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BAYLOR BEARS (6-2)
Location: Waco, Texas
Conference/Affiliation: Big 12
Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
TARLETON (5-3) vs. 12/12 BAYLOR (6-2)
Dec. 6, 2022 • 7:00 p.m. CT
Waco, Texas • The Ferrell Center (10,284)
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
WATCH: ESPN+
Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (analyst)
LISTEN: Learfield/ ESPN 1660 AM / 92.3 FM in Central Texas and on the Varsity Network App.
Talent: Dave Rosselli (PBP), David Kaye (Analyst)
SIRIUS XM: Sirius 199, XM 199, Internet 953
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TARLETON TEXANS (5-3)
Location: Stephenville, Texas
Conference/Affiliation: WAC
Head Coach: Billy Gillispie (Texas State, 1983)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Sandwiched between higher-profile games against Gonzaga and Washington State, the 12th-ranked Baylor Bears (6-2) will face Tarleton (5-3) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Ferrell Center.
But, Baylor coach Scott Drew says this is "not one of your typical guarantee games where you're looking at one of those big-margin victories."
At No. 100 in the latest NCAA net rankings, the Texans are led by former Kentucky, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and UTEP head coach Billy Clyde Gillispie, handed Boston College a 16-point loss in the Paradise Jam and had a late five-point lead on the road before falling at Arizona State, 62-59.
"They play extremely hard and they don't beat themselves. You're going to have to beat them," Drew said. "You definitely have to be tough and you have to be strong with the ball, because they contest every pass, make everything difficult. They're a top-100 net rating team, and they're down the road (in Stephenville), so this game means a lot to them. I know they're going to be fired up, and we've got to bring our 'A' game."
Baylor did just that in Friday's 64-63 win over 14th-ranked Gonzaga in the inaugural Peacock Classic in Sioux Falls, S.D. "Embarrassed" in a 96-70 loss in their first true road game three days earlier at Marquette, the Bears responded with a much better defensive outing against the Zags and finished the game on an 8-0 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Adam Flagler and a pair of free throws by Jalen Bridges.
"Win or lose, we just try to learn and see what we did wrong in the game, just so we can improve game to game," said redshirt freshman guard Langston Love, who has scored in double digits in two of the last three games. "I feel like that win was big for us just to get some momentum going into these next couple of games."
The Bears held All-American forward Drew Timme to just nine points and the No. 1-ranked offense to its fewest points and field goal percentage (36.1%) of the year.
Defense was "the only thing we talked about" after the Marquette loss, Coach Drew said.
"We tried to not leave defenders so much on an island, give them more help," he said. "We tried to pack in our defense more and tried to be more aggressive on rotations."
Against Tarleton, which made the transition to Division I two years ago, one of the keys is ball security. The Texans are ranked fifth in the nation in turnovers forced per game (21.2) and forced 29 in a 98-55 win over Wiley College on Saturday.
Somewhat position-less with all five starters between 6-4 and 6-6, the Texans are led by 6-6 juniors Freddy Hicks (19.8 ppg, 7.2 rebounds) and 6 Jakorie Smith (11.5 ppg). Lue Williams, a 6-5 junior, is averaging 11.0 points per game and shooting 44.4% from 3-point range.
"They do a great job getting after you defensively, very similar to a Stephen F. Austin-type defense," Drew said. "They're very aggressive, and they're a team that turns you over a lot. They foul a lot and get a lot of fouls called, so it's a real physical game."
Now in his third season at Tarleton, Gillispie's first college job was as an assistant at Baylor under Harry Miller (1994-97).
A backcourt-driven team to this point, the Bears are led by LJ Cryer (16.5 ppg), Flagler (16.1 ppg, 6.1 assists) and freshman Keyonte George (14.9 ppg), who had a team-high 18 points in the win over Gonzaga.
"He's a freshman, which means you're going to have some ups and downs," Drew said of George, who is third on the team with 20 3-pointers made, "but he's very coachable, wants to do well for the team, cares about winning. And when you get players like that, then good things happen."
With its last game before semester final exams, Baylor will not play again until a matchup against Washington State (3-4) on Dec. 18 in the Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The 19th-ranked Baylor women (6-2) face No. 12 Arizona (7-0) at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Baylor-Washington State game at 9.
"As much as we focused on the defensive part of things, we took a good step forward for Gonzaga," Drew said. "Hopefully, we can continue to take another step forward (Tuesday night)."
Tuesday's game will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and former Baylor basketball standout Pat Nunley calling the action.
STORY LINES
• No. 12/12 Baylor faces Tarleton in the first meeting between the two teams since 1986.
• After dropping the first two games in the series, BU has won each of the last six games in the series.
• The Bears are the 6th best offense in the nation according to Ken Pom (116.7 Adj. Efficiency rating), averaging 85.1 points per game.
• 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 61st consecutive week in the AP Top 25, Baylor has the nations second-longest streak (Gonzaga 119).
• The 12th-ranked Bears spent a school record 54-straight weeks top-10 ranked in the AP Poll (12/19/19 -12/5/22).
• Baylor is 60-17 against in-state opponents since the start of the 2011-12 season, and the Bears have advanced deeper into postseason play than any of Texas' 23 Division I team in five of the last nine seasons.
• 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 six of the last nine games.
• Adam Flagler has three 20-point games in that stretch, followed by Cryer (2), Keyonte George (2) and Jalen Bridges (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 (368-155) 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 76-5 in its last 81 non-conference home games dating back to Dec. 12, 2012.
• Baylor is 141-16 in non-conference home games in the Drew era, including 112-8 since 2007-08.
• Baylor is 57-8 in home games against unranked opponents (including Big 12 play) since 2016-17.
• Baylor is 42-5 vs. unranked teams over the last three seasons.
• With a 117-53 win in the season opener against Mississippi Valley State (11/7), BU notched the third-largest margin of victory in program history, and 117 points were 1 shy of a Ferrell Center record.
• In an 87-70 win over Norfolk State, BU shot 38 three-pointers, the second-most in the Scott Drew era and the fifth-most in school history.
• Baylor has been in the Preseason AP Top 25 in 10 of 13 seasons since its first preseason ranking in 2010-11.
• The Bears are 61-11 over the last three seasons, the nation's best record by a Power-5 team.
• Baylor is 87-15 over the last four seasons, the nation's best winning percentage among Power-5 teams.
• BU won a school-record 26 regular-season games and finished with its 2nd-most conference wins (14) last season.
• Baylor is playing its 628th game of the 20-year Drew era – more than half (319) have been as a ranked team
