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BAYLOR BEARS (4-0)
Location: Waco, Texas
Conference/Affiliation: Big 12
Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (4-0) vs. ARIZONA STATE (2-2)
November 24, 2021 • 6:30 p.m. CT
Paradise Island, Bahamas • Imperial Arena (3,500)
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
WATCH: ESPN 2
Talent: Karl Ravech (pxp), Jimmy Dykes (analyst)
LISTEN: Learfield/ ESPN 1660 AM in Central Texas
Talent: John Morris (PBP), Pat Nunley (Analyst)
SIRIUS XM: Sirius 81, XM 81, Internet 81
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ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS (2-2)
Location: Tempe, Ariz.
Conference/Affiliation: Pac 12
Head Coach: Bobby Hurley (Duke, 1993)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
After four blowout victories, including Saturday's 86-48 win over Stanford, the No. 6 Baylor Bears (4-0) will get tested with three games in three days at the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Opening against Arizona State (2-2) at 6:30 p.m. CST Wednesday, the Bears will play either Syracuse (2-1) or VCU (2-2) at 4 or 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The top half of the bracket includes No. 19 Auburn (3-0), 22nd-ranked UConn (4-0), Michigan State (3-1) and Loyola Chicago (4-0), with Friday's championship scheduled for 10 a.m. CST at the Imperial Arena.
"You leave here, you know what your team needs to work on to get better," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Areas you didn't know you needed to work on get exposed. So, you leave a better team, and coaches all like that. There are no bad losses, just quality wins in tournaments like this."
Five years ago, Baylor beat VCU and Michigan State and rallied from 22 points down to upset 10th-ranked Louisville, 66-63, in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game.
"I know our staff has great memories of this tournament the last time we were here," Drew said. "It's a real blessing for your team to see the beauty here and obviously everything in the Bahamas."
The Bears have won 28-consecutive non-conference games and are 23-4 in regular-season tournaments since 2013-14, beating Creighton, 65-59, at the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City and Villanova, 87-78, in the 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational.
"Obviously, the basketball is why we're going down there," Drew said. "It's always a business trip, and that's why we've been successful on these trips. As far as the casino and beach and all that, that's for the fans to have a good time, and hopefully we take care of business on the court."
Despite losing four starters, including NBA rookies Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell, Baylor has been able to reload with Arizona transfer James Akinjo (10.3 ppg, 8.0 assists) and freshmen Kendall Brown (15.0 ppg, 4.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists) and Jeremy Sochan (10.3 ppg, 6.3 rebounds).
While junior guard Adam Flagler (7.7 ppg) has been slowed by a hand injury and sat out Saturday's game against Stanford, sophomore guard LJ Cryer is averaging a team-high 18.5 points per game and shooting 53.8% from 3-point range (14-of-26).
"Matt (Mayer) and James have done a good job getting LJ the ball, but they all have confidence in him," Drew said. "Last year, every day in practice, LJ went against Jared, Donovan and MaCio (Teague), and they really poured into him."
Mayer gives the Bears a fifth double-figure scorer at 10.5 points per game, but he's 0-for-10 from 3-point range the last two games and shooting just 20% for the season (4-of-20).
"I definitely think the shots will come," Mayer said. "I'm going to just keep shooting them. Me and Coach Drew have been working on shot selection, so I'm trying to do more catch-and-shoot stuff. But, I'm not too worried about it, because I'm going to shoot the shots I'm supposed to, for the most part, and I know they'll start falling at some point."
Pushing the reset button after a frustrating 11-14 season, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley reloaded with Division I transfers Marreon Jackson from Toledo, DJ Horne from Illinois State and Jay Heath from Boston College, JC transfer Alonzo Gaffney and freshmen Jamiya Neal and Enoch Boakye.
"Coach Hurley has always done a great job in providing talented players and then giving the opportunities to play freely," Drew said. "He did a great job bringing in a lot of guys that have proven themselves in the college game and proven scores. They make tough shots, they look like they enjoy playing with each other."
Fifth-year senior forward Kimani Lawrence is averaging a double-double with 16.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, while former Ohio State transfer Luther Muhammad and sophomore guard Marcus Bagley are both averaging 10.0 points.
ASU's two losses have been by a total of three points, losing on a 65-footer to UC Riverside (66-65) on Nov. 11 and then falling in a tough 65-63 game at San Diego State last Thursday.
Akinjo, who averaged 20.0 points per game in a pair of wins over ASU last season, said the Sun Devils' "personnel is different, especially their backcourt."
"Nonetheless, I think the way they want to play is similar to what we faced last year," he said. "It's a fun game to play in, especially as a guard. They want to play up and down, just like us. They're a different team than last year, so everything we did last year at Arizona, I'm trashing. I'm focusing on what I've got to focus on coming into (Wednesday's game)."
Although the Bears had to replace four starters, Hurley said "they haven't missed a beat."
"They've replaced a perimeter with more than enough firepower," Hurley said. "They seem to play together and share the ball very well. They're very physical and athletic on the wings and inside. So, we're going to be tested, I think, on multiple fronts, just taking care of the ball and our transition defense. The kid, Kendall Brown, is an elite, elite athlete and a very good basketball player. They have a lot of good pieces.
"They have guys that have won a championship on that team that have come back, so it's always helpful to have players that are returning. So, it's a huge challenge in front of us."
Wednesday's game will be broadcast by ESPN2, with Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes calling the action.
Story lines
• No. 6/5 Baylor returns to Atlantis for the second time. The Bears won the 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis with victories over VCU and Michigan State and a comeback from 22-down to defeat Louisville for the title.
• Baylor and Arizona State meet for the 8th time and the first time since the 2013 NIT 2nd Round.
• Baylor has won 28 straight non-conference games (+23.3 average margin) dating back to Nov. 2020.
• Baylor is 23-4 in regular-season tournaments since 2013-14, including 4 regular-season tournament titles.
• Baylor has won 3 of its last 4 regular-season tournaments – 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis (over Louisville), 2017 Hall of Fame Classic (over Creighton), 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational (over Villanova).
• Baylor is 14-5 against Pac-12 opponents during the Drew era — 2-0 vs. Arizona, 4-0 vs. Arizona State,
2-1 vs. Colorado, 2-1 vs. Oregon, 1-0 vs. Stanford, 1-0 vs. USC, 1-1 vs. Washington and 1-2 vs. WSU.
• Baylor has 37 steals over its last two games – school-record 21 vs. UCA, 16 vs. Stanford.
• BU knocked off Stanford 86-48 on Saturday, out-scoring the Cardinal 52-20 in the second half. LJ Cryer had his 3rd-straight 20-point game and now has more points this season (74) than all of last season (67).
• Baylor was No. 8 in the preseason AP Top-25, snapping a school-record streak of 29-straight weeks top-5 ranked. The Bears are currently on a school-record streak of 32-straight weeks top-10 ranked.
• Baylor has been ranked in all 25 spots in the AP Top 25 at some point in the last 7 years.
• BU's 40-straight weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 is the nation's 3rd-longest behind Gonzaga and Villanova.
• Head coach Scott Drew is in his 19th season at Baylor with a school-record 374 career victories, including a 17-8 mark in NCAA Tournaments, which is the 7th-best mark among active coaches.
• Drew has swept AP and coaches' Big 12 Coach of the Year honors each of the last two seasons.
• BU has led by at least 4 points in all 64 games since the start of the 2019-20 season and built a double-digit lead in 55 of 64 games, including 31 of 34 games since the start of last season.
• Baylor went 11-2 vs. AP Top 25 teams last season, including 7-0 against AP Top 10 teams.
• Baylor returned seven letterwinners from the 2021 national championship team, with Flo Thamba as the lone returning starter. The four departed starters are all playing in the NBA, G-League or NFL.
• Among BU returners is Matthew Mayer, who made his career-first start in the opener after coming off the bench in 93 games over his first 3 seasons. He is on 6-player the Preseason All-Big 12 team.
• The Bears also welcomed back Adam Flagler, who came off the bench in 28 games last season and is now starting. He joins Mayer on the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award preseason watch lists.
• BU also returned LJ Cryer, Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, Jordan Turner and Zach Loveday.
• BU added Arizona transfer James Akinjo, who is also on the Naismith Trophy watch list and is a preseason All-America honorable mention (The Athletic). He was first-team All-Pac 12 last season.
• Baylor welcomed the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history (No. 4) . Trio of freshmen includes 5-star Kendall Brown and 4-stars Jeremy Sochan and Langston Love (out for year with injury).
• Baylor also added Fairmont State transfer Dale Bonner, who is averaging15.1 mpg this season.
• Baylor was picked third in the Big 12 preseason coaches' poll behind Kansas and Texas.
QUICK HITS
• Baylor's 58-6 record since the start of the 2019-20 season is the nation's best among Power-5 conference teams.
• BU is playing its 283rd game as a ranked team under Drew – BU was ranked in 2 of 2,197 games over the program's 97 seasons prior to Drew. Since January 2010, BU has been ranked in 267 of 404 games.
• Baylor joins Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only programs ranked No. 1 in 3 of 5 seasons since 2017.
• Baylor and Kansas are the only Power-5 schools to win 18+ games every year since 2008.
• BU finished last season ranked top-10 nationally in offensive rebounding pct (No. 8) for a 7th consecutive year.
• BU led the nation in 3-point pct. last season (.413) and ranked 3rd nationally in turnover margin (+5.5) and scoring margin (+17.4). The Bears were also top-10 in scoring (6th, 82.9), steals (9th, 8.9/gm) and assists (10th, 16.9/gm).
• Baylor's streak of 9 consecutive postseasons is tied as the nation's 7th-longest active streak.
• Baylor's 2 losses last seasons were its fewest losses since going 13-0 in 1911-12.
• Baylor is 40-21 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last 13 seasons.
• Baylor has won 20+ games in 12 of the last 14 seasons after recording only three 20-win seasons in the previous 100 years of Baylor Basketball (1946, 1948, 1988).
• Baylor is 14-3 in Big 12 road games over the last 2 seasons (rest of league is 59-99 in B12 road games).
• Baylor is 79-5 when leading at halftime over the last 4+ seasons (49-2 over last 2+ seasons, 24-0 last season).
• In the last two seasons, Baylor has recorded the longest winning streak in the Big 12 Conference's 26-year history (23 wins in 2019-20) and 4th-longest winning streak in Big 12 history (18 wins in 2020-21).
• Baylor has won 90% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (197-21).
• BU is 58-4 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game over the last 2+ seasons.
• Baylor is 249-99 over the last 10+ seasons, averaging 24.5 wins per season since 2011-12.
• Baylor's 249 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (288).
• Baylor is 340-146 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• Six of Baylor's players have used or are currently using a redshirt year. Two after transferring to BU (Flagler, Tchamwa Tchatchoua), one before transferring (Bonner) and three as freshmen — Turner, Dainja and Love.
• Ten of Baylor's 11 starting point guards under Drew have earned All-Big recognition (16 of last 17 seasons).
• Baylor is 1 of 10 teams nationally to appear in every postseason since 2012 (7 NCAAs, 2 NITs).
• Baylor has the nation's 10th-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 966 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).
• BU is 7-1 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 11-2 in conference challenges.
• Baylor has won 7 tournament titles under Drew – 2007 Paradise Jam, 2011 Las Vegas Classic, 2013 NIT, 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2017 Hall of Fame Classic, 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational and 2021 NCAA Championship.
SERIES HISTORY vs. ARIZONA STATE
• Baylor is 5-2 all-time vs. Arizona State, with the most recent meeting in the 2013 NIT Second Round.
• Baylor is 4-0 vs. ASU during the Scott Drew era, including two wins in Waco, one in Tempe and one in Anaheim.
• BU defeated No. 14 Arizona State 87-78 in the 2008 75 Classic semifinals in Anaheim, won 64-61 in Tempe in December 2009, won 68-54 in Waco in December 2010 and won 89-86 in Waco in the 2013 NIT Second Round.
FIND FULL GAME NOTES, HERE. (PDF)
