Baylor
Virginia Tech
No. 5/6 WBB Faces Off vs. Virginia Tech Tuesday in 2nd Round of NCAA Tournament
3/22/2021 9:14:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Lady Bears aim for 12th-straight trip to NCAA Sweet 16
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#5/6 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (26-2) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster | Stats | Game Notes | Postseason Guide |
#5/6 BAYLOR (26-2) vs. VIRGINIA TECH (15-9) March 23, 2021 | 6 p.m. | NCAA Tournament Round 2 San Antonio, Texas | Greehey Arena (St. Mary's)  WATCH: ESPN2Talent: Pam Ward (PBP), LaChina Robinson (Analyst), RADIO: 1660 AM/92.3 FM DIGITAL RADIO LINK: ESPN Central Texas Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Analyst) LIVE STATS: NCAA.com 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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VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (15-9) Location: Blacksburg, Va. Conference: ACC Head Coach: Kenny Brooks Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
More than a year has passed since Baylor's been on the court with a 6-5 post player with Elizabeth Kitley's skillset.
The only difference is that All-American Lauren Cox was actually playing with the Lady Bears last season. Kitley and seventh-seeded Virginia Tech (15-9) stand in second-seeded Baylor's path to a 12th-consecutive Sweet 16 in Tuesday's 6 p.m. game at St. Mary's Greehey Arena in San Antonio.
"She's ever bit of 6-5," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said of Kitley, a first-team All-ACC pick and finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award who's averaging 18.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. "She's not a 3-point shooter, but she'll face you up at the mid-range, the foul line, the baseline, has multiple moves. We've not faced anybody like her. Closest I can come to is somebody like a Lauren Cox-type player."
Kitley had 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks in Virginia Tech's 70-63 win over Marquette in Sunday's NCAA Tournament first-round game, making 11-of-19 from the floor.
Baylor (26-2), which cruised to a 101-52 win over Jackson State, counters with the athletic duo of 6-2 junior All-American NaLyssa Smith (18.1 ppg, 9.2 rebounds) and 6-3 junior center Queen Egbo (11.3 ppg, 8.6 rebounds).
"She's not a bury-you type of kid," Mulkey said of Kitley. "Double-teaming her will expose other positions. You saw that (Sunday) with Marquette. They tried to double-team her, and she just picked them apart with her passing, which is what Cox did a lot every day in practice to us and to the opponents we played. I'm not sure she's ever in a position to really go double-team her. But, if the opportunity presents itself, we're certainly going to play team defense."
Making their first NCAA tournament appearance in 15 years, the Hokies also balance the inside duo of Kitley and 6-1 sophomore Azana Baines (6.9 ppg, 6.0 rebounds) with one of the best sets of 3-point shooters in the nation. Led by first-team All-ACC guard Aisha Sheppard (17.8 ppg), Virginia Tech is eighth in the nation with 9.5 made 3-pointers per game.
In Baylor's two losses this season, the Lady Bears struggled against teams in Arkansas and Iowa State that's loaded with perimeter shooters.
"You have to remember, Iowa State has post players that shoot the 3. Virginia Tech doesn't," Mulkey said. "They have players that will face you up, that can just turn and score right in our face. So, it's a totally different types of ways that they're shooting the 3. Same way with Arkansas. Virginia Tech can score from all positions. Just the number of 3's they shoot and make reminds you of those two teams, but the style they play is totally different."
While the Lady Bears are gunning for their 12th-consecutive Sweet 16, Virginia Tech hasn't been there since 1999. Hokies head coach Kenny Brooks said his team has to go into Tuesday's game with confidence.
"When we played N.C. State and we played Louisville, we felt like we could win the basketball game," said Brooks, whose team upset a top-seeded N.C. State team in January and lost to a second-seeded Louisville team by four, 71-67. "If we go into this game hoping, or not thinking we can win, you don't have a chance."
Baylor goes in with the confidence of winning 18 games in a row and remains the defending national champion after last year's tournament was canceled.
"We want to go in knowing that's who we are and that's who we want to continue to be, which are champions," said senior guard Moon Ursin, who scored a career-high 24 points in the win over Jackson State. "So, why not go win it again?"
In a tournament that's as wide open as it's been, "maybe in my career of coaching," Mulkey said, that is Baylor's motto: "Why not us?"
"We've come into this tournament, Moon's been on those teams, where we're the favorite," Mulkey said. "We've won it as being a favorite, and we've also lost it as being the favorite. So, the motto this year is, Why not us? Who is it going to be?"
Like Virginia Tech, Baylor is much more than one player. A backup on that 2019 national championship team, Smith developed into a first-team All-American, Big 12 Player of the Year and finalist for Katrina McClain Award as power forward of the year.
"What you have to make her understand when our season started is the weight of the world is not on your shoulders," Mulkey said of Smith, who had 18 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and a block in Baylor's win over Jackson State.
"You're not Cox, you're not (Kalani) Brown, you're NaLyssa Smith, do what you do best. I think after the first couple weeks of the season, she realized that she's got talent around her. That talent around her has made her a better player, and her being as talented as she is has made the rest of them better."
In her first year as a starter, Ursin has averaged 12.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists. Playing the point guard position for the first time in her career, senior DiDi Richards is averaging 6.6 points and is eighth nationally with 6.3 assists per game.
Then, there's a bench led by 5-11 guard DiJonai Carrington, a grad transfer from Stanford who is second on the team with 13.3 points per game. All 11 players scored in Sunday's game, including sophomore guard Jordyn Oliver, who finished one shy of her career high with 14 points.
"I think we have depth that doesn't get talked about very much," Mulkey said. "We have a variety of ways that we can attack you offensively. We have those players that can drive and are super-quick, we can shoot the 3-ball, and then we have the athletic post players that can leap with the best of them and run the floor with the best of them. You adjust and you adapt to the talents of your team."
While the look of the team has changed, the constant has been defense. Baylor has led the nation in field goal percentage defense each of the previous four seasons and is ranked No. 1 again, holding teams to a .318 clip.
"I think we're the best defensive team in the country," Carrington said. "Whether that's inside or outside, I think we can do it all. Each night in the Big 12, we've had to guard the 3, whether that's one player of five players like with Iowa State. So, we've had plenty of shots at it. I know the coaches are going to come in with the right game plan, and we're just going to have to execute it. But, I have full confidence in us."
After an historic first-ever appearance on one of the four major networks – Sunday's game was televised by ABC – Tuesday's game will be broadcast by ESPN2, with Pam Ward and LaChina Robinson calling the action.
The Lady Bears will also move from the cavernous Alamodome to Greehey Arena, a smaller gym on St. Mary's campus that seats 3,800 at full capacity.
"All season long, we've been dealing with things that are out of our control," said Carrington, part of a Final Four team at Stanford in 2017. "This is just another one of those things. Whether we're playing here, whether we're playing at UT-Austin or Texas State, it doesn't matter. Just roll the ball out, give me five players and let's go."
BAYLOR WOMEN'S BASKETBALL IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Baylor advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Second Round in fashion with a 49-point victory where five Lady Bears scored in double figures. Moon Ursin's career-high 24 points highlighted the 101-52 victory, which marked the third-highest point total in an NCAA Tournament game for Baylor. NaLyssa Smith had 18 points and 10 rebounds while missing just one shot from the field, and off the bench Jordyn Oliver's NCAA Tournament debut resulted in 14 points and a career-high four steals. Oliver's four steals led Baylor's team effort of 15 steals, which was second most in BU's NCAA Tournament history.
Baylor is competing in its 19th NCAA Tournament appearance for the Baylor women's basketball program, all coming under the watch of 21st-year head coach Kim Mulkey. The only season Mulkey's Lady Bears have missed the NCAA Tournament came in 2003. Baylor is 15-2 all-time in the second round with its only losses coming in 2002 and 2007. Baylor will be looking to advance the Sweet 16 for the 12th straight time. The Lady Bears have made nine trips to the Elite 8, had four Final Four appearances and won three NCAA Championships. Baylor's NCAA titles in 2005, 2012, and 2019 made the program one of three to have at least three championships, joining UConn and Tennessee. Baylor carries a 51-15 (.773) all-time record in the NCAA Tournament, which ranks as the third-best winning percentage in NCAA history. The Lady Bears' 51 wins are eighth all-time and 17-straight NCAA appearances is the fifth-longest active streak in women's basketball.
LADY BEARS VS. VIRGINIA TECH
Baylor and Virginia Tech will meet for the first time Tuesday in San Antonio. Baylor is 13-7 all-time vs. teams currently competing in the ACC.
BAYLOR'S NATIONALLY TELEVISED MATCHUP ON ABC MAKES HISTORY
While the Baylor Lady Bears are no stranger to television (335-66 in the Mulkey era), Sunday vs. Jackson State marked the first time in program history that Baylor has played on one of the four major television networks. The Lady Bears and Lady Tigers debuted on ABC with Beth Mowins and former UConn standout Renee Montgomery on the call.
LADY BEARS FINALIZE ANOTHER SWEEP OF BIG 12 TITLES
Baylor's 23 combined conference championships are tied with Stanford for the most in the Power 5 since the 2004-05 season. The Lady Bears' 17-1 record in Big 12 play allowed Baylor to cruise to its 11th-straight regular-season title and 12th overall. Baylor's 76-50 win over West Virginia Sunday solidified the Lady Bears' 11th Big 12 Tournament Championship. The Lady Bears enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed, the 10th-straight postseason as a No. 2 seed or higher.
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. It took until Feb. 14, but Baylor leads the category again through 28 games at a .318 clip. The Lady Bears also lead the nation in rebound margin at 19.3.
BAYLOR TAKES HOME SEVERAL ALL-CONFERENCE AWARDS TO COMPLIMENT 11TH-STRAIGHT REGULAR-SEASON TITLE
NaLyssa Smith was the ninth Lady Bear in Baylor history to pick up Big 12 Player of the Year honors, and she was a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team, the league announced Wednesday. DiJonai Carrington was named Big 12 Sixth Person of the Year and continued the trend of graduate transfers at Baylor winning the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. She joined Chloe Jackson (2019) and Te'a Cooper (2020) to become the third-straight winner for Baylor, and Carrington was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.
DiDi Richards and Moon Ursin both landed spots on each the All-Big 12 Second Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team while Queen Egbo rounded out the Lady Bears' selections on the honorable mention team.
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 668 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 (693) for most all-time appearances; Warlick played, assisted Pat Summitt and was head coach at Tennessee from 2012-2019.
COVID-19'S EFFECT ON THE LADY BEARS
Baylor lost four games scheduled for the Preseason WNIT in Waco in November, along with a Thanksgiving week game vs. Oregon in Las Vegas. Baylor lost its top-10 matchup with UConn Jan. 7.
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.
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.
