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2/2 BAYLOR BEARS (15-0, 8-0)
Location: Waco, Texas
Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)
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BAYLOR (15-0, 8-0) vs. AUBURN (10-7, 4-5)
Jan. 30, 2021 • 3 p.m. CT
Waco, Texas • Ferrell Center (10,284)
LIVE STATS: baylorstats.com
WATCH: ESPN
Talent: Jon Sciambi (pxp), Fran Fraschilla (analyst)
LISTEN: Baylor Sports Network | ESPN Central Texas
Talent: John Morris (pxp) and Pat Nunley(analyst)
Baylor Social Media:    |
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AUBURN TIGERS (10-7, 4-5)
Location: Auburn, Ala.
Head Coach: Bruce Pearl (Boston College, 1982)
Roster | Stats (PDF) | Game Notes (PDF) |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Not that Baylor coach Scott Drew is totally dismissing Auburn's first 11 games of the season, but he's putting a lot more stock in what the Tigers (10-7) have done the last six.
Since highly touted freshman point guard Sharife Cooper became eligible, Auburn has won four of its last six and is coming off an 88-82 upset of 12th-ranked Missouri. Cooper, the younger brother of 2019-20 Baylor Lady Bear point guard Te'a Cooper, is averaging 22.3 points, 8.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds.
"You look at the six-game stats since he's joined them, he's the straw that stirs the drink," said Drew, whose second-ranked Bears (15-0, 8-0) will host the Tigers at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. "They've got a lot of guys around him, but it's kind of like you've got a great quarterback out there and now you can utilize all the weapons."
In Tuesday's win over Missouri, the 6-1 freshman guard had 28 points, eight boards and seven assists and was 18-of-21 from the line. Along with Baylor junior guard Jared Butler, Cooper is now projected as a consensus first-round pick in the latest NBA mock drafts.
"I'm not saying they don't have other guys who can handle it and facilitate it, but he's elite at it," Drew said. "They've got a lot of talented players, but now you throw in somebody like that who makes them all look exceptional. To me, Auburn and Alabama are the two best teams in the SEC the way they're playing."
An interesting twist in Saturday's game is Cooper could be matched against Baylor junior Davion Mitchell, who started his collegiate career at Auburn before transferring after his freshman season. Mitchell was one of 15 players named to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year midseason watch list, along with Butler and 6-5 senior forward Mark Vital, and is averaging 12.8 points, 5.9 assists and 2.1 steals.
"To the outside world, it might seem like, 'Oh, he's playing against his old college,''' said Butler, a National Player of the Year candidate who is averaging 16.8 points and 5.4 assists. "But, he doesn't know anyone on that team now. I think he's a Baylor guy now, for sure, so I don't think it will be too much. Hopefully, it doesn't get to him or anything like that."
Mitchell is coming off a career game in Wednesday's 107-59 win over Kansas State, draining seven 3-pointers and a career-high 31 points. He scored 14 points in a row for the Bears at one point, including three-straight treys.
"We just love playing with each other, and they kept finding me," Mitchell said. "I was wide open. Whoever's open takes the open shot, so it wasn't just me. it was my other teammates, too."
Butler and Mitchell are the only players who have scored 30 in a game this season, but 11 different players have hit double digits in a game. MaCio Teague is second on team with 15.0 points per game, with sophomore guard Adam Flagler at 9.7 points and sophomore forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua averaging 8.3 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds off the bench.
"I would say by the end of (the first half), you know who's got it going," Butler said. "Or, you can just look at the stat sheet. Usually, one guy's going 4-for-5 or 5-for-6. It was Davion (Wednesday) night, but I think by halftime you'll know."
Breaking from conference play, Baylor plays in its eighth-consecutive Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Bears are a Big 12-best 6-1 in the SEC Challenge and a league-best 10-2 combined in conference challenges, including last year's 72-61 road win at Florida.
"One thing I wanted to do was make sure that the Big 12 could count on us," Drew said "It doesn't guarantee you're going to win, but we're going to give you our best effort, and it's something that's benefitted the Big 12 in previous years with seeding and teams getting into the tournament. So, we definitely want to put our best foot forward. We've had some great games in the challenges. The environment at Florida was outstanding last year."
Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla will call the action for Saturday's ESPN broadcast. The Bears return to conference play with a matchup against No. 5 Texas (11-3, 5-2) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Austin in another ESPN game.
STORY LINES
• No. 2 Baylor breaks from Big 12 play to host Auburn in the 8th-annual Big 12/SEC Challenge.
• Baylor's 6-1 Big 12/SEC Challenge record is the best by any team in either league.
• BU's 10-2 record in conference challenge games is best in the Big 12 (6-1 SEC, 3-1 Pac-12, 1-0 Big East).
• Baylor is 11-5 against Southeastern Conference teams since the 2012-13 season.
• Baylor has won 17 straight non-conference games (+22.8 average margin) dating back to Nov. 2020.
• Baylor is facing Auburn for the first time since a 74-72 BU win at Auburn in the 2009 NIT quarterfinals.
• Baylor is 1 of 4 undefeated teams (min. 5 gms) and is the last remaining undefeated Power-5 team.
• BU leads the nation in scoring margin (+25.7) and 3-point percentage (.440) and is top-10 nationally in steals (5th, 9.9), scoring (6th, 87.5), effective FG% (3rd, 59.2), offensive rebound pct. (4th, 38.5), assists (8th, 18.6), turnover margin (5th, +6.3), turnovers forced (5th, 18.9) and defensive turnover pct. (2nd, 26.5).
• Baylor is the nation's only team to win every game by 8+ points this season (13 of 15 wins by 11+).
• BU is the nation's only team top-5 ranked in adjusted offensive (3rd) and defensive (1st) efficiency.
• BU has led by at least 10 points in every game this season and has led by 13+ at halftime in 10 of 15.
• Baylor has trailed for only 44:20 of 600 minutes (7.4%) this season and led wire-to-wire in 7 games.
• BU has tied the 2nd-longest winning streak to start a season in school history (17 in 2012, 15 in 2017).
• Baylor's 23-3 record in Big 12 play over the last 2 seasons is the league's best record in that span.
• Baylor is 21-1 at home over the last 2 seasons, with the lone loss by 3 points to Kansas on 2/22/20.
• Jared Butler was named National Player of the Week after averaging 26.0 points and 7.0 assists in wins vs. Kansas and at Oklahoma State. He shot 13-of-16 (81.3%) from 3-point range last week.
• Baylor is 41-4 since MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell became eligible at the start of 2019-20.
• Mitchell had a career-high 31 points Wednesday vs. K-State, including 22 pts in 12 second-half minutes.
• BU has 3 of 15 players on the Naismith Defensive POY midseason watch list – Mitchell, Vital and Butler.
• BU's bench is out-scoring opposing benches 33-17 on average and has scored 33+ points in 10 games.
• Six Baylor players are shooting at least 38% on 3FGs and averaging at least one 3FG made per game: Butler (48%), Mitchell (47%), Mayer (44%), Flagler (43%), Cryer (43%) and Teague (38%).
• Three members of the BU bench average 8+ ppg – Flagler (9.7), Tchatchoua (8.3) and Mayer (8.1).
• Head coach Scott Drew is in his 18th season in Waco and is BU's all-time wins leader (357-213).
• Baylor is playing its 257th 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 254 of 436 games.
• Baylor has been top-5 ranked for 21-straight weeks. BU was top-5 for 12 weeks all-time prior to this streak.
• BU's streak of 30-straight AP polls ranked is the nation's 4th-longest active streak and longest in BU history.
• Baylor has led by at least 5 points in all 45 games over the last 2 seasons (double-digit lead in 39 of 45).
• BU's defense has forced 14+ TOs in 11 of its last 12 games, including 7 games with 20+ TOs forced.
• Baylor joins Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only programs ranked No. 1 in 3 of the last 5 seasons.
• BU is 1 of 5 Power-5 schools (Duke, Kentucky, UNC, Michigan St.) to win 18+ every year since 2008.
QUICK HITS
• Baylor's 15-game winning streak is tied for 3rd-longest in program history (23 in 2020, 17 in 2012, 15 in 2017).
• Baylor signed the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history (No. 4) in November. BU inked 5-star Kendall Brown, 4-star Langston Love and 4-star Jeremy Sochan for the 2021-22 season.
• BU was picked to win the Big 12 in the league's preseason coaches' poll for the first time.
• Baylor is 64-5 when leading at halftime over the last 4 seasons (34-2 over last 2 seasons, 13-0 this season).
• Baylor has won 90% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (182-21).
• BU is 129-23 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (41-3 last 2 seasons).
• 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 last year 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 232-97 over the last 10 seasons, averaging 24 wins per season since 2011-12.
• Baylor's 232 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (274).
• Baylor is 323-144 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• 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 947 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).
SERIES HISTORY
• Saturday is the 7th all-time meeting and the first since BU won at Auburn in the 2009 NIT quarterfinals.
• BU leads the series 4-2, including 3-1 at Auburn, 0-1 in Waco and 1-0 in Oklahoma City.
• This is the second time the meets have met in Waco – AU won 84-63 in the prior meeting on Dec. 9, 1995.
BIG 12'S MOST WINS IN CONFERENCE CHALLENGES
• Baylor is 10-2 in conference challenges – 6-1 in Big 12/SEC Challenge, 3-1 in Big 12/Pac-10, 1-0 in Big 12/Big East.
• BU's 6-1 Big 12/SEC Challenge record includes wins vs. Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Ole Miss, Alabama and Florida.
• Baylor's 6-1 record is the best record by any team in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Kansas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are 5-2, while TCU and Texas Tech are 4-3, K-State, Texas and Iowa State are 3-4 and West Virginia is 2-5.
• Baylor's 10-2 record in conference challenges is best in the Big 12, followed by Oklahoma State at 9-4, Kansas at 8-5, Oklahoma at 7-6, Iowa State at 6-6, Texas at 6-7, K-State and Texas Tech at 5-7, TCU at 4-5 and West Virginia at 3-6.
