Baylor
Oklahoma State
MBB Returns Home to Face Oklahoma State on Saturday
1/13/2023 10:53:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BU has won 12 of the last 15 against OSU
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BAYLOR BEARS (11-5, 1-3 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
OKLAHOMA STATE (9-7, 1-3) vs. rv/rv BAYLOR (11-5, 1-3) Jan. 14, 2022 • 5:00 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • The Ferrell Center (10,284) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN2 Talent: Mark Neely (pxp), Chris Spatola (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 83, XM 83, Internet 381 Baylor Social Media:    |
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OKLAHOMA STATE (9-7, 1-3 Big 12) Location: Stillwater, Okla. Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Mike Boynton (South Carolina — 2004) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
After allowing an average of 87.3 points and a combined 50.5 shooting percentage in losing the first three conference games, Baylor's defense showed signs of improvement in the Bears' 83-78 win over West Virginia Wednesday night in Morgantown.
OK, baby steps.
Baylor (11-5, 1-3) gave up 51 points and 7-of-12 shooting from 3-point range in the second half and still ranks last in the league in defensive scoring average, field goal percentage and 3-point shooting percentage.
"Each and every game, you're hopefully better than your last game," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team will host Oklahoma State (9-7, 1-3) at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center. "The opponents are the same way, though, so you don't always see it. We're controlling what we can control better. We're sprinting back, not giving up as many gaps and easy baskets in transition."
The Bears will have to take another step to come close to matching an OSU defense that ranks top-25 nationally across the board, including third in field goal percentage defense (36.4) and a Big 12-best 5.6 blocks per game.
"Nothing is easy. You have to really work to score against them," Drew said. "One of the best shot-blocking teams in the nation. Coach (Mike) Boynton does a great job with his team, always getting them to play hard and compete, mixing up things. Like everyone in the Big 12, you change one or two possessions and now you're 3-1 or 4-0. Everybody's had so many close games, starting with them at Kansas (69-67)."
On the flip side, OSU's defense will be tested by a Baylor offense that ranks second in the league with 81.0 points per game. The Bears also have three of the top-12 scorers in the league in freshman Keyonte George (17.8 ppg, 4.6 assists), senior Adam Flagler (16.9 ppg, 5.1 assists) and junior LJ Cryer (13.8 ppg).
George scored a career-high 32 points in the road win at West Virginia, including 5-of-9 from outside the arc. At the end of the first half, he hit a highlight-reel, buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the corner.
"First, the team did a great job getting him high-percentage shots, and he did a good job getting open for those and making them," Drew said. "It's not always going to be one person's night, and you've got to have a team that sacrifices for each other. So that when someone gets going, you're not trying to get yourself going, but you're trying to get the guy who's going more shots."
Not that one win solves everything, but it "definitely breeds confidence," Drew said.
"It gives you pep in your step and excitement for your hard work showing up," he said. "It doesn't guarantee that you'll get a win. But I definitely feel our team is a better team going through the adversity. And hopefully, the rest of the season we can continue to learn from that losing streak of things that we can't have happen if we want to win."
If the Bears can continue to focus on the right things, junior forward Caleb Lohner said, "we have such a talented team . . . I don't see why we couldn't win every single Big 12 game from here on out."
"Every single game in the Big 12 is going to be a challenge, no matter the team," Lohner said. "The better we can get at executing in the last few minutes of the game and trying our best to not make the game a one-possession game, the better we'll be."
Oklahoma State's balanced scoring attack is led by Bryce Thompson, a 6-6 junior guard who is averaging 11.6 points per game. Thompson, who started his career at Kansas, scored 19 points in the Cowboys' 61-54 win last year in Waco.
With Thompson joined by seniors Avery Anderson III (10.4 ppg, 3.0 assists) and John-Michael Wright (9.4 ppg), OSU has an experienced backcourt with "a lot of talent and athleticism," Drew said.
"Bryce is a McDonald's All-American, and Avery has had a great career there, a senior that's done it for three years," Drew said.
Mousse Cisse, a 7-1 junior who shared Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors last season with Baylor's Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua and West Virginia's Gabe Osabuohien, is averaging 8.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and a Big 12-best 2.7 blocks per game. But, he missed the last two games with an ankle injury and is listed as day-to-day.
Redshirt freshman guard Langston Love said OSU is a "very good team, very good defensively. They do a lot of things well, and we do a lot of things well, so it's going to be a great game."
Saturday's game will be broadcast by ESPNU, with Mark Neely and Chris Spatola calling the action.
Story lines
• Baylor welcomes Oklahoma State, the Cowboys gave Baylor one of just two home losses a season ago.
• The Bears and Cowboys meet for the 92nd time, the 57th as Big 12 rivals. BU leads 31-25 since becoming Big 12 Rivals.
• BU trails in the all-time series 57-34, but leads with a 21-18 mark in Waco.
• The Bears have won 12 of the last 15 meetings between the two.
• All five of BU's losses have come against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25
• Baylor's 43-11 Big 12 record over the last 3+ seasons is the 2nd best of any Power-5 team.
• BU is 157-92 in Big 12 play in 13 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons.
• The Bears are the best offense in the Big 12 (8th best in the nation) according to Ken Pom (116.1 Adj. Efficiency rating), averaging 81.0 points per game.
• With a KenPom experience rating of 1.72, the Bears are the second-youngest team in the Big 12.
• BU has won 72-straight when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent (last loss March 2, 2019 at K-State).
• Baylor is 24-8 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.
• Eleven of Baylor's 12 starting point guards during the Scott Drew era have earned All-Big 12 recognition.
• Baylor's starting point guard has earned All-Big 12 recognition in 17 of 18 seasons since 2004-05.
• Adam Flagler and Keyonte George were named to the Wooden Award Mid-season Top-25. BU is one of three schools with multiple players on the list (Kansas and North Carolina).
• George Has seven 20-point games this season, the most by a BU freshman since Aaron Bruce (9) (2004-05).
• George's 17.8 points per game rank second among freshman in the NCAA.
• George's 32 points at West Virginia were the most by a BU freshman since LaceDarius Dunn's 38 at Texas Tech (3/8/08).
• Baylor is 46-7 vs. unranked teams over the last three seasons.
• BU held NWST to 48 points and improved to 44-1 under Drew when holding an opponent under 50 points (12/20).
• The Bears spent a school record 54-straight weeks top-10 ranked in the AP Poll (12/19/19 -12/5/22).
• Flagler, George and L.J. Cryer are all in the top-12 in the Big 12 in points per game, one of four schools to have multiple players and the only one to have three in the top-12.
• 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).
• 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).
• 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.
• 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 (373-158) since BU's first year with no scholarship restrictions in 2007-08.
