Baylor
West Virginia
No. 1 MBB Seeks Big 12 Record Winning Streak vs. No. 14 WVU
2/14/2020 11:15:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Bears need a win to tie longest winning streak in Big 12 history
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1/1 BAYLOR BEARS (22-1, 11-0) Location: Waco, Texas Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
BAYLOR (22-1, 11-0) vs. WEST VIRGINIA (18-6, 6-5) Feb. 15, 2020 • 3 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Ferrell Center (10,284) LIVE STATS: baylorstats.com WATCH: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ Talent: Mark Neely (pxp), Lance Blanks (analyst) LISTEN: Baylor-IMG College | ESPN Central Texas Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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14/14 WEST VIRGINIA (18-6, 6-5) Location: Morgantown, W.Va. Head Coach: Bob Huggins (WVU, 1977) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Games against 14th-ranked West Virginia are not for the faint of heart.
Not only do the Mountaineers press the whole time, forcing 16.0 turnovers per game, they have an imposing, physical front line with 6-10 sophomore Grant Culver (10.6 ppg, 8.9 rebounds), 6-9 freshman Oscar Tshiebwe (11.6 ppg, 9.1 rebounds) and 6-7 sophomore Emmitt Matthews Jr.
"It definitely helps to have athletic, strong, mentally tough, physically tough guys that don't mind banging and competing," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose top-ranked Bears (22-1, 11-0) will face West Virginia (18-6, 6-5) at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center, "because if you're soft, you will get exposed in a game like this."
Baylor has been anything but soft in reeling off a school-record 21-game winning streak. The Bears can match the 1997 Kansas team's 22-game streak for the longest in the history of the Big 12 with a win in Saturday's game.
This game matches two of the country's best defenses. Baylor forces 14.8 turnovers per game and is fifth nationally in scoring defense at 58.3 points per game, while West Virginia allows 61.5 points per game and is fifth nationally in field goal percentage defense at 37.3.
"First to 30 (points) wins," Drew said jokingly. "Some of their defensive outputs have been so impressive, and their game versus Kansas (a 58-49 loss on Wednesday) was two of the top five defenses going at it. That's why making open shots is really important, making free throws is really important. If you can get in transition and get baskets, that's important, because there is not going to be a lot of easy things in the backcourt, probably."
In West Virginia's game at Texas Tech 17 days ago, there were a combined 54 fouls called and 73 free throw attempts as the Red Raiders pulled out an 89-81 win at home.
"It depends on the referees," said 6-9 Baylor senior Freddie Gillespie, who is averaging 9.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. "Some referees call it tighter, so there might be a lot of free throws, might turn into a free throw contest. But, you know, they might just say, 'Let's play it out,' in which case . . ."
Completing his thought, senior guard Devonte Bandoo said, "You might get cut again." referring to the cut over his left eye that Gillespie suffered in a recent game.
For his part, Gillespie enjoys the physicality and said "this is my type of game."
"At some point, you can't fear it and just embrace the physicality and just learn to enjoy it," he said. "Certain games are going to be more physical than others, and you just have to find a way to will yourself to a win. . . . I love it personally."
This is the type of game that also fits 6-5 junior forward Mark Vital, a defensive specialist who is averaging 6.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. In Monday's grind-it-out 52-45 win at Texas, Vital had eight points, eight boards, one block and two steals.
"Mark is a one-of-a-kind type of guy, a type guy you only see once in five, 10 years," Bandoo said. "A guy that doesn't want the ball on offense but does the little things. There's not a lot of guys that will accept that role, but just to see Mark embrace that role and do the little things – take charges, guard 1 through 5, something you just don't see a lot. Just having a guy on our team, like Freddie says a glue to the team . . . he's just one of those guys you love to have."
Along with Bandoo off the bench, Baylor's guard trio of Jared Butler (15.0 ppg), MaCio Teague (14.4 ppg) and Davion Mitchell (9.8 ppg, 3.4 assists) will have to be able to handle a West Virginia press that comes up with eight steals per game and constantly harasses teams in the backcourt.
"Two things (can happen)," Drew said. "One is there is an opportunity to get easy buckets. And two, there's opportunities for turnovers. So, one of those is really good for us and one of them is negative. Let's hope we get the good one."
Saturday's game will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Mark Neely and former Texas standout Lance Blanks calling the action.
This is the start of a difficult stretch for the Bears, who will go to Oklahoma (16-8, 6-5) on Tuesday before returning home to host No. 3 Kansas (21-3, 10-1) at 11 a.m. next Saturday in an ESPN game. They haven't faced a team in the top half of the league since beating Oklahoma, 61-57, on Jan. 20 in Waco.
STORY LINES
• No. 1 Baylor carries a school-record 21-game winning streak into Saturday's game vs. No. 14 WVU.
• Baylor's 21-game streak is the 2nd-longest in Big 12 history (Kansas won 22 straight in 1997).
• BU's 11-game Big 12 streak is tied for the 3rd-longest conference-only winning streak in league history.
• Baylor's 11-0 start to Big 12 play is tied for 3rd-best start in league history (16-0 Kansas in 2002, 13-0 Kansas in 2010, 11-0 Texas in 2011, 11-0 Oklahoma in 2009).
• BU's 11-game conference winning streak is tied for the longest in school history (11 in 1946 SWC).
• Saturday is the 18th series meeting, all since 2011. Baylor leads 10-7, including 4-3 in Waco.
• The teams have alternated wins in Waco (BU in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019; WVU in 2014, 2016, 2018).
• BU is No. 1 in the AP Top 25. BU moved up in the poll 9 straight weeks until reaching No. 1 on Jan. 20.
• BU's 4 straight weeks as the AP No. 1 team ties Gonzaga for the nation's longest streak this season and is the longest by a team from the state of Texas since Houston was No. 1 for the final 8 weeks of 1968.
• Baylor is 11-0 at home this season and hasn't trailed by more than 2 points in any home game.
• Baylor has trailed for only 2.8% of game time over 11 home games this season (12:38 of 440:00).
• Baylor has won 20+ games for the 11th time in 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.
• BU's 22-1 is its best 23-game start in program history. BU's best 24-game start is 21-3 in 2012 & 2017.
• Baylor's 21-game winning streak is the nation's 2nd-longest behind SDSU (25).
• BU is 8-0 in road games, the 2nd-longest road winning streak in program history – 12 in 1945-46.
• Baylor (5-0) and Iowa (5-3) are the nation's only teams with 5 wins vs. AP Top 25 ranked team.
• Baylor has gone 28-32 against ranked teams over the last 6 seasons since 2014-15.
• Baylor ranks 5th nationally in scoring defense (58.3) and 10th nationally in scoring margin (+13.2).
• Baylor's 2-point FG% defense ranks 8th nationally (.427) and effective FG% defense ranks 10th (.448).
• BU is coming off a 52-45 win at Texas on Monday, holding UT to its fewest points at home since 1983.
• Baylor's defense has forced 15+ turnovers in 14 of 23 games after doing so in 7 of 34 games last year.
• Baylor has held 5 high-major opponents to their season-low scoring totals – Arizona (58), Butler (52), Texas (44), Texas Tech (52) and Kansas (55). BU has held 21 of 23 opponents below 70 points.
• BU has held 7 Big 12 opponents to 55 or fewer points, the program record for most in a single season.
• BU is No. 3 in the NET with 5 top-25 NET wins: No. 4 (road), No. 11, No. 13, No. 17 (road), No. 21 (n).
• BU is the only team with 2 players on the Naismith Defensive POY Midseason Team (Vital & Mitchell).
• BU and KU are both 6-0 in Big 12 road games, while the rest of the league is a combined 8-35.
• Baylor is the only school with FB, MBB, WBB & VB all ranked. Those teams are a combined 85-7 this year and all four are top-12 ranked (No. 1 MBB, No. 1 WBB, No. 3 VB, No. 12 FB).
• Head coach Scott Drew is in his 17th season in Waco and is BU's all-time wins leader (338-210).
• Baylor is playing its 235th 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 232 of 414 games.
QUICK HITS
• 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 48-4 when leading at halftime over the last 3 seasons since 2017-18 (18-1 this season).
• Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (166-20).
• BU is 110-21 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (22-1 this season).
• Baylor is 213-94 over the last 9 seasons, averaging 24 wins per season since 2012.
• Baylor's 213 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (257).
• Baylor is 304-141 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• BU returned 8 letterwinners from last season, including 5 players who made at least 7 starts – Mark Vital (34), Jared Butler (21), Tristan Clark (14), Freddie Gillespie (11) and Devonte Bandoo (7).
• Baylor returned 9 players with at least 26 games of Division I experience, including a pair of transfers who are now starters after sitting out last season – Davion Mitchell and MaCio Teague.
• Eight of Baylor's 14 players either have used or are currently using a redshirt year. Five after transferring to BU – Flagler, Gillespie, Mitchell, Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Teague, and three as freshmen — Moffatt, Turner and Vital.
• Eight of Baylor's nine starting point guards under Drew have earned All-Big recognition (14 of last 15 seasons).
• Baylor has defeated 8 top-10 teams in the last 4 seasons, including a 6-3 mark vs. top-10 teams in Waco.
• The Bears are one of 11 programs nationally (1 of 6 in Power-5) to win 18+ games in every year since 2008.
• 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 926 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).
• 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).
SERIES HISTORY
• Saturday is the 18th all-time series meeting, all of which have been played since 2011.
• WVU has won six of nine against the Bears after Baylor won seven of the first eight series meetings.
• BU leads the series 10-7, including a 4-3 mark in Waco. The teams have alternated wins in Waco, with Baylor winning the matchup in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 and West Virginia winning in 2014, 2016 and 2018.
LAST TIME VS. WEST VIRGINIA
• BU trailed 70-66 with 3 minutes left, but went on a 10-0 run to pull out an 82-75 win over WVU on Feb. 23, 2019.
• Mario Kegler's 3-pointer with 2:23 left gave Baylor the lead for good, and Jared Butler's 3-point play with 1:21 remaining extended the lead to 75-70. Kegler made 6 straight free throws to close the game.
• Kegler had his first double-double with career-highs of 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Mark Vital added his 2nd double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Devonte Bandoo had 22 points in 33 minutes off the bench.
SECOND-LONGEST WINNING STREAK IN BIG 12 HISTORY
• Baylor's 21-game winning streak is the 2nd-longest by any team in the Big 12 Conference's 24-year history. The only longer streak was Kansas' 22-game streak to start the 1996-97 season.
• Baylor's 11-0 start to Big 12 play is tied for the 3rd-best start by any team in the league's 24-year history (Kansas 16-0 in 2002, Kansas 13-0 in 2010, Texas 11-0 in 2011, Oklahoma 11-0 in 2009, Baylor 11-0 in 2020).
• Baylor's 11-game Big 12 winning streak is tied for the 3rd-longest conference-only streak in league history, trailing only Kansas' 16-game streak in 2002 and Kansas' 13-game streak in 2010.
• With a win vs. WVU, Baylor would tie the longest overall winning streak in Big 12 history (22) and stand alone as the 3rd-longest conference-only winning streak (12) in league history.
SCHOOL-RECORD 21-GAME WINNING STREAK
• Baylor's 21-game winning streak is the longest winning streak in program history (previously 17 in 2011-12).
• The current 21-game streak includes 5 wins vs. ranked opponents, 8 road games and 3 neutral-site games.
• BU has won 11 straight Big 12 games for first time and is off to an 11-0 start in conference play for the first time in program history. Baylor's best previous start to conference play was 10-0 in the 1948 Southwest Conference.
