
No. 10 MBB Closes Ferrell Center Era with 107-48 Win over Mississippi Valley State
12/22/2023 8:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Shooting lights-out, particularly from 3-point range, the 10th-ranked Baylor Bears closed out a 35 ½-year chapter at the Ferrell Center with a 107-48 blowout win over Mississippi Valley State Friday night before a crowd of 8,794.
In the last scheduled game at a facility that opened in 1988, Baylor (10-2) shot a program-record 67.2% overall (41-of-61) and hit 19 3-pointers – the Bears' most ever at the Ferrell Center and one off the school record set 28 years ago in a road game at TCU.
"What a great way to close out the Ferrell Center," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team snapped a two-game losing streak. "I won't say we shot the lights out, but to shoot 67% and have a Baylor record, (that's a) great way to end going into Christmas.
"For coaches and players, the last game is so critical. This is what you think about for the next seven days. To have a good feeling and good taste in our mouth, that's how we wanted to do it. I thought the guys were locked-in. They did a great job with attention to detail."
Hitting six of its first nine from outside the arc, Baylor led 20-0 after the first six minutes and never looked back, taking a 30-point halftime lead, 50-20.
"(The basket) felt pretty big," said freshman Ja'Kobe Walter, who hit a season-high five 3-pointers and scored 26 points, two off the season-best he had in the opener. "Just came in, last game at the Ferrell Center, I was coming out hot from the Duke game. And luckily, God just gave me the ability to knock them down."
Baylor's 19 3-pointers broke its previous Ferrell Center record of 18 versus Central Arkansas in 2019 and was one off the arena record set by Savannah State in 2017.
"We had a little talk about it at the last media (timeout)," said sophomore guard Langston Love, who was 3-for-3 from distance, scoring in double figures for the seventh time this season with 15 points. "What were we, two shy, I think, after Miro (Little's) two shots? We just didn't get them up. We were just blessed to make that many shots in the first place."
The Bears go into a 10-day Christmas break with a 10-2 record and finish their run in the Ferrell Center with an all-time mark of 401-169.
"We have not played anybody who shot the ball as well as they shot the ball tonight," said Mississippi Valley coach George Ivory, whose team fell to 0-12 with its 12th of 13 games in a row on the road. "We were trying to guard the 3-point line, and we didn't do a great job of that."
With Walter and VCU transfer Jayden Nunn both hitting four 3-pointers in the first half, Baylor made 11 (of 18) in the first half alone.
"Guys like Ja'Kobe, everybody on the team, as long as we move the ball and get looks," Love said. "You get a good look, we've got the best shooters in the country, so we're always going to knock it down."
The game was already in hand by halftime, but Baylor didn't let up, hitting 12 shots in a row in an eight-minute stretch that pushed the lead out to 90-39 when freshman Miro Little hit the first of his three 3-pointers.
"At shoot-around, we didn't make any (3-pointers). I think we saved them all for the game," Drew said. "But it is contagious, like free throw shooting. Seems like you're on or you're off. But really, the quality of the shots we got was good quality. We got 27 assists on a lot of threes that we practice in rhythm. Guys were really unselfish tonight."
Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua scored a season-high 10 points, hitting a short hook shot over former MCC player Rayquan Brown with 2:03 left to get the Bears over the 100-point mark for the second time this season.
Little will be the trivia answer to who scored the last bucket for the men at the Ferrell Center, hitting the second of back-to-back 3-pointers with 46 seconds left in the game.
Love said the Bears were "blessed to have our alums come back and care about the program and just be a part of us closing out the Ferrell." More than 80 players representing teams back to the 1950s were recognized at halftime, including Julius Denton, who scored the first bucket at the Ferrell Center.
"This will be good momentum going into the next arena as we go up against Cornell in there," Love said. "It was just good momentum going into that and Big 12 play."
Nunn and Love combined to go 7-for-7 from outside the arc and scored 15 points apiece for the Bears. Sophomore Josh Ojianwuna, who made his first-career start in place of freshman 7-footer Yves Missi, was 3-for-4 from the floor and finished with seven points and three boards.
Reginald Reynolds and Brown scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, to lead Mississippi Valley State. Baylor scored 28 points off the Delta Devils' 20 turnovers and outscored them 49-18 in bench points.
"I wanted to look at the banners one more time and reminisce," Drew said. "So many memories. I first looked back at my family. When we first got in here, there wasn't anybody with my wife (Kelly) and I, and now (all the kids) are taller than her, except for Brody. But it just shows how time is so precious."
Following the break, Baylor will christen the new Paul & Alejandra Foster Pavilion with a non-conference matchup against Cornell (8-2) on Jan. 2 with a 7 p.m. tip.
No. 10/10 Baylor 107, Mississippi Valley 48
Waco, Texas (The Ferrell Center)
Dec. 22, 2023
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Shooting lights-out, particularly from 3-point range, the 10th-ranked Baylor Bears closed out a 35 ½-year chapter at the Ferrell Center with a 107-48 blowout win over Mississippi Valley State Friday night before a crowd of 8,794.
In the last scheduled game at a facility that opened in 1988, Baylor (10-2) shot a program-record 67.2% overall (41-of-61) and hit 19 3-pointers – the Bears' most ever at the Ferrell Center and one off the school record set 28 years ago in a road game at TCU.
"What a great way to close out the Ferrell Center," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team snapped a two-game losing streak. "I won't say we shot the lights out, but to shoot 67% and have a Baylor record, (that's a) great way to end going into Christmas.
"For coaches and players, the last game is so critical. This is what you think about for the next seven days. To have a good feeling and good taste in our mouth, that's how we wanted to do it. I thought the guys were locked-in. They did a great job with attention to detail."
Hitting six of its first nine from outside the arc, Baylor led 20-0 after the first six minutes and never looked back, taking a 30-point halftime lead, 50-20.
"(The basket) felt pretty big," said freshman Ja'Kobe Walter, who hit a season-high five 3-pointers and scored 26 points, two off the season-best he had in the opener. "Just came in, last game at the Ferrell Center, I was coming out hot from the Duke game. And luckily, God just gave me the ability to knock them down."
Baylor's 19 3-pointers broke its previous Ferrell Center record of 18 versus Central Arkansas in 2019 and was one off the arena record set by Savannah State in 2017.
"We had a little talk about it at the last media (timeout)," said sophomore guard Langston Love, who was 3-for-3 from distance, scoring in double figures for the seventh time this season with 15 points. "What were we, two shy, I think, after Miro (Little's) two shots? We just didn't get them up. We were just blessed to make that many shots in the first place."
The Bears go into a 10-day Christmas break with a 10-2 record and finish their run in the Ferrell Center with an all-time mark of 401-169.
"We have not played anybody who shot the ball as well as they shot the ball tonight," said Mississippi Valley coach George Ivory, whose team fell to 0-12 with its 12th of 13 games in a row on the road. "We were trying to guard the 3-point line, and we didn't do a great job of that."
With Walter and VCU transfer Jayden Nunn both hitting four 3-pointers in the first half, Baylor made 11 (of 18) in the first half alone.
"Guys like Ja'Kobe, everybody on the team, as long as we move the ball and get looks," Love said. "You get a good look, we've got the best shooters in the country, so we're always going to knock it down."
The game was already in hand by halftime, but Baylor didn't let up, hitting 12 shots in a row in an eight-minute stretch that pushed the lead out to 90-39 when freshman Miro Little hit the first of his three 3-pointers.
"At shoot-around, we didn't make any (3-pointers). I think we saved them all for the game," Drew said. "But it is contagious, like free throw shooting. Seems like you're on or you're off. But really, the quality of the shots we got was good quality. We got 27 assists on a lot of threes that we practice in rhythm. Guys were really unselfish tonight."
Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua scored a season-high 10 points, hitting a short hook shot over former MCC player Rayquan Brown with 2:03 left to get the Bears over the 100-point mark for the second time this season.
Little will be the trivia answer to who scored the last bucket for the men at the Ferrell Center, hitting the second of back-to-back 3-pointers with 46 seconds left in the game.
Love said the Bears were "blessed to have our alums come back and care about the program and just be a part of us closing out the Ferrell." More than 80 players representing teams back to the 1950s were recognized at halftime, including Julius Denton, who scored the first bucket at the Ferrell Center.
"This will be good momentum going into the next arena as we go up against Cornell in there," Love said. "It was just good momentum going into that and Big 12 play."
Nunn and Love combined to go 7-for-7 from outside the arc and scored 15 points apiece for the Bears. Sophomore Josh Ojianwuna, who made his first-career start in place of freshman 7-footer Yves Missi, was 3-for-4 from the floor and finished with seven points and three boards.
Reginald Reynolds and Brown scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, to lead Mississippi Valley State. Baylor scored 28 points off the Delta Devils' 20 turnovers and outscored them 49-18 in bench points.
"I wanted to look at the banners one more time and reminisce," Drew said. "So many memories. I first looked back at my family. When we first got in here, there wasn't anybody with my wife (Kelly) and I, and now (all the kids) are taller than her, except for Brody. But it just shows how time is so precious."
Following the break, Baylor will christen the new Paul & Alejandra Foster Pavilion with a non-conference matchup against Cornell (8-2) on Jan. 2 with a 7 p.m. tip.
No. 10/10 Baylor 107, Mississippi Valley 48
Waco, Texas (The Ferrell Center)
Dec. 22, 2023
- Baylor improves to 10-2 on the year, Mississippi Valley falls to 0-12.
- Baylor started the game on a 20-0 run its longest run since a 24-0 spurt against MVSU in the season opener last year.
- BU set a new program record for field-goal percentage in a game (.672)
- The Bears 59-point win tied for the fifth-largest in program history and was its largest since a 64-point win against Mississippi Valley last season.
- 19 three-pointers are the second-most in program history and the most BU has ever made in a game at the Ferrell Center. The program record is 20 three-pointers set 2/14/1995 at TCU.
- Baylor's 27 assists are its most since it had 30 against McNeese on Nov. 23, 2022.
- 48 points are Baylor's second-fewest allowed this season.
- The Bears improve to 46-1 under Scott Drew when holding an opponent under 50 points.
- BU wins its final game at the Ferrell Center to go 7-0 in the building this year.
- Baylor finishes 401-169 in 35 years at the Ferrell Center.
- The Bears improve to 5-0 all time against Mississippi Valley State.
- Baylor is 61-6 in home games over the last five seasons.
- BU is 88-15 against unranked teams over the last four seasons.
- The Bears are 87-4 in the last 91 non-conference home games.
- Baylor improved to 127-102 under Drew when coming off a loss.
- BU deployed the starting lineup of RayJ Dennis, Jayden Nunn, Ja'Kobe Walter, Jalen Bridges and Josh Ojianwuna for the first time this season.
- Walter scored a game-high 26 points, his second-highest total of the season and his most since the season-opener against Auburn (28).
- Walter notched a season-high five assists.
- Walter recorded a season-high five three-pointers, on a season-high nine attempts.
- Nunn recorded his third game of 15-plus points this season, The Bears are 5-0 when Nunn scores in double figures.
- Dennis had a team-high 7 assists, leading the team for an 11th time this season. BU is 7-1 when RayJ has 5+ assists this season.
- Ojianwuna made his career-first start
- Langston Love shot a career-high 85.7% (6-7) from the field.
- Love scored in double figures for the seventh time this season (15). It was his eighth time this season to lead the Bears in Bench points.
- Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua scored a season-high 10 points, his most since scoring 11 last season at Kansas State.
- It was Tchamwa Tchatchoua's 20th game at Baylor in double figures.
- With 46-second left, Miro Little scored the final points to set a new Baylor Ferrel;l Center record for three-pointers in a game, and net the final points at the Ferrell Center, finishing with a career-high nine points.
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