No. 2 Lady Bears host TCU in Battle of Top Two Big 12 Teams Wednesday



	#2/2 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (21-1, 10-0) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes	#2/2 BAYLOR (21-1, 10-0) vs TCU (17-4, 8-2) February 12, 2020 \| 7 PM Waco, Texas \| Ferrell Center (10,284) LIVE STATS: BaylorStats.com RADIO: 1660 AM/92.3 FM WATCH: ESPN App Talent: John Morris (PBP), Jim Haller (Color) LISTEN: Tune In Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Color) Baylor Social Media:

	TCU HORNED FROGS (17-4, 8-2) Location: Fort Worth, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Reagan Pebley Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            One of the few Big 12 teams that has even pushed No. 2 Baylor (21-1, 10-0) to this point, TCU (17-4, 8-2) has reeled off four-consecutive wins since a 66-57 loss to the Lady Bears three weeks ago in Fort Worth.
            Alone in second place in the Big 12 standings, the Horned Frogs face Baylor at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Ferrell Center, trying to snap a 28-game losing streak in the series. TCU's last win against the Lady Bears came on Feb. 28, 1990 in Fort Worth (83-76), when the two teams were Southwest Conference rivals.
            "You see a team of upperclassmen that have played together," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said of TCU, which is bidding for its first NCAA Tournament berth in 10 years. "You see a hungry team, they want to get to the NCAA Tournament. They haven't lost a game in the Big 12 on the road yet (5-0) . . . so they're not going to be intimidated coming in here. They're not going to be intimidated going anywhere in the Big 12."
            Junior guard Lauren Heard leads three double-figure scorers for the Frogs with 17.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, pumping in 23 points in Saturday's 87-74 road win at Kansas. Undersized with a four-guard lineup, TCU's tallest starters are 6-1 guards Jayde Woods (11.0 ppg) and Kianna Ray (12.3 ppg) and 6-1 forward Adeola Akomalafe (5.7 ppg, 5.2 rebounds).
            In the first meeting, Baylor trailed by one going into the fourth quarter and missed 10 of its first 12 from the line before hitting six of eight in the last 64 seconds to pull out the win.
            "We're a different team now. NaLyssa (Smith) didn't play in that game, that was her first game to miss," Mulkey said of the 6-2 Smith, who's averaging 14.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. "They're second place in the league, and they have seniors and players that have played together. And they're playing extremely well. You know they're going to play hard, so we better be ready."
            Named to the Midseason Team for the Naismith Trophy, along with 6-4 senior All-American forward Lauren Cox (11.5 ppg, 8.0 rebounds, 2.4 blocks), Smith is tops among Baylor's five double-figure scorers. The backfield combo of Te'a Cooper and Juicy Landrum are averaging 14.4 and 11.0 points, respectively, while 6-3 sophomore Queen Egbo chips in with 11.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
            Cox is shooting just 32.3 percent over the last three games (10-of-31), but Mulkey said, "You cannot put a value on what Lauren Cox brings to the table."
            "She can miss every dang shot she takes," Mulkey said. "She's got to be on the floor, because she makes us better. . . . It's easy to see her when she blocks a shot. It's easy to see her when she helps on a drive. Watch the little things, the instinctive things, that Cox and Juicy and kids that are really, really tuned in and focused do for you on the floor, especially when you're struggling offensively."
            The Lady Bears are coming off an "ugly game," shooting just 38 percent from the floor and scoring a season-low 54 points in Saturday's 54-40 road win at Kansas State.
            "It's just the grind of the season we're in the middle of February," Mulkey said. "Everybody has scouted each other so well, and we can make each other look bad."
            In addition to winning 28 in a row against TCU, Baylor is riding a 14-game winning streak this season and has won 51-straight Big 12 games and 52-consecutive home games.
            Wednesday's game will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and former Baylor men's basketball coach Jim Haller calling the action.
            The Lady Bears have back-to-back road trips to Oklahoma State (Saturday) and Texas Tech (Feb. 18) before their next home game against Oklahoma on Saturday, Feb. 22.
            "We've got eight more (games), this is at home. We don't have many more at home. And we're trying to win a Big 12 championship. That's the motivating factor," Mulkey said.

LADY BEARS PUT SEVERAL STREAKS ON THE LINE VS TCU
   Whether on the home court or on the road, the Baylor women's basketball team has plenty of streaks going. Wednesday vs. TCU, the Lady Bears will aim for their 52nd straight Big 12 win in the regular season. A 52nd-straight conference win would be tied for the seventh-best streak in NCAA history. In addition, Baylor will look to extend the nation's longest active win streak to 53 games. A win over the Horned Frogs Wednesday would tie the Lady Bears for the 12^th longest home-win streak in NCAA history.
   Finally, a win over TCU Wednesday would be Baylor's 29^th-straight win over the Horned Frogs and the 17^th under head coach Kim Mulkey. TCU's last win over Baylor came Feb. 28, 1990 in Fort Worth.

MULKEY GOES 20 FOR 20; HONING IN ON THE FASTEST COACH (MAN OR WOMAN) TO REACH 600 VICTORIES
   Baylor's win vs. Kansas Feb. 4 in Waco gave the Lady Bears 20 wins. Head Coach Kim Mulkey is in her 20th season at the helm, and Baylor has won at least 20 games in all 20 seasons.
   In addition, Mulkey's career record moved to 597-100 with the win over the K-State Saturday. If she can get to 600 before she coaches in her 704th game, she will be the fastest coach in NCAA Division I history, man or woman, to reach the milestone. Baylor would need to win three out of their next six games to help Mulkey accomplish the feat. She would get to 600 faster than names including Adolph Rupp, Geno Auriema, Pat Summit, Roy Williams, John Wooden, Dean Smith and John Calipari.

COOPER IN CONSIDERATION FOR TWO TOP POINT GUARD AWARDS
   Baylor senior graduate transfer Te'a Cooper earned a spot on the late-season watch list for the Dawn Staley Award Feb. 7 while being named a finalist for the WBCA's Nancy Lieberman Award Monday. Cooper is achieving career bests in points per game (14.4), 3-point field goals (42), 3-point field goal percentage (.424), assists (105) and assists per game (4.8) in her only year with the Lady Bears.
   The Staley award is given to a player that best exemplifies Staley's attributes as a player: will to win, distributing the basketball, ball handling and scoring. The Liberman Award is given to the nation's top point guard and is selected by Lieberman and a group of Naismith Hall of Famers.

NCAA SELECTION COMMITTEE PUTS LADY BEARS AS NO. 2 OVERALL SEED, NO. 1 IN DALLAS REGIONAL
   Feb. 3, at halftime of the UConn vs. Oregon game on ESPN2, the NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Committee had its first reveal of the Top-16 teams. The committee picked South Carolina as the No. 1 overall seed and Baylor as the No. 2 overall seed. Joining SC and BU as No. 1 seeds were Louisville and Oregon with South Carolina headed to the Greenville regional, Baylor to the Dallas regional, Oregon to the Portland regional and Louisville to the Fort Wayne Regional.
   South Carolina lost to No. 17 Indiana for its only loss of the season
Nov. 29 while Baylor's only loss came to the No. 5-ranked Gamecocks Nov. 30 without Lauren Cox.
   The committee will reveal its updated Top 16 March 2 at halftime of the South Florida vs. UConn game on ESPN2, which tips at 7 p.m. ET. Then, the NCAA Committee will have the entire bracket on the ESPN Selection Show at 7 p.m. ET, March 16.

LADY BEARS ON THE RUN
   Through 22 games the Lady Bears have 32 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 104 fast-break points on the season. Baylor is outscoring teams on the break by an average of 16.5-5.7.

50/50 – BAYLOR'S MAGIC NUMBER OFFENSIVELY & DEFENSIVELY
   Kim Mulkey coached teams at Baylor 232-1 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field, while just 16 times in 19-plus seasons has an opponent shot 50 percent or better against the Lady Bears defense. Baylor's only loss when shooting 50 percent or better came vs. Mississippi State in the 2017 Elite 8.

COX NABS THREE MORE LATE-SEASON HONORS; SMITH JOINS HER ON NAISMITH MIDSEASON TEAM
   Lauren Cox was named a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, named to the late-season watch list for the John Wooden Award, and the midseason watch list for the Naismith Trophy along with sophomore NaLyssa Smith. The Senior CLASS Award narrowed its list of candidates to 10 women's players who exemplify excellence in competition, in the classroom, and in the community. The Wooden Award honors the top player in college basketball, and Cox was the only Big 12 representative out of 20 players. Smith & Cox are on the Naismith midseason watch list, which consists of 20 players, including Iowa State guard Ashley Joens.

COX & RICHARDS NAMED AS 15 FINALISTS FOR NAISMITH DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
   Lauren Cox is the 2-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and DiDi Richards' reputation for her on-ball defense earned her First-Team All-Big 12 honors last year. This year, those performances have carried over to national recognition as the pair made the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Midseason Team, which includes just 15 players.
   Cox has missed time due to injury, but is still averaging 3.0 blocks and 1.1 steals per game while opponent's offensive scouting reports are scrambled when they face the Cox-led Lady Bears. Richards' steal numbers are up to 2.1 per game, she's added 15 blocks this season and still draws assignments for each opponent's top perimeter player throughout the season.

LADY BEARS RANK NO. 1 IN THE NATION IN 7 STATISTICAL CATEGORIES
   The 21-1 Lady Bears rank in the top 10 nationally in 15 categories through games played through Feb. 9. Baylor ranks No. 1 in the nation in five categories: Assists Per Game (22.6), Field Goal Percentage (.505), Field Goal Percentage Defense (.301), Scoring Margin (34.0), and Three-Point Field Goal Percentage (.419).
   In addition, Baylor ranks in the top five in eight additional categories (full list on page 5).
   DiDi Richards ranks 8th nationally in assists-to-turnover ratio (2.90:1) while also cracking the Top 25 in assists per game at 16th (5.4) and assists at 25th (119). NaLyssa Smith's .597 shooting percentage ranks 11th in the nation and first in the Big 12 while Queen Egbo is 14th and second, respectively at .599 from the floor. Juicy Landrum's .469 3-point field goal percentage ranks 5th in the nation and first in the Big 12.

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.

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 Lady Bears host TCU in Battle of Top Two Big 12 Teams Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

Te'a Cooper

Lauren Cox

Queen Egbo

Juicy Landrum

DiDi Richards

NaLyssa Smith

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No. 2 Lady Bears host TCU in Battle of Top Two Big 12 Teams Wednesday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Te'a Cooper

Lauren Cox

Queen Egbo

Juicy Landrum

DiDi Richards

NaLyssa Smith

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