 |
BAYLOR BEARS (9-0)
Location: Waco, Texas
Conference/Affiliation: Big 12
Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (9-0) vs. OREGON (6-5)
December 18, 2021 • 9:00 p.m. CT
Eugene, Oregon • Matthew Knight Arena (12,364)
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
WATCH: ESPN2
Talent: Dave Flemming (pxp), Sean Farnham (analyst)
LISTEN: Learfield/ ESPN 1660 AM in Central Texas
Talent: John Morris (PBP), Pat Nunley (Analyst)
SIRIUS XM: Sirius 85, XM, 199, Internet 953
Baylor Social Media:    |
|
 |
OREGON DUCKS (6-5)
Location: Eugene, Ore.
Conference/Affiliation: PAC-12
Head Coach: Dana Altman (Eastern New Mexico, 1980)
Roster | Stats | |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Instead of a 6-5 Oregon team that has been blown out by BYU and Houston, Baylor coach Scott Drew sees a talented team that was 13th in the nation in the preseason poll.
"I know they've started out a little slower than most people projected," said Drew, whose top-ranked Bears (9-0) will face the Ducks in their first road test at 9 p.m. CT Saturday at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore., "but when you're blending different styles, it all clicks at different times."
Baylor became the fourth No. 1-ranked team in as many weeks after a shut-down defensive performance in a 57-36 win over then-No. 6 Villanova in Sunday's Big East/Big 12 Battle at the Ferrell Center. The Bears held the Wildcats (7-3) to their fewest points in 42 years and the lowest shooting percentage (22.2) in the Jay Wright era.
"I was really happy to see us play such a flawless defensive game," said 6-8 junior forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, who is averaging 8.2 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game, "since we have a new group and we're still trying to get connected as a unit, having better team chemistry. We can definitely get better . . . and we will."
While the Bears have won 17-straight non-conference road or neutral-site games, Oregon hasn't dropped a non-conference home game in over three years. The Ducks are 5-1 at home this season, losing to Arizona State, 69-67, in overtime in Sunday's Pac-12 opener.
"Like any great venue, it has a great homecourt advantage," Drew said. "I don't know how many students will be there with finals and Christmas, but obviously when you're ranked No. 1, you draw a pretty good attendance. . . . When you're ranked No. 1, you not only get everybody's best shot, you get more than that from them."
After losing his top three scorers from a 21-7 team that lost to USC in the Sweet 16, Oregon coach Dana Altman is trying to mix in Division I transfers De'Vion Harmon (Oklahoma), Quincy Guerrier (Syracuse) and Jacob Young (Texas/Rugers) with 6-5 senior guard William Richardson (11.8 ppg 3.8 assists) and 6-7 senior forward Eric Williams, Jr. (9.8 ppg).
"Young and Harmon are two guys that have spent a lot of time playing against people in Texas," Drew said. "Will Richardson, we've competed against him and he's a friend of Davion Mitchell. We know a lot of their guys. That's the great thing about AAU basketball is everybody plays against each other, so you have some familiarity. Again, they were preseason top-15 for a reason. They've got a lot of talented players."
While Baylor replaced last year's starting backcourt trio of Mitchell, Jared Butler and MaCio Teague, Villanova coach Jay Wright said the difference in the Bears this season is the improved play of frontline defenders Tchamwa Tchatchoua and 6-10 senior forward Flo Thamba.
Being able to switch and defend on the perimeter is "something I've worked on throughout my entire time at Baylor," said Thamba, who is averaging 4.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per game.
"When Davion was here, he used to just blow by me. The coaches were always yelling at me, 'Flo, play more defense!' If I have any aspirations to play at the next level, I have to be able to guard 1 through 5."
With Baylor playing on the road, Thamba will not be able to go through Saturday's winter commencement at the Ferrell Center. One of 24 Baylor Athletics December grads, Thamba (international studies) said he plans on going through the spring commencement, "so it's not just me walking to my own graduation and just walking right back home."
Saturday's game will be broadcast by ESPN2, with Dave Flemming and Sean Farham calling the action.
The Bears will close out the calendar year with home games against Alcorn State (1-8) on Monday and Northwestern State (2-9) on Dec. 28 before opening league play with a road game at No. 11 Iowa State on New Year's Day.
Story lines
• No. 1 Baylor heads to Oregon for Saturday's 9 p.m. CT tipoff against the Ducks on ESPN2.
• BU and Oregon are meeting for the 4th time, all in the last 7 seasons (BU is 2-1). UO won the first meeting by 7 points in Eugene in 2015, then BU won by double-digits in Waco in 2016 and 2018.
• Baylor is No. 1 in the Dec. 13 AP Top 25, marking a 3rd-straight season the Bears have held a No. 1 ranking (only BU and Gonzaga) and 4th time in last 6 seasons (only BU, Gonzaga, Duke and Kansas).
• BU received all 61 first-place votes in the AP Top 25, the first time BU has been a unanimous No. 1.
• Saturday is Baylor's 16th all-time game as a No. 1-ranked team – BU is 13-2 while ranked No. 1.
• Baylor is 1 of 7 remaining undefeated teams (BU, Arizona, Colo. St., Iowa St., LSU, USC, San Fran).
• BU is coming off a 57-36 win over No. 6 Villanova. Baylor held Nova to its fewest points since 1979.
• BU has the nation's longest winning streak (15), with 9 at neutral sites and all wins by 8+ points.
• Baylor has won 33 straight non-conference games (+22.8 average margin) dating back to Nov. 2019.
• BU has won 17-straight non-conference road/neutral games (last loss Nov. 8, 2019 vs. Washington).
• Baylor is 15-5 against Pac-12 opponents during the Drew era — 2-0 vs. Arizona, 5-0 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.
• BU is allowing only 5.6 second-chance points per game, while scoring 13.3 second-chance points.
• Baylor is averaging 13 more field goal attempts per game than its opponents (BU 66, OPP 52.7).
• Baylor and Texas Tech are the nation's only teams ranked top-40 in scoring offense and defense.
• Baylor ranks top-10 nationally in scoring margin (2nd, +26.9), scoring defense (3rd, 54.1), steals (4th, 11.0), turnover margin (4th, +7.1), turnovers forced (7th, 19.3), rebounding margin (9th, +11.1), offensive rebounds (7th, 14.9) and assists (10th, 18.1).
• Baylor and LSU are the nation's only teams to hold every opponent to 63 or fewer points this season.
• BU defeated now-No. 12-ranked Michigan State, 75-58, in the Nov. 26 Battle 4 Atlantis title game.
• BU's 43-straight weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 is the nation's 3rd-longest behind Gonzaga and Villanova.
• 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 35-straight weeks top-10 ranked.
• BU is 18-3 against ranked teams since beating No. 17 Villanova to win the 2019 Myrtle Beach Invite.
• BU has won 8-straight games against top-10 ranked teams, defeating Nos. 5, 9, 6, 6, 10, 6, 1 and 6.
• Baylor has been ranked in all 25 spots in the AP Top 25 at some point in the last 7 years.
• Head coach Scott Drew is in his 19th season at Baylor with a school-record 379 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 69 games since the start of the 2019-20 season and built a double-digit lead in 60 of 69 games, including 36 of 39 games since the start of last season.
• Baylor has won 4 of its last 5 regular-season tournaments – 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis (Louisville), 2017 Hall of Fame Classic (Creighton), 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational (Villanova), 2021 Battle 4 Atlantis (Michigan State).
QUICK HITS
• Baylor's 63-6 record since the start of the 2019-20 season is the nation's best among Power-5 conference teams.
• BU is playing its 288th 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 272 of 409 games.
• Baylor joins Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only programs ranked No. 1 in 4 of the last 6 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 84-5 when leading at halftime over the last 4+ seasons (54-2 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 91% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (202-21).
• BU is 63-4 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game over the last 2+ seasons.
• Baylor is 254-99 over the last 10+ seasons, averaging 24.5 wins per season since 2011-12.
• Baylor's 254 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (292).
• Baylor is 345-146 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• Five 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 two as freshmen — Turner and Langston 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 971 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 8 tournament titles under Drew – 2007 Paradise Jam, 2011 Las Vegas Classic, 2013 NIT, 2016 & 2021 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2017 Hall of Fame Classic, 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational and 2021 NCAA Championship.
For full version of Baylor's Game Notes, click here.
