Baylor
Oklahoma
No. 9 WBB Ready for Ranked Contest vs. No. 18 Oklahoma
2/1/2022 3:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Wednesday's game declared a gold out
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9/12 BAYLOR BEARS (15-4, 5-2) Location: Waco,Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Nicki Collen (Marquette, 1998) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (15-4, 5-2) vs. OKLAHOMA (18-3, 7-2) February 2, 2022 • 7 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Ferrell Center LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ Talent: John Morris (pxp), Jim Haller (analyst), Brooke Bednarz (reporter) LISTEN: ESPN Central Texas, BaylorBears.com Talent: Derek Smith (pxp), Sophia Young-Malcolm (Analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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#18/18 OKLAHOMA SOONERS (18-3, 7-2) Location: Norman, Okla. Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Jennie Baranczyk (Iowa, 2004) Roster | Stats (PDF) | Game Notes (PDF) |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Looking back on the 83-77 loss at Oklahoma three weeks ago, Nicki Collen barely recognizes the team wearing green and gold that night.
"Watching the game back, we don't look like the same team we've become," said Collen, whose ninth-ranked Bears (15-4, 5-2) play the No. 18 Sooners (18-3, 7-2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Ferrell Center. "Some of that was COVID, some of that was losing going into Christmas, and then coming back and losing to Kansas State. . . . When you think about where our guards are at from then till now, they're the biggest difference."
Since then, Baylor has reeled off five-consecutive wins, capped by Sunday's 87-54 blowout of West Virginia on the road. During that stretch, the Bears have averaged 82.2 points per game and shot 46.2% from outside the arc, with all five starters averaging double-digit points.
In the loss to Oklahoma, the backcourt trio of Jordan Lewis, Sarah Andrews and Ja'Mee Asberry were just 4-of-14 from the floor and scored a combined 20 points with 10 turnovers.
"It's kind of cringy to watch it, for me," Lewis said, "the turnovers we had and some of the bad passes we had. I think just being more confident and building more chemistry. . . . I think we've come together to kind of find our roles and hit who's hot, who's not, and find each other in spots where we could score."
In Sunday's win over the Mountaineers, the guards knocked down seven 3-pointers and combined for 29 points with 18 assists and only five turnovers. Lewis had the seventh triple-double in program history with 10 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, earning Big 12 Player of the Week honors.
"This one (Lewis) wasn't coming off a triple-double going into the game the last time," Collen said. "She struggled to put the ball in the basket against Kansas State (1-of-6 from 3) and then had COVID and then just wasn't aggressive, wasn't herself. . . . You watch us, we looked tired in that game. I didn't feel it at the time, but now that I know how we can look, I know that we weren't ourselves."
While the guards have picked up the pace, averaging almost 40 points per game during the winning streak, the Bears have also gotten consistent production from 6-3 senior center Queen Egbo (10.8 ppg, 8.3 rebounds). Since fouling out and scoring just four points in a 68-59 loss at Kansas State, she's averaged a double-double with 14.7 points and 10 boards per game.
"I think it's an energy and effort thing with Queen," Collen said. "Obviously, the talent is there. She can go get a ball in a crowd, she can block shots . . . but understand that playing with consistent energy, playing with consistent effort, that the ball will come her way if she does those things.
"It's not about how many touches you get or this or that. It's been the defensive play, it's been the consistency of getting down to early posts, of getting on the offensive glass, of finishing around the rim."
Tied atop the Big 12 standings with No. 11/10 Iowa State (18-3, 7-2), Oklahoma has bounced back to win two in a row after giving up an NCAA-record 61 points to Ayoka Lee in a 94-65 loss to Kansas State.
The Sooners are second in the country with 85.9 points per game and have four players scoring in double figures. Taylor Robertson (17.8 ppg, 3.5 assists) has hit a national-best 85 3-pointers and ranks fourth in 3-point shooting percentage (47.8%), one spot ahead of Andrews (47.0%).
Hounded by Asberry in the first game against Baylor, Robertson only got off five shots, but made them all from outside the arc. Skyler Vann scored 22 points off the bench, while Madi Williams had 18 points and seven boards.
"Taylor Robertson is arguably the best shooter in America. Not in the Big 12, but in America," Collen said. "She shoots 48% from 3. She shot 100%, with every shot being contested. She was 5-for-5. Law of average says she should have been 2-for-5, or 2 ½-for-5, which isn't possible. The fact that she was 5-for-5 last time makes her more likely to be 0-for-5 this time so she can get back to that 50% she shoots from 3."
This is the first of four games in eight days for the Bears, who will play 13th-ranked Texas (15-4, 5-3) on Friday in Waco and Austin on Sunday, followed by a matchup against No. 25 Kansas State (16-5, 6-3) next Wednesday, Feb. 9, at the Ferrell Center.
"I think for (the players), it's just less preparation, more of a chance to get out there and show what they're capable of," said Collen, who had a similar schedule in her five years in the WNBA. "For me, it feels a little bit more like that from a prep perspective. Certainly we're not looking ahead, but when you think about this week in totality, the scariest part is the one-day prep for Texas."
Wednesday's "Gold Out" game against OU will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with "Voice of Bears" John Morris and former Baylor men's basketball coach Jim Haller calling the action.
FIVE IN A ROW
• Since Baylor's loss at then-ranked No. 23 Oklahoma, Baylor has won five straight. The stats speak for themselves as BU turned a corner after the loss in Norman.
• From the beginning of the season through the OU loss, BU averaged 74.5 points on 44.5 percent shooting from the floor and a 32.3 mark from deep. Three players averaged double figures: NaLyssa Smith (21.1), Jordan Lewis (12.1) and Sarah Andrews (10.6).
• Since then, Baylor is averaging 82.2 points per game, a 7.7 increase. The Bears are also shooting better from the floor (48.9) and have found their rhythm from downtown (46.2 percent). Five players are now averaging double figures: Smith (18.2), Andrews (15.8), Egbo (14.4), Lewis (12.8) and Asberry (10.0).
• Baylor's assists per game have increased by 3.9 and the turnovers are down 2.9. Over the past five games, 62.6 of BU's buckets have been assisted, compared to 59.3 percent the first 14 games of the season.
• While 3-point numbers are definitely up and the backcourt is receiving due credit, it's the play of Egbo that stands out in this shift. The senior is averaging 4.8 more points and 2.3 more rebounds. Her shooting percentage is up 4.0 percent.
BIG GAME JLEW
• Jordan Lewis became the third Bear in program history to notch a triple-double as the grad transfer put up 10 points, 10 boards and 11 assists at West Virginia (1/29).
• Lewis's triple-double was the first since Alexis Jones did so against Oklahoma (1/29/17) and the seventh overall in program history.
• Named the Big 12 Player of the Week, Lewis had just the second 10 point, 10 rebound, 11 assist game in a Big 12 matchup, joining Shalee Lehning (Kansas State, 2009).
WALKING DOUBLE-DOUBLE
• NaLyssa Smith is seventh in the country with 13 double-doubles on the season.
• Smith is fifth in program history with 41 career double-doubles.
• The senior is averaging 20.3 points and 11.4 rebounds per game which ranks No. 18 and No. 14 in the country, respectively.
• Smith was recently named to the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 Watch List.
LET IT FLY
• Baylor's program record for triples made came on Dec. 18, 2019 against Arkansas State when Juicy Landrum caught fire and set an NCAA record with 14 triples. Besides that record-setting performance, BU hadn't drained more than a dozen shots from deep since 2011.
• BU's record for 3-point attempts in a season came in 2013-14 when the Bears attempted 596 3s.
• From that season to 2020-21, Baylor made 10 or more 3-pointers in a game only five times across a total of 281 games (1.78 percent). BU has done so four times this season.
• At Kansas, Baylor nearly set a record with a 14-for-29 display from the perimeter. BU's 14 treys marked the second most in program history.
• Prior to this year, only 14 Bears had made six or more 3s in a game. Two of them had done it multiple times (Makenzie Robertson, 2012, 2014) and Jennifer King (1990, 1991, 1993).
• Sarah Andrews and Ja'Mee Asberry have already joined that elite club this season. Andrews went 6-for-8 against Morehead State and from deep and Asberry fired off 6-of-8 against Alcorn State. Asberry then went 6-for-11 at Kansas, and Andrews set a career-high with a 7-for-10 mark.
• Andrews' seven 3s tied for third in program history. She is now one of six Bears in program history to hit a minimum of seven triples in a game.
• Andrews is currently No. 6 in the nation in 3-point percentage at 47 percent.
• Jordan Lewis joined the club with her 6-of-7 performance against Iowa State.
