Baylor
Wisconsin
No. 1 MBB Faces No. 9 Wisconsin in Second Round Action
3/20/2021 4:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Baylor has advanced to the Second Round for the sixth time in the Drew era
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No. 1 BAYLOR BEARS (23-2, 13-1) Location: Waco, Texas Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (23-2, 13-1) vs. WISCONSIN (17-12, 10-10) March 21, 2021 • 1:40 p.m. CT Indianapolis, Ind. • Hinkle Fieldhouse (9,100) LIVE STATS: statbroadcast.com/ncaa WATCH: CBS and March Madness App Talent: Kevin Harlan (pxp), Dan Bonner (analyst), Dana Jacobson (reporter) LISTEN: Baylor Sports Network | ESPN Central Texas Talent: John Morris (pxp) and Pat Nunley (analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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No. 9 WISCONSIN BADGERS (18-12, 10-10) Location: Madison, Wis. Head Coach: Greg Gard (UW Platteville, 1995) Roster | Stats (PDF) | Game Notes (PDF) |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
This seems like something straight out of a movie.
Scott Drew is returning to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the historic basketball venue for Butler University, where the Baylor coach received a bachelor's degree in liberal arts in 1993.
But, he's not thinking about his days as an undergrad student at Butler or even the history of Hinkle Fieldhouse, which hosted the Indiana high school state championship for 43-consecutive years (1928-71) and last hosted an NCAA Tournament game in 1940.
Or even the 1986 movie, "Hoosiers," where Jimmy Chitwood hit the game winner in Hickory High's stunning upset of South Bend Central in Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Coach Drew's focus is on Hinkle Fieldhouse, site of Sunday's 1:40 p.m. second-round matchup between top-seeded Baylor (23-2) and ninth-seeded Wisconsin (18-10), being a "great shooting gym."
"I love it because it's a good shooting gym, and we need to make shots," said Drew, whose team made 11-of-33 from 3-point range in Friday's 79-55 win over Hartford in a first-round matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium.
"Normally, when you go to the NCAA Tournament, you're getting shoot-arounds and practice time at the venue you're playing. At the dome, we only got one shoot-around before. With Hinkle, neither team will get a chance to shoot around. We're just going to show up, and the first time we'll have in there is right before the game. That's why being in a good shooting gym is important, especially to our team, which shoots so many 3s. I think it's critical."
That fact was certainly music to the ears of Baylor junior All-American guard Jared Butler (17.0 ppg, 4.9 assists), who was just 1-of-8 from outside the arc in Friday's game.
"My confidence just went up 10 percent," said Butler, who had 13 points, nine assists and five steals against Hartford. "I don't like playing in big arenas, but I'm going to have to get used to it and accept the fact that we are going to play in arenas. Playing in this fieldhouse is going to be cool, I think."
Baylor got out to a slow start in Friday's first-round game, missing 13 of its first 18 shots and falling behind, 14-13, in the first 12 minutes. The Bears heated up, making 10 of their next 13 from the floor and taking a comfortable 37-21 halftime lead.
"That first game, you wait in a hotel for five, six, seven days. You're nervous, you're excited," Drew said. "I have no idea how the Olympians do it one out of every four years. Hat's off to them. I think everyone will settle down a little more now. Definitely, getting off to a great start would be important, but I can promise you that Wisconsin is saying the exact same thing."
Wisconsin struggled down the stretch, losing six of its previous eight games before blowing out eighth-seeded North Carolina, 85-62, in its opening-round game. Senior guards Brad Davison and D'Mitrik Trice combined to hit eight 3-pointers and scored 29 and 21 points, respectively.
"It's a recipe for success when you have 22- or 23-year-olds playing against 18 and 17-year-olds," Drew said. "You look at it, they have an eight-man rotation, and four are redshirt seniors. So, half the rotation is 23-years-old or older. Their starting lineup, I believe is older than the (Chicago) Bulls' starting lineup. Anytime you have that kind of experience, first and foremost, you have maturity and you don't want to go home. That's a huge advantage come tournament time."
In Baylor's opening-round win, senior guard MaCio Teague hit four 3-pointers and scored 22 points, the fourth-straight game that he's led the team in scoring. Three other players scored in double figures, including Davion Mitchell and Adam Flagler with 12 points apiece.
"That's part of our success is we have so many different people capable of scoring 20 and so many different weapons," Drew said. "Every night is not going to be your night, so you've got to have multiple guys capable. If we get the right shots, you like your chances."
Baylor is trying to make it to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the last 12 years and the first time since 2017. The Bears are 1-1 all-time versus the Badgers, losing to Wisconsin 69-52 in a region semifinal in Anaheim, Calif., and pulling off a 70-65 win in the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo.
"It's what makes the NCAA Tournament so hard to win," Butler said, "playing teams you've never seen before and they've never seen you. I think the biggest thing for us is to just stick to our rules and make minor adjustments and not change who we are. We'll make some adjustments, but nothing crazy."
Sunday's game will be broadcast by CBS, with Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner and Dana Jacobson calling the action.
STORY LINES
• Baylor is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in the last seven tournaments.
• Baylor is 15-14 in 13 all-time NCAA Championships, including a 12-8 record in the Scott Drew era.
• Baylor has advanced to the NCAA 2nd Round for the 6th time in the Drew era (4-1), all since 2010.
• BU has won its first-round game in three straight NCAA Tournaments (2017, 2019, 2021).
• BU is appearing in the NCAA postseason for a school-record 9th consecutive season (7 NCAA, 2 NIT).
• Baylor's streak of 9 consecutive postseasons is tied as the nation's 7th-longest active streak.
• Baylor is making its 10th NCAA Tournament appearance in the modern tournament era. BU's first three NCAA Tournament appearances in 1946, 1948 and 1950 were in an eight-team, unseeded bracket.
• Baylor has played 12 of its 25 games (10-2) vs. eight different NCAA Tournament teams this season.
• Baylor won the Big 12 for the first time and claimed its first conference title since 1950.
• The conference title is the 6th in program history and the 4th outright title (1932, 1946, 1948, 2021).
• Baylor and Wisconsin are meeting for the 3rd time, all at neutral sites. Wisconsin won 69-52 in the 2014 Sweet 16 in Anaheim, and Baylor won 70-65 in the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.
• Baylor is 35-21 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last 13 seasons.
• Baylor is 7-2 vs. AP Top 25 teams this season, including 4-0 against AP Top 10 teams.
• BU leads the nation in 3-point percentage (.414) and is top-10 nationally in scoring margin (3rd, +18.2), scoring (4th, 84.2), effective FG% (3rd, 57.1), defensive turnover pct. (3rd, 24.9), offensive rebound pct. (4th, 37.3), turnover margin (4th, +5.3), steals (6th, 9.2) and turnovers forced (9th, 17.6).
• BU has led by at least 10 points in 22 of 25 games this year (5 of 8 games since the pause).
• Baylor has led by at least 4 points in all 55 games over the last 2 seasons (double-digit leads in 46 of 55).
• Baylor's current .418 team 3FG% is the 7th-best mark by any team in the Big 12's 25-year history.
• Baylor is guaranteed to finish with its fewest losses since going 13-0 in 1911-12.
• Jared Butler (Cousy, Wooden, Naismith semi/finalist), MaCio Teague (West Award finalist), Davion Mitchell & Mark Vital (Naismith Defensive POY Semifinalists) are all national award candidates.
• Butler is AP Big 12 Player of the Year, Baylor's first conference POY since David Wesley (1992 SWC).
• Butler is the first unanimous 1st Team All-American in program history, while Mitchell (3rd Team Sporting News & AP) and Teague (3rd Team NCAA.com) also picked up All-America honors.
• Mitchell (coaches) and Vital (The Athletic) both earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors.
• For a second-straight year, BU has 60% of the Big 12 All-Defensive Team (Vital, Mitchell and Butler).
• Butler leads the Big 12 in 3-pointers made (2.6/game), 3-point percentage (.413) and steals (2.2), ranks 2nd in assists (4.9), 3rd in scoring (17.0), 5th in FG% (.479) and 7th in ast-to ratio (1.62).
• Teague was named AP 2nd Team All-Big 12 and has been all-conference in all 4 collegiate seasons.
• Scott Drew earned AP and coaches' Big 12 Coach of the Year for a second-consecutive season.
• Five Baylor players are shooting at least 40% on 3FGs and averaging at least one 3FG made per game: Mitchell (46%), Butler (41%), Teague (40%), Mayer (42%) and Flagler (40%).
QUICK HITS
• Baylor has been top-5 ranked for 28-straight weeks. BU was top-5 for 12 weeks all-time prior to this streak.
• BU's streak of 36-straight AP pols ranked is the nation's 3rd-longest active streak and longest in BU history.
• Baylor joins Kansas as the only Power-5 schools to win 18+ games every year since 2008.
• Baylor is 49-6 since MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell became eligible at the start of 2019-20.
• Mark Vital holds the BU record for career Big 12 wins at 45-22. The previous record was A.J. Walton's 39.
• Baylor became the first team since UNLV in 1990-91 to win its first 17 games by 8+ points.
• Baylor joins Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only programs ranked No. 1 in 3 of the last 5 seasons.
• Head coach Scott Drew is in his 18th season in Waco and is BU's all-time wins leader (365-215).
• Baylor is 25-1 at home over the last 2 seasons, with the lone loss by 3 points to Kansas on 2/22/20.
• BU is 14-3 in Big 12 road games over the last 2 seasons (rest of league is 59-99 in B12 road games).
• Baylor's 18-game winning streak tied the 4th-longest in the Big 12's 25-year history. The Bears set the record with 23 straight last season, while Kansas had the 2nd and 3rd-longest streaks – 22 in 1997 and 20 in 2008.
• 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.
• Baylor won double-digit Big 12 games for the 8th time (2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021).
• Baylor is 71-5 when leading at halftime over the last 4 seasons (41-2 over last 2 seasons, 20-0 this season).
• Baylor has won 90% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (189-21).
• BU is 49-4 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game over the last 2 seasons (137-23 last 6 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 240-99 over the last 10 seasons, averaging 24 wins per season since 2011-12.
• Baylor's 240 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (284).
• Baylor is 331-146 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.
• 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 957 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
• Sunday is the third series meeting between Baylor and Wisconsin, all at neutral sites.
• Wisconsin won in the 2014 Sweet 16 (Anaheim) and Baylor won in the 2017 Hall of Fame Classic (Kansas City).
BAYLOR IN NCAA TOURNAMENTS
• Baylor is making its 13th NCAA Tournament appearance, and the Bears have lost to the eventual national champion four times (1946, 1948, 2010 and 2012).
• Baylor's 1946 team lost to Oklahoma A&M in the regional semifinals in Kansas City, Mo.
• Baylor's 1948 squad lost to Kentucky in the national title game at New York's Madison Square Garden,
• Baylor's 2010 team lost to Duke in the Elite Eight at Houston's Reliant Stadium.
• Baylor's 2012 team lost to Kentucky in the Elite Eight at Atlanta's Georgia Dome.
• Baylor's first eight NCAA bids all came in even-numbered years —1946, 1948, 1950, 1988, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014. BU has appeared in six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021).
• Baylor played in three tournaments in a five-year span between 1946-1950 under head coach Bill Henderson, including Final Four appearances in 1948 and 1950.
