Baylor
Oklahoma
No. 7/8 Lady Bears Head to Oklahoma for Sunday Tilt
2/20/2021 9:16:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Baylor WBB looks for 13th-straight win over Oklahoma
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#7/8 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (16-2, 11-1) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
#7/8 BAYLOR (16-2, 11-1) vs OKLAHOMA (8-9, 5-7) February 21, 2021 | 1 PM Norman, Oklahoma | Lloyd Noble Center (11,528)  WATCH: Fox Sports OklahomaTalent: Chad McKee (PBP), Dan Hughes (Analyst) RADIO: 1660 AM/92.3 FM DIGITAL RADIO LINK: 92.9 FM Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (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 SOONERS (8-9, 5-7) Location: Norman, Okla. Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Sherri Coale Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Having already survived a couple COVID pauses, the No. 7/8 Baylor Lady Bears (16-2, 11-1) thawed out from the historic winter freeze in time to head up north for a matchup against Oklahoma (8-9, 5-7) at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.
"There was nothing I could do, basketball-wise. When you don't have power, you can't turn the TV on and your computer doesn't work," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, who was without power in her home for a couple day this week. "I would read some stories on my phone, text some people and really just stay under the covers."
With an unplanned three-day break following last Sunday's 60-35 win over Texas, the Lady Bears returned to the Ferrell Center practice floor on Thursday and began prep for Sunday's matchup against the Sooners.
"It was good to have everybody back," Mulkey said of Thursday's practice. "We hadn't even talked to them much after the Texas game because we were in such a rush to get out of the arena and parking lots. We talked about the Texas game and reviewed some things. When we got back up here (Thursday), we went over the scouting report on OU and we'll work on it some more (Friday) and then we'll leave in the morning for Norman."
Riding an eight-game winning streak and holding a slim one-game lead on No. 19/24 West Virginia (17-3, 11-3), the Lady Bears had a Wednesday game against the Mountaineers postponed by the weather and travel conditions and rescheduled for Monday, March 8.
In a series once dominated by Oklahoma, Baylor has won 12 in a row and 21 of the last 22 meetings with the Sooners, including an 84-61 rout on Jan. 23. Five players scored in double figures in last month's game at the Ferrell Center, led by NaLyssa Smith with 21 points and Moon Ursin with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
With 5-8 junior guard Tatum Veitenheimer replacing 6-0 senior forward Mandy Simpson over the last six games, the Sooners have gone with a five-guard lineup that features three of the league's top 15 scorers in Madi Williams (21.7 ppg, 5.1 rebounds), Gabby Gregory (15.5 ppg) and Taylor Robertson (15.5 ppg).
OU knocked off two of the Big 12's top four teams in an impressive five-day stretch, beating Iowa State, 67-61, at home and then going on the road to upset West Virginia, 72-71.
"They're playing, certainly, with much more confidence," Mulkey said. "They're basically now five guards on the perimeter that can all shoot the 3, and that's a difficult matchup for us. It's not the traditional matchup we had with them back when we played them. . . . We can't look at what happened the last game and think it's going to be the same."
Baylor used a significant height advantage in the first meeting, outrebounding the Sooners, 40-14, and outscoring them in the paint, 46-16, with a frontline of 6-3 junior Queen Egbo (10.2 ppg, 7.6 rebounds) and the 6-2 Smith (17.9 ppg, 10.1 rebounds).
Smith said it's a "difficult" matchup with her and Egbo having to defend 3-point shooters on the perimeter, but "we work on it every day in practice and we've guarded guard (dominant) teams like Iowa State, so I feel like it's nothing really new to us. We just have to make sure we're doing all the right things. We just have to move our feet."
Sunday's game is another matchup of Big 12 Player of the Year candidates with Smith and Williams, who averaged 24 points and 10.5 rebounds in the wins over Iowa State and West Virginia to nab Player of the Week honors. Last Sunday, Smith had 14 points and eight rebounds while holding 6-5 Texas junior center Charli Collier to a season-low two points.
"That's crazy, because I don't feel like that was my best game," Smith said. "I feel like I could have done a lot more things. I could have rebounded a lot more. I don't really draw too much into one-on-one battles and matchups and stuff like that. We're just trying to win the (national championship) at the end of the day."
While the Sooners tweaked their lineup since the first meeting, Baylor will have 5-11 guard DiJonai Carrington available for this game. Since returning from a COVID quarantine, the Stanford grad transfer has averaged 15.0 points in the last five games and hit 13-of-32 from outside the arc.
"Her impact is obvious," Mulkey said of Carrington, who is averaging 12.6 points and 4.7 rebounds for the season. "She brings a perimeter threat. If we have to go small and defend them, she's there and available. But, when you have everybody, you're just a better basketball team."
Baylor will play four games in the next nine days, hosting Oklahoma State at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Kansas State at 11 a.m. Saturday before traveling to face Texas at 6 p.m. next Monday, March 1, in Austin.
Sunday's game will be broadcast by FOX Sports Oklahoma with Chad McKee and WNBA head coach Dan Hughes calling the action.
BAYLOR GETS DISTANCE IN BIG 12 STANDINGS WITH WIN OVER TEXAS; WVU LOSS; LADY BEARS AND MOUNTAINEERS POSTPONE MATCHUP DUE TO WEATHER
Four Lady Bears scored in double figures and DiDi Richards has 10 assists in Baylor's win on Valentine's Day over the Texas Longhorns, 60-35. For the second time in three season, Baylor held Texas to the lowest output in the series history by limiting the Longhorns to 35 points. NaLyssa Smith had 14 points for Baylor, DiJonai Carrington had 13 off the bench while Queen Egbo & Moon Ursin each had 11 points to lead Baylor. The Lady Bears limited Texas to single-digit scoring in each of the first three quarters and kept the Longhorns to a 24.6 shooting effort from the floor for the contest. With West Virginia's surprising loss to Oklahoma Feb. 13, Baylor now has a 1.5-game lead in the Big 12 standings. WVU and Baylor were slated to play Feb. 17, but Texas' ice storm postponed the contest, keeping West Virginia from an opportunity to pull back within half a game of the lead.
LADY BEARS VS. THE SOONERS
Kim Mulkey and Sherri Coale's Lady Bears and Sooners, respectively, have had some good battles in the 21 years the two legendary coaches have faced one another. OU began Mulkey's tenure by handing Baylor seven-straight losses. From there, the series continued to be streaky. Four-straight for Baylor after the seven losses in a row, followed by the Sooners going on a 6-game streak of their own. Then two for Baylor, two for OU, one for Baylor and two for Oklahoma. But, beginning with the 2010-11 season, it's been all Mulkey and the Lady Bears. Baylor has had the upper hand in 21 of the last 22 contests dating back to Feb. 2, 2011, and the Lady Bears are winners of 12-straight vs. the Sooners. In those 21 wins, Baylor has won by an average of 18.2 points per contest. Baylor and Oklahoma last faced off on Jan. 23, in Waco with Baylor taking a 84-61 win. Five Lady Bears scored in double figures with NaLyssa Smith's 21 points leading the way while DiDi Richards had a career-best 12 assists. In the losing effort for Oklahoma Madi Williams had 29 points and Taylor Robertson added 19.
LADY BEARS IN NATION'S LEAD FOR FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE DEFENSE … AGAIN
For four-straight years and five since the 2010-11 season, the Baylor Lady Bears have been the NCAA Statistical Champion in Defensive Field Goal Percentage. After holding Texas to a .246 shooting mark, Feb. 14, Baylor leads the nation in that category once again at .311. The lowest Baylor has ever ended a season in that category is .310, which happened twice: last season and in 2011-12, which happened to be a year they finished second in the nation in field goal percentage defense.
AP POLL RESEARCH SHOWS MULKEY AS ACTIVE LEADER IN TOTAL TOP 25 APPEARANCES AS PLAYER, ASSISTANT AND HEAD COACH
Longtime women's hoops guru Mel Greenberg put together a list of coaches and players' appearances in the AP Top 25 poll over the years and found that Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey is the NCAA's active leader in appearances at 664 from her time as a player and assistant at Louisiana Tech and her 21-year tenure as head coach at Baylor. She trails only Holly Warlick for most all-time appearances; Warlick played, assisted Pat Summitt and was head coach at Tennessee from 2012-2019.
RICHARDS, KNOWN FOR HER DEFENSE, QUIETLY MOVING UP BAYLOR'S ALL-TIME ASSISTS LIST
When most think of DiDi Richards, they think defense. After all, she was the National Defensive Player of the Year by both the WBCA and Naismith last season without having high steals or blocks numbers. Her reputation for on-ball defense and pestering the Big 12 and the nation's top perimeter players earned her the awards. But, many might not know that Richards is one of Baylor's all-time best passers. This season, she ranks first in the Big 12 in assists per game, which ranks 6th nationally. She ranks second in the league in total assists, and last season she was the Big 12 statistical champion, ranking 7th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio. Her 497 assists coming into Sunday's game ranks 4th all-time on the Baylor career assists list. With COVID-19 looming, Richards may not get to put up the numbers she normally would have, but she has a shot to leave Baylor at 3rd all-time in that category. Kristy Wallace collected 525 assists in her four years and ranks third. Richards has 6 Big 12 games left to play, a Big 12 Tournament and an NCAA Tournament. Her pace is 6.9 assists per game, and if she continues at that rate, she would pass Wallace in the next 5 games. Niya Johnson is Baylor's all-time leader with 988 and Odyssey Sims ranked second at 641.
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. Kim Mulkey, Jordyn Oliver, DiJonai Carrington and Caitlin Bickle have all had to miss time due to COVID-19 protocols this season.
The Big 12 announced Thursday the re-scheduling of several league games affected by COVID-19, including Baylor hosting K-State Feb. 27 and finishing the regular season in Lawrence, March 6.
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.
