langston Love and 4-star Jeremy Sochon for the 2021-22 season.
• Baylor has defeated 8 top-10 teams in the last 4+ seasons, including a 6-4 mark vs. top-10 teams in Waco.
• The Bears have now been ranked in every AP Top 25 spot except No. 8 during the 17-year Drew era.
• BU is 12-2 all-time as a No. 1-ranked team, including 10-1 over the last two seasons.
QUICK HITS
• Baylor's 23-game winning streak last season was the longest ever by a Big 12 team (previously 22 by 1996-97 KU).
• BU's 13-game conference winning streak was the longest in school history (previously 11 in 1946 SWC).
• Baylor has won 20+ games in 11 of the last 13 seasons after recording only three 20-win seasons in the previous 100 years of Baylor Basketball (1946, 1948, 1988).
• Baylor is 53-5 when leading at halftime over the last 4 seasons since 2017-18 (21-2 last season).
• Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (171-21).
• BU is 116-23 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (26-3 last season).
• Baylor is 219-97 over 9+ seasons, averaging 24 wins per season since 2011-12.
• Baylor's 219 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (264).
• Baylor is 310-144 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• BU returns 8 players with at least 30 games of DI experience, including a pair of sophomore transfers who will join the rotation after sitting out last season – Adam Flagler and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua.
• Eight of Baylor's players either have used or are currently using a redshirt year. Four after transferring to BU – Flagler, Mitchell, Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Teague, and four as freshmen — Moffatt, Turner, Vital and Dainja.
• Nine of Baylor's 10 starting point guards under Drew have earned All-Big recognition (15 of last 16 seasons).
• Baylor is 1 of 14 teams nationally to appear in every postseason since 2012 (6 NCAAs, 2 NITs).
• Baylor has the nation's 10th-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 935 straight games — the last time Baylor failed to make a 3-pointer was more than 30 years ago, on Feb. 21, 1990 vs. Texas Tech (0-8).
• BU is 6-1 all-time in Big 12/SEC Challenges, the best record of any team in either league. Combined with a 3-1 mark in the Big 12/Pac-10 Series and 1-0 in the Big 12/Big East Battle, Baylor is 10-2 in conference challenges.
• Baylor has won 6 tournament titles under Drew (2007 Paradise Jam, 2011 Las Vegas Classic, 2013 NIT, 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2017 Hall of Fame Classic and 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational).
SIXTH AND SEVENTH TOP-5 MATCHUPS IN PROGRAM HISTORY
• No. 2 Baylor will play consecutive top-5 matchups this week, taking on No. 5 Illinois and No. 1 Gonzaga.
• This will mark the 6th and 7th games in BU history matching two top-5 teams, the first in non-conference play.
• After this week, Baylor will have played 4 top-5 matchups in the 2020 calendar year, more than the 3 top-5 matchups in Baylor's Basketball's previous 114 years of competition (2012, 2017, 2017).
• Baylor's first win in a top-5 matchup came at No. 3 Kansas on Jan. 11, 2020, when No. 4 BU won 67-55.
SERIES HISTORY VS. ILLINOIS
• Baylor and Illinois will meet for the fourth time, and the Bears are seeking their first win in the series.
• BU last faced Illinois in the 2014 Las Vegas Invitational championship game, a 62-54 Illini win. Prior to that, the teams met in Champaign in 1986 (92-68 Illini win) and in the 1987 Maui Invitational (73-50 Illini win).
• Baylor is 4-0 against Brad Underwood-coached teams – 2-0 vs. Oklahoma State, 2-0 vs. SFA.
