Baylor
Oklahoma
No. 1 MBB Readies for Road Contest at Oklahoma
2/17/2020 1:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Baylor is 8-0 in road games this season
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1/1 BAYLOR BEARS (23-1, 12-0) Location: Waco, Texas Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
BAYLOR (23-1, 12-0) at OKLAHOMA (16-9, 6-6) Feb. 18, 2020 • 8 p.m. CT Norman, Okla. • Lloyd Noble Center (11,528) LIVE STATS: baylorstats.com WATCH: ESPN2 and the ESPN App Talent: Jon Sciambi (pxp), Fran Fraschilla (analyst) LISTEN: Baylor-IMG College | ESPN Central Texas Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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NR/NR OKLAHOMA (16-9, 6-6) Location: Norman, Okla. Head Coach: Lon Kruger (Kansas State, 1975) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Baylor's laser focus will be tested when the top-ranked Bears (23-1 12-0) face Oklahoma (16-9, 6-6) at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.
Four days before a top-five matchup at home against No. 3 Kansas (23-3, 12-1) that has attracted ESPN's College GameDay, Baylor can set a Big 12 record with its 23rd-consecutive win, breaking the mark set by the 1996-97 Kansas team.
"I think why we're in this position is really we haven't focused too much about the big picture and more that you're in the now," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "The great thing is if we keep focusing on that, then hopefully we can accomplish that come Tuesday night."
While there is excitement and anticipation about Saturday's game and a second-straight sellout crowd, Drew said the players are fully aware of "why we've been successful all year."
"We haven't looked ahead. We've just focused on trying to get better each and every day and trying to control what we can control," he said.
Senior forward Freddie Gillespie, who is averaging 9.7 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, said most of the players aren't even aware of the Bears' record winning streak.
"In the locker room, if you went around and asked each guy what our record was or how many games in a row we've won . . . they would have said, 'I don't know, 17, 16?" he said. "It's not something that is really at the forefront of our mind."
Baylor squeaked out a 61-57 win over the Sooners last month in Waco, with Gillespie recording a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell added 16 and 13 points, respectively, while sophomore guard Jared Butler scored just four points and was 2-of-13 from the floor.
Brady Manek hit four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 21 points for OU, which missed a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds before a pair of clinching free throws by Devonte Bandoo.
Oklahoma, which is 6-2 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams at the Noble Center, boasts the league's top scoring trio and one of the best in the nation with 6-9 junior forward Brady Manek (15.6 ppg), 6-7 senior forward Kristian Doolittle (15.5) and 6-5 junior guard Austin Reaves (14.1).
"(Doolittle's) been on a tear, Manek's been on a tear," Drew said. "Great players are going to score. You just want to make it as tough as possible on them. We did a great job here making it tough early (against Doolittle). He's a good player, and if other people are open or going, he's going to defer and not take bad shots. I thought we did a really good job trying to take away the easy baskets that he normally gets and again make him earn anything."
Teague, who missed Saturday's 70-59 win over West Virginia with a wrist injury, could return for Tuesday's game.
"He's making good progress," Drew said. "You can't ask an optimistic guy, because the answer is always optimistic. We'll see. The good thing is MaCio is one of those guys you have to hold him back. Coaches love that."
Bandoo, who started the last game in Teague's place, said that's the benefit of having a rotation of four guards.
"I feel that if one of us goes down, we always have someone who can interchange," he said. "Starting is something Coach Drew talked about, just getting there and getting my reps in and getting my shots and just hoping that MaCio gets back and recovers and just keep moving from there."
Tuesday's game will be televised by ESPN2, with Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla calling the action.
STORY LINES
• No. 1 Baylor carries a Big 12 and school-record 22-game winning streak into Tuesday's game at OU.
• Baylor's 22-game streak is tied with Kansas (1996-97) for longest in the Big 12's 24-year history.
• Baylor's 12 conference wins are tied for most in program history (12-6 in 2012 & 12-6 in 2017).
• BU's 12-game Big 12 streak is the 3rd-longest conference-only winning streak in league history.
• BU's 12-0 start to Big 12 play is the Bears' best mark thru 12 conference games in program history.
• BU's 12-game conference winning streak is the longest in school history (previously 11 in 1946 SWC).
• Tuesday is the 64th series meeting. BU trails 18-45, but the Bears are 13-10 vs. OU since 2010.
• 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 5 straight weeks as the AP No. 1 team ties the nation's longest streak since 2015 (Kentucky) 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 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 23-1 is its best 24-game start in program history. BU's best 25-game start is 22-3 in 2017.
• Baylor's 22-game winning streak is the nation's 2nd-longest behind SDSU (26).
• BU is 8-0 in road games, the 2nd-longest road winning streak in program history – 12 in 1945-46.
• Baylor (6-0) is the nation's only teams with 6 wins vs. AP Top 25 ranked teams.
• Baylor has gone 29-32 against ranked teams over the last 6 seasons since 2014-15.
• Baylor ranks 5th nationally in scoring defense (58.3) and 9th nationally in scoring margin (+13.1).
• Baylor's 2-point FG% defense ranks 5th nationally (.424) and effective FG% defense ranks 6th (.436).
• BU is coming off a 70-59 win over No. 14 West Virginia, its 6th win this season vs. a ranked team.
• Baylor's defense has forced 15+ turnovers in 15 of 24 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 22 of 24 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. 2 in the NET with 6 top-25 NET wins: No. 4 (road), No. 8, No. 10, No. 19, No. 20 (road), No. 21.
• 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 8-40.
• BU also has the nation's 3rd-longest road winning streak at 8 straight (Gonzaga-17, SDSU-10).
• Baylor is 40-38 in Big 12 road games since 2012, 2nd-best in the league behind only Kansas (50-27).
• BU has trailed for only 9.6% of game time over 18 total games since December (69:13 of 720:00).
• Baylor is the only school with FB, MBB, WBB & VB all ranked. Those teams are a combined 87-7 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 (339-210).
• Baylor is playing its 236th 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 233 of 415 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 49-4 when leading at halftime over the last 3 seasons since 2017-18 (19-1 this season).
• Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (167-20).
• BU is 111-21 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (23-1 this season).
• Baylor is 214-94 over the last 9 seasons, averaging 24 wins per season since 2012.
• Baylor's 214 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (258).
• Baylor is 305-141 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 927 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
• Baylor trails 18-45 in the all-time series, including a 6-23 mark in Norman and a 13-22 record in the Drew era.
• Baylor has won 6 of its last 7 games vs. Oklahoma, including sweeping the season series in 2017 and 2019.
• BU looks to win 5 straight vs. OU for the first time in the series, which has been played twice annually since 1997.
• Baylor is 13-10 against OU since snapping a 30-game losing streak in the series in 2010.
• Baylor has swept the season series 4 times in the last 10 years (2010, 2012, 2017, 2019), while OU has swept the season series three times in the last 10 years (2013, 2014, 2016). The teams split in 2011, 2015 and 2018.
LAST TIME VS. OKLAHOMA
• Baylor took an 11-point halftime lead and led for the final 31 minutes in a 61-57 win over Oklahoma on Jan. 20.
• The Bears led 59-51 with 1:30 remaining, but OU hit consecutive 3-pointers to cut it to 59-57 with 42 seconds remaining. After a Baylor turnover, OU missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 6 seconds left.
• BU shot 35% from the field (22-63), but the Bears are now 5-0 when shooting 35% or worse. BU has wins vs. Arizona (.304), Butler (.350), Texas (.313), Oklahoma (.349) and at Texas (.340) when shooting .350 or lower.
• Freddie Gillespie notched his 7th double-double of the season with 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
LONGEST WINNING STREAK IN BIG 12 HISTORY
• Baylor's 22-game winning streak is tied for the longest by any team in the Big 12 Conference's 24-year history, matching Kansas' 22-game streak to start the 1996-97 season.
• Baylor's 12-game Big 12 winning streak is the 3rd-longest conference-only streak in league history, trailing only Kansas' 16-0 mark in 2002 and Kansas' 13-0 start in 2010.
• With a win vs. OU, Baylor would reach 13 conference wins for the first time in program history. This year is the 3rd time Baylor has posted 12 conference wins (12-6 in 2012, 12-6 in 2017, 12-0 in 2020).
SCHOOL-RECORD 22-GAME WINNING STREAK
• Baylor's 22-game winning streak is the longest winning streak in program history (previously 17 in 2011-12).
• The current 22-game streak includes 6 wins vs. ranked opponents, 8 road games and 3 neutral-site games.
• BU has won 12 straight Big 12 games for first time and is off to a 12-0 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.
