No. 4 MBB Heads to Tuscaloosa for Big 12/SEC Challenge
1/28/2022 1:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bears boast 7-1 mark all-time in the challenge, best of both conferences
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#4/4 BAYLOR BEARS (18-2, 6-2) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
#4/4 BAYLOR (18-2, 6-2) vs. rv/rv ALABAMA (13-7, 4-4) Jan. 29, 2022 • 3:00 p.m. CT Tuscaloosa, Ala. • Coleman Coliseum (15,316) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN Talent: Karl Ravech (pxp), Jimmy Dykes (analyst) LISTEN: Learfield / 1660 AM & 92.3 FM in Central Texas Talent: John Morris (PBP), Pat Nunley (Analyst) SIRIUS XM: Sirius 84, XM, 84, Internet 84 Baylor Social Media:    |
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rv/rv ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (13-7, 4-4) Location: Tuscaloosa, Al. Conference/Affiliation: SEC Head Coach: Nate Oats (Maranatha Baptist, 1997) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Potentially back at full strength for the first time in three weeks, fourth-ranked Baylor (18-2, 6-2) goes out of league play to face Alabama (13-7) in the Big 12/SEC Challenge at 3 p.m. CT Saturday at the Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Freshman forward Jeremy Sochan returned in Tuesday's 74-49 trouncing of Kansas State, while senior point guard James Akinjo could be back in the lineup after missing two of the last three games with a tailbone injury.
"(Thursday), he looked good. Today, we'll find out," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team bounced back from back-to-back losses at home to win its last three. "If we had the James of (Thursday), it would be a good thing, because he was really good. Today, he was a little sore, so we'll see how things go in practice."
After missing four games with a sprained ankle, the 6-foot-9 Sochan had a seemingly smooth transition back to the court. Playing 20 minutes, he was 2-of-3 from the field and finished with five points, two rebounds, two steals, one block and an assist.
"I was actually surprised. I feel like I just jumped back in," Sochan said. "I think it was a smooth process. I had a lot of help from Dave (Snyder), our athletics trainer, and just everyone believing in me. It was great to be back."
Any nerves the freshman might have had quickly dissipated when Sochan was greeted with one of the loudest ovations when he subbed in at the 16:41 mark in the first half.
"Even the crowd was behind me. I felt really welcomed," he said. "I did notice it. It was really loud, especially when I watched it back. It was great to see."
In one of their most complete games of the year, the Bears got double-doubles from Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua (13 points, 12 rebounds) and freshman Kendall Brown (10 points, 11 boards) while holding K-State to just 32% shooting from the field and dominating the rebounding battle, 39-28.
With Akinjo out, junior guard Dale Bonner also had his most productive game in a month, shooting 3-of-4 from the field and finishing with seven points, five assists and three rebounds in 24 minutes.
"I'm getting more confident every game," said Bonner, a transfer from Fairmont State. "My teammates believe in me, and the coaching staff believes in me, so I'm just taking what they give me. As much time as I get in the game, whether that's five, 10 minutes, or however many minutes I get, I'm just going to take advantage of that and do my job."
In the two games that Akinjo has missed, the backcourt combo of LJ Cryer (13.8 ppg) and LJ Cryer (12.5 ppg) have combined for 66 points. The Bears are getting production from every spot on the floor, with four double-figure scorers and senior forward Matthew Mayer (9.7 ppg, 4.7 rebounds) and junior.
Tchamwa Tchatchoua, one of 15 players named to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watch list, chips in with 8.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game off the bench.
"You have to have depth, with the physicality and the tough schedule you play in the Big 12," Drew said, "because you're going to have people who are banged-up, people who are injured. At the same time, whenever you do have injuries, it allows other people to gain that valuable playing experience and an opportunity to step forward and help the team."
The Bears might need to dip into that deep bench to defend an Alabama team that is averaging 81.1 points and nine 3-pointers made per game. Junior guard Jaden Shackelford leads the Crimson Tide with 17.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game and is shooting 37.7% from outside the arc.
"He's a really good shooter," Drew said of Shackelford, who scored 28 in a 91-82 win over then-No. 2 Gonzaga last month. "Because of his ability to make long 3's, obviously you close out, and that opens up drives. And he does a good job getting to the free throw line as well. He's just a gifted scorer and one of the best scorers we'll face all year."
Under third-year head coach Nate Oats, Alabama has been erratic. The Crimson Tide has wins over Final Four teams Gonzaga and Houston, as well as ranked wins over Tennessee and LSU, but they're coming off an 82-76 loss to a Georgia team that had dropped nine-straight SEC games.
"They've had some really good wins, and then they've had other games where I know Coach Oats said they haven't played as well," Drew said. "You know they're capable of beating anybody in the country, and you've got to assume you're going to get their best game. It's a white-out, they're going to be excited, and it should be a good environment."
Baylor is 7-1 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, the best record of any team in either league, and a combined 12-2 in conference challenges.
"Really, credit our past players in knowing the importance of representing the Big 12," Drew said. "Not only do you want bragging rights for your conference, but within your league, you want to be a team that people can count on, depend on. It doesn't guarantee that you're going to win, but we've played hard and competed and always tried to put our best forward. Hopefully, we can do that (Saturday)."
Saturday's game is an ESPN broadcast, with Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes calling the action.
STORY LINES
• No. 4 Baylor travels to Alabama for Saturday's 3 p.m. CT tip in the 9th-annual Big 12/SEC Challenge.
• Baylor is 7-1 in Big 12/SEC Challenges, the best record of any team in either league. Combined with 3-1 in the Big 12/Pac-10 Series and 2-0 in the Big 12/Big East Battle, BU is 12-2 in conference challenges.
• BU (7-1) and Alabama (3-1) are the only teams without multiple Big 12/SEC Challenge losses.
• BU and Alabama last met in the 2019 event, with BU earning a 73-68 victory in Waco.
• Baylor's 18-2 record is its worst through 20 games since 2018-19. BU was 19-1 in 2019-20 & 2020-21. The Bears are a combined 56-4 through their first 20 games over the last 3 seasons.
• Baylor has won 36-straight non-conference games (+23.2 average margin) dating back to Nov. 2019.
• BU has won 18-straight non-conference road/neutral games (last loss Nov. 8, 2019 vs. Washington).
• BU has won 14-consecutive games away from home – 9 neutral, 5 road (last loss March 12 vs. OSU).
• BU is 33-1 vs. unranked teams over the last 2 seasons (+23.0 avg margin) with all wins by 5+ points.
• Baylor is 13-5 against Southeastern Conference teams over the last 10 seasons, including road wins at Kentucky, Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt and neutral wins vs. Arkansas and Kentucky.
• BU is coming off a 74-49 victory over Kansas State on Tuesday, its 4th time holding an opponent below 50 points this season. BU has held opponents below 40 points in 52-consecutive halves.
• Jeremy Sochan returned on Tuesday after missing 4.5 games with an ankle injury, while James Akinjo sat for the second time in three games while battling a lower back injury.
• Baylor has been No. 1 ranked in 4 of the last 6 seasons (Gonzaga, Duke and Kansas are only others).
• Baylor's 34-6 Big 12 conference record over the last 3 seasons is the best of any Power-5 team.
• Baylor's 46-4 record over the last 2 seasons is the nation's best among Power-5 teams, and the Bears' 72-8 record over the last 3 seasons is 2nd-best nationally, trailing only Gonzaga (78-5).
• Baylor's bench has out-scored the opponents' bench in 16 of 20 games and by an average of 28-19.
• Baylor is the nation's only team ranked top-35 in scoring offense (35th) and scoring defense (11th).
• Baylor ranks top-25 nationally in scoring margin (5th, +19.4), assists (10th, 17.6), steals (12th, 9.7), rebounding margin (17th, +7.8), turnovers forced (18th, 17.4), turnover margin (20th, +4.2),
offensive rebound percentage (6th, 37.8) and effective FG% (20th, .552).
• Over the last 3 seasons, Baylor is 61-3 when leading at the half and 72-5 when taking a 2nd-half lead.
• BU has forced 10+ turnovers in 28-straight games, including 12+ TOs in 19 of 20 games this season.
• BU's 49-straight weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 is the nation's 3rd-longest behind Gonzaga and Villanova.
• Baylor is on a school-record streak of 41-straight weeks top-10 ranked (top-5 ranked in 38 of those).
• Baylor has been ranked in all 25 spots in the AP Top 25 at some point in the last 7 years.
• Baylor has built leads of 11+ points in 25 of 26 games since the start of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
• BU has built double-digit leads in 70 of 80 games over the last 3 seasons (46 of 50 last 2 seasons).
• BU has defeated 3 currently top-25 ranked teams this season – No. 10 Michigan State (75-58 in Battle 4 Atlantis title game), No. 14 Villanova (57-36 in Waco) and No. 23 Iowa State (77-72 in Ames).
QUICK HITS
• Baylor is 4-0 in Big 12 road games this season, while the rest of the league is a combined 12-22.
• For a second-straight season, Baylor was one of the nation's final two undefeated teams.
• BU went 305 days between losses, the longest in program history (March 12, 2021 – Jan. 11, 2022).
• BU went 1,038 days without consecutive losses before dropping back-to-back games Jan. 11 and Jan. 15.
• Baylor became the first program to start consecutive seasons 15-0 since Syracuse in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
• Head coach Scott Drew is in his 19th season at Baylor with a school-record 388 career victories, including a 17-8 mark in NCAA Tournaments, which is the 7th-best mark among active coaches.
• Baylor's streak of 18-straight wins by 8+ points was snapped in a 5-point win at Iowa State. BU was the first returning national champion to win its first 12 games by 8+ points since 1990-91 UNLV.
• BU ranks 6th nationally in KenPom's offensive rebound pct (37.8), its 8th-straight year ranked top-10.
• BU is playing its 299th 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 283 of 420 games.
• Baylor and Kansas are the only Power-5 schools to win 18+ games every year since 2008.
• Baylor's streak of 9 consecutive postseasons is tied as the nation's 7th-longest active streak.
• 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 91-6 when leading at halftime over the last 5 seasons (61-3 over last 3 seasons, 24-0 last season).
• Baylor has won 90% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (208-22).
• BU is 72-5 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game over the last 3 seasons.
• Baylor is 263-101 over the last 10+ seasons, averaging 24.5 wins per season since 2011-12.
• Baylor's 263 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (302).
• Baylor is 354-148 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 9th-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 982 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).
• 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.
BIG 12's MOST WINS IN CONFERENCE CHALLENGES
• Baylor is 12-2 in conference challenges – 7-1 in Big 12/SEC Challenge, 3-1 in Big 12/Pac-10, 2-0 in Big 12/Big East.
• Baylor's 7-1 Big 12/SEC Challenge record includes wins vs. 7 different teams – Kentucky (neutral), Vanderbilt (road), Georgia (home), Ole Miss (road), Alabama (home), Florida (road) and Auburn (home).
• Baylor's 2022 opponent Alabama (3-1) is the only other team without multiple Big 12/SEC Challenge losses.
• Baylor's 7-1 record is the best record by any team in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. OU and OSU are 6-2, while Kansas and Texas Tech are 5-3, TCU is 4-4, Texas is 3-4, Iowa State and K-State are 3-5 and WVU is 2-6.
• Baylor's 12-2 record in conference challenges is best in the Big 12, followed by OSU at 10-5, Kansas at 9-6, OU at 8-7, Iowa State at 7-7, Texas at 6-7, TCU at 5-6, Texas Tech at 6-8, K-State at 5-9 and WVU at 4-7.
For full version of Baylor's game notes, click here. For full version of Alabama's game notes, click here.
