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BAYLOR BEARS (10-2, 0-0 Big 12)
Location: Waco, Texas
Conference/Affiliation: Big 12
Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
RV/RV Iowa State (9-2) vs. 12/13 BAYLOR (9-2)
Dec. 31, 2022 • 1:00 p.m. CT
Ames, Iowa • Hilton Coliseum (14,267)
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
WATCH: ESPNU
Talent: Rich Hollenberg (pxp), Fran Fraschilla (analyst)
LISTEN: Learfield/ ESPN 1660 AM / 92.3 FM in Central Texas and on the Varsity Network App.
Talent: John Morris (PBP), Pat Nunley (Analyst)
SIRIUS XM: Sirius 204, XM 204, Internet 967
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IOWA STATE CYCLONES (9-2, 0-0 Big 12)
Location: Ames, Iowa
Conference/Affiliation: Big 12
Head Coach: T.J. Otzelberger
(Wisconsin-Whitewater, 2001)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Nothing says New Year's celebration like a Baylor basketball game at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
For the second-straight year, No. 12/13 Baylor (10-2) will open Big 12 play on the road at Iowa State (9-2), a 1 p.m. tipoff Saturday at Hilton Coliseum. It's also the third year in a row the Bears have been in Ames on or around New Year's Day, winning the two previous matchups.
"We just love New Year's in Ames," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team is riding a five-game winning streak after blowing out Nicholls, 85-56, on Wednesday. "The good thing is, we know the guys aren't doing anything."
Baylor is actually opening conference on the road for the ninth time in the last 10 years, with the Bears winning the last three. They defeated Texas, 59-44, on Jan. 4, 2020, in their only Big 12 opener at home in that stretch.
"It's cold, very cold," fifth-year senior center Flo Thamba said of Ames, where the gametime forecast is 37 degrees. "I'm not looking forward to the weather, but it's an amazing place to be, an amazing arena to play at."
Picked eighth in the Big 12 coaches' preseason poll, Iowa State recorded high-profile wins over Villanova and then-No. 1 North Carolina at the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore., before falling in the finals to a Connecticut team that is still undefeated and No. 2 in the latest polls.
Last season, first-year head coach T.J. Otzelberger had one of the biggest turnarounds in college basketball history. Taking over a 2-22 team, Otzelberger led the Cyclones to a 22-13 finish and the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with upsets wins over LSU and third-seeded Wisconsin.
A balanced attack is led by a pair of double-figure scorers in 6-4 senior guard Jaren Holmes (13.8 ppg), a transfer from St. Bonaventure, and 6-3 senior guard Caleb Grill (10.0 ppg, 4.3 rebounds). Tre King, a 6-7 forward who transferred from Georgetown after the fall 2021 semester, scored 11 points in a 73-57 win over Western Michigan in his first game with the Cyclones.
"Defensively, they're No. 1 in forcing turnovers," Drew said of Iowa State's 20.9 forced turnovers per game, "but it's not through pressing and trapping. It's more in their halfcourt defense. They're really tenacious, NBA (3-point) line and in. They do a great job with ball screens, putting two on the ball. Not trapping, but being very aggressive. It's a no-middle defense. And they play a lot of guys, so when they come in, they play really hard."
Turnovers have been an issue for the Bears, who are eighth in the league and 251st nationally with 13.8 turnovers per game. They had 20 turnovers in a 96-70 loss to Marquette on Nov. 29, in their only previous true road game.
"We need to keep improving our turnover rate," Drew said. "We were so good early on in the year with the turnover rate, and that's been a point of emphasis. Hopefully, we can get back to the 16 to 17 percent rather than the 19 or 20 percent turnover rate."
Thamba said some of the turnovers can be attributed to players "trying to make the spectacular play instead of just making the simple play."
"Just get the easy bucket, especially in transition," Thamba said, "because our efforts (on the defensive end) got those easy transition points. The reality is we've just got to tighten up here and there. We've got amazing guards, and I'm sure we'll be fine."
Baylor is led by its backcourt trio of guards Adam Flagler (16.1 ppg, 5.2 assists), freshman Keyonte George (15.6 ppg, 4.4 rebounds) and LJ Cryer (14.9 ppg), who has been in concussion protocol and missed Wednesday's blowout victory over Nicholls.
Drew said Iowa State has a great home-court advantage because it's "usually cold up there, and that must be the one place that has heat, so everybody goes."
"They have great fan support, they know basketball, they know when to get loud, when to help their home team," Drew said. "That's why Big 12 road games are so tough, period. We're the best conference because it's a 'we,' and the fans are so critical to that."
The Bears have won six-straight against the Cyclones and nine of the last 10, with the only loss coming at the Big 12 Tournament. Saturday's game will be broadcast by ESPNU, with Rich Hollenberg and Fran Fraschilla calling the action.
STORY LINES
• No. 12/13 Baylor opens Big 12 Conference Play in Ames against Iowa State for the second-straight year.
• BU leads the all-time series 24-20, with a 6-14 mark in Ames.
• The Bears have won six-straight in the series, the longest winning streak by either team in the series.
• BU opens conference play on the road for the third-straight season and the ninth time in the last 10 years
• The Bears are 10-9 under Scott Drew in Big 12 openers, winning each of the last three.
• This series features the only two teams, other than Kansas, to win back-to-back Big 12 Championships.
• Baylor's 42-9 Big 12 record over the last 3 seasons is the best of any Power-5 team.
• BU is 156-89 in Big 12 play in 13 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons.
• The Bears are the second-best offense in the Big 12 (14th best in the nation) according to Ken Pom (113.9 Adj. Efficiency rating), averaging 80.8 points per game.
• BU has won 71-straight when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent (last loss March 2, 2019 at K-State).
• Baylor is 24-7 against AP top 25 teams over the last four seasons, the nation's best mark against ranked teams. 15 of those wins came against top 25 teams away from home.
• With its 64th consecutive week in the AP Top 25, Baylor has the nations second-longest streak (Gonzaga 122).
• BU held NWST to 48 points and improved to 44-1 under Drew when holding an opponent under 50 points (12/20).
• The 12th-ranked Bears spent a school record 54-straight weeks top-10 ranked in the AP Poll (12/19/19 -12/5/22).
• Keyonte George scored a game-high 19 points to lift BU to a win over Washington St., its seventh-straight win over a Pac-12 foe (12/18)
• Down its two leading scorers, George and Langston Love and went for 20+ points each to lift the Bears past Tarleton (12/6).
• BU held the nation's best offense in Gonzaga, to a season-low 63 points in a 64-63 win in the inaugural Peacock Classic (12/2).
• LJ Cryer set career highs in points (28), field goals (10), rebounds (4) and minutes (35) against No. 8 UCLA (11/20).
• Cryer's 23.5 points per game in Las Vegas earned his first-career Big 12 Player of the Week Award.
• Baylor has had at least one player score 20+ points in seven of the last 12 games.
• Adam Flagler and Keyonte George have three 20-point games in that stretch, followed by Cryer (2), Jalen Bridges (1), and Love (1).
• With a 95-62 win over Northern Colorado (11/14), Scott Drew became one of 10 active coaches with 400+ wins at his current institution.
• Drew has a winning percentage of .700 (372-155) since BU's first year with no scholarship restrictions in 2007-08.
• In his 20th season at BU, Drew is coming off Big 12 Coach of the Year honors for a 3rd-straight season, joining Gene Keady (Purdue, 94-96) and Jay Wright (Villanova, 14-16) as the only high-major coaches to accomplish the feat.
• Baylor is 45-5 vs. unranked teams over the last three seasons.
• Baylor is playing its 632nd game of the 20-year Drew era – more than half (323) have been as a ranked team.
