Baylor
Oklahoma State
No. 9/9 WBB Heads to Stillwater Looking to Bounce Back
1/19/2021 12:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Lady Bears look to extend streak over Cowgirls to 10 games
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#9/9 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (8-2, 3-1) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
#9/9 BAYLOR (8-2, 3-1) vs OKLAHOMA STATE (9-4, 5-2) January 20, 2021 | 6:30 PM (CT) Stillwater, Okla. | Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611)  WATCH: ESPN+Talent: Mike Wolfe (PBP), Bryndon Manzer (Analyst) RADIO: 1660 AM/92.3 FM DIGITAL RADIO LINK: ESPN Central Texas Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Paul Bradshaw (Analyst) LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast Baylor Social Media:    ** Due to COVID-19, there will be no physical copies of stats, media almanacs, rosters, please use the following link for MEDIA RESOURCES ** |
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OKLAHOMA STATE (9-4, 5-2) Location: Stillwater, Okla. Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Jim Littell (William Penn, 1979) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame in 2003, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey loves the classroom. Only thing is, her classroom is actually a basketball gym.
"Practice is where you do your most teaching," said Mulkey, whose ninth-ranked Lady Bears (8-2, 3-1) face Oklahoma State (9-4, 5-2) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.
"You can only perform well on game day when you've had enough hours in the gym to prepare your team. That's just the kind of coach I am. I just feel like that's my classroom, that's where I do the most teaching."
Baylor's lack of "class time" showed in Saturday's 75-71 loss to Iowa State, which snapped a national-best 61-game home court winning streak that ranks as the 10th-longest in NCAA history. Following COVID protocols, most of the team was quarantined last week and had limited practice time going into the Lady Bears' first game in two weeks.
"Just imagine, y'all were all students at one time, when you haven't been in school for a week, you forget math, subtracting, and you miss it. It affects you," Mulkey said. "Our practice was good on Monday, but I didn't expect it not to be. I think when you're out as long as we were, and you're coming off a loss, I just think everybody is focused on getting better. Losing gets your attention."
So does Oklahoma State, which features two of the league's top 15 scorers in 6-4 senior forward Natasha Mack (18.9 ppg, 11.3 rebounds, 3.9 blocks) and 5-5 junior guard Ja'Mee Asberry (16.2 ppg, 4.2 assists).
"They've got two outstanding players, two scorers, Mack and Asberry, and then they have the complementary players around them," Mulkey said. "They've got 3-poknt shooting, they've got toughness at the 3 spot (wing). They had two tough road games that they lost, so they're really hungry for a win, just like we are."
A former junior college All-American, Mack was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and a second-team All-Big 12 selection last year, when she averaged 17.6 points, 3.6 blocks and a league-best 12.5 rebounds per game.
"She's a very difficult kid to defend, because she can shoot the perimeter shot and she can get it off against bigger players," Mulkey said of Mack. "When you add her rebounding ability, it's tough. This kid is doing what the great ones do. She's their bread and butter. You add Asberry to the mix, who's having a great year and shoots the 3 as good as she does, it makes it harder to guard Mack."
Baylor counters with 6-2 junior forward NaLyssa Smith (17.0 ppg, 9.8 rebounds) and 6-3 junior center Queen Egbo (12.0 ppg, 7.1 rebounds). Smith, who had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, said the Lady Bears can "learn from everything that happened" in the loss to Iowa State.
"Offensively, I thought we were real stagnant," she said. "Defensively, we could have followed the scouting report a lot more. I thought we could have closed down on shooters, not fouled as much. I thought we could just work on everything."
Since the Cowgirls have size inside with Mack, 6-5 junior forward Brittany Reeves, 6-3 senior center Bigue Sarr and 6-3 redshirt freshman forward Sara Rodrigues, this game could also involve 6-5 freshman center Hannah Gusters more after playing just five minutes against Iowa State.
"In practice, she gives a lot of effort. You don't see a lot of that as freshmen," Smith said of Gusters, who has scored in double figures five times, averaging 9.3 points. "When Hannah gets on the court, she plays hard. I see a lot in her. I can't wait to play with her next year. I just feel like she's going to get better from here on out."
Mulkey said she is "very high" on Gusters, who was named to the Leslie Award preseason watch list as the top center in the country.
"She's a lot like Kalani Brown and those kids in that when you play teams like Iowa State, it's a very difficult matchup," Mulkey said. Not just because they wouldn't try, but just their size and things like that. I'm very, very high on her."
Wednesday's game will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Mike Wolfe and Bryndon Manzer calling the action.
BAYLOR LOOKS TO REBOUND AFTER LOSS AT HOME TO IOWA STATE
Baylor played Saturday at home down two players and with just two practices since Jan. 4 and fell to Iowa State 75-71 at the Ferrell Center. It had been nearly four years since the Lady Bears had lost at home, and their 61-game win streak at the Ferrell came to an end. The home-winning streak was the 10th-longest in NCAA history and second longest in Baylor's history next to a 69-game span from 2011-2014. Baylor is 82-20 after losses under head coach Kim Mulkey and hasn't suffered back-to-back losses since Feb. 25 and Feb. 28, 2015, respectively.
LADY BEARS VS. THE COWGIRLS
Baylor is 15-9 against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, 44-11 all-time, and 29-5 in the Kim Mulkey era. Oklahoma State last beat Baylor Dec. 30, 2015 to open conference play in Stillwater. Since then, the Lady Bears have rattled off nine-straight wins over the Cowgirls. Baylor last played OSU in Stillwater, Feb. 15, 2020 and took a 69-42 win. Among returning players for Wednesday's contest, Queen Egbo had 10 points and five rebounds while NaLyssa Smith added six points and 11 boards for Baylor in the win. In a losing effort, Natasha Mack had seven points and 15 rebounds.
BAYLOR SIGNS 2019 BIG 12 FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR CHRISLYN CARR IN TRANSFER FROM TEXAS TECH
Former Texas Tech standout Chrislyn Carr has transferred to Baylor and will join the Lady Bears basketball program, head coach Kim Mulkey announced Tuesday. Carr won the Big 12 Freshman of the Year Award for the 2018-19 season for the Lady Raiders.
Carr took the league by storm her freshman season, averaging 18.0 points on her way to an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection. Her 558 points that year were the third most by a freshman in Lady Raider history. In addition to her scoring prowess her freshman season, she added 3.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals per contest.
She followed her freshman campaign with another All-Big 12 Honorable Mention award in 2019-20. She averaged 13.9 points, 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and shot 37.3 percent from beyond the arc. The Davenport, Iowa, native left Texas Tech after playing in five games in the 2020-21 season. She tallied 1,010 points and 142 3-point field goals in two-plus seasons in Lubbock. Carr's eligibility and availability to join the Lady Bears on the floor is to be determined.
COVID-19'S EFFECT ON THE LADY BEARS
All are having to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Lady Bears are no exception. Baylor lost four games scheduled for the Preseason WNIT in Waco in November, along with a Thanksgiving week game vs. Oregon in Las Vegas. Originally scheduled for Nov. 27, Baylor and Northwestern State's game was postponed due to COVID issues within the NWST program and was rescheduled for Dec. 18. Baylor lost its top-10 matchup with UConn Jan. 7 and postponed originally-scheduled Big 12 contests with K-State at home (Jan. 10) and at Kansas (Jan. 13).
Moon Ursin, lost her grandmother, Ruby Alexander, to the virus in April after a swift and brief battle with COVID. Kamaria McDaniel, a transfer from Penn State that is having to sit this season, lost her grandfather, Johnny Webster, Sr., in April as well.
OWENS DECLARED ELIGIBLE AFTER NCAA INSTATES BLANKET WAIVER; MCDANIEL STILL SIDELINED WITH INJURY
The NCAA announced Dec. 16 a blanket waiver for transfer students at the NCAA Division I level, which activated Baylor's Jaden Owens and puts the Lady Bears active roster at 11 players. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all Division I basketball players will not have the 2020-21 season count against them, which prompted the NCAA Division I Council to make an exception for Division I transfers who arrived at their current institution before the Fall 2020 term began. The blanket waiver would have also made eligible senior guard Kamaria McDaniel. However, the former Penn State standout was sidelined with a left-knee injury earlier in the fall and underwent successful surgery, Nov. 30 to repair an ACL and meniscus tear. She will miss the 2020-21 season.
Owens came to Baylor after one year with UCLA as a backup point guard. In her freshman season with the Bruins in 2019-20, she averaged 9.6 minutes per contest in 28 games off the bench. She averaged 2.5 points, 1.2 assists and 0.6 steals per contest. Her assist-to-turnover ratio was 1.8:1, and she backed up All-Pac-12 point guard and recent WNBA draft pick Japreece Dean. Owens debuted Dec. 18 vs. Northwestern State hitting her first attempt from the field, a 3-pointer, and she finished with 3 points and 2 assists before she collected a career-high eight assists in Baylor's win vs. McNeese State, Dec. 19.
RICHARDS RETURNS TO FLOOR AFTER SPINAL INJURY, FEATURED ON ESPN'S SPORTSCENTER
Oct. 24, Moon Ursin and DiDi Richards collided in mid-air during a practice scrimmage, leaving Ursin with a concussion and Richards with a Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality (SCIOWRA). Ursin returned to practice after clearing concussion protocol in mid-November while
Richards' rehab began immediately after she briefly lost feeling below her knees. Richards was first confined to a walker to assist her in walking, but by mid-November she was completing individual drills and workouts with medical and strength & conditioning staff. Richards shocked doctors, team medical staff and coaches with the rate of her rehab. Thirty-eight days after the injury, she played 30 minutes off the bench at South Florida Dec. 1. She scored a bucket 13 seconds into her entry, and picked up where she left off last season by leading Baylor with seven assists. Dec. 6 in
Fayetteville, Ark., she resumed her starting role, getting her first start at point guard and finished the contest with a game-high eight assists. She led the Big 12 in assists per game in 2019-20, ranked 13th in the nation and had the NCAA's sixth-best assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.9:1.
Her return to the floor sparked interest from ESPN with Mechelle Voepel writing a feature on her recovery, and Scott Van Pelt led off his Tuesday edition of SportsCenter, covering Richards' return with the "Best Thing I Saw Today" segment.
BAYLOR WINS 1,000TH WIN AS A PROGRAM; LADY BEARS BECOME 15TH PROGRAM IN D1 HISTORY TO REACH 1,000 VICTORIES
Baylor's win at South Florida Dec. 1 marked the program's 1,000th victory. Baylor became the 15th program in NCAA Division I history to reach 1,000 victories joining Tennessee, UConn, James Madison, Louisiana Tech, Stanford, Texas, SFA, Old Dominion, Ohio State, Maryland, Western Kentucky, Wisconsin-Green Bay, South Dakota State, and Notre Dame. Kim Mulkey has 606 of those wins as head coach for Baylor. At Louisiana Tech, she was either a player, assistant or associate head coach for 560 victories, which makes her a direct contributor to 1,106 wins between the two programs on the prestigious list.
MULKEY JOINS STAR-STUDDED 2020 CLASS WITH NAISMITH HALL OF FAME INDUCTION
The Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments were canceled, but Kim Mulkey did get some good news in April when she was announced as a member of the 2020 induction class to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She and her class' peers are virtually peerless as she joined a star-studded class, including Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Tamika Catchings, Rudy Tomjanovich, Eddie Sutton, Barbara Stevens and Patrick Baumann.
Her induction ceremony was delayed due to COVID-19 and the 2020 class has yet to be enshrined. Her induction will be as a coach, although she has been nominated as a player on numerous occasions. She was also a finalist in 2018. Mulkey's many accomplishments earned her the honor, but among them are three NCAA titles, 21 Big 12 championships, and she was the fastest NCAA Division I head coach, man or woman, to reach 600 career victories (700 games).
