Baylor
Kansas State
No. 9 MBB Heads to Manhattan Looking to Even the Season Series With No. 14 KSU
2/20/2023 4:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BU has won seven of the last eight against the Wildcats
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9/10 BAYLOR BEARS (20-7, 9-5 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
14/16 Kansas State (20-7, 8-6) vs. 9/10 BAYLOR (20-7, 9-5) Feb. 21, 2023 • 6:00 p.m. CT Manhattan, Kan. • Bramlage Coliseum (11,000) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN2 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 SIRIUS XM: Sirius 83, XM 83, Internet 83 Baylor Social Media:    |
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14/16 KANSAS STATE WILDCATS (20-7, 8-6 Big 12) Location: Manhattan, Kan. Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Jerome Tang (Charter Oak State College — 2007) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Having already avenged one of its three losses in opening league play at 0-3, ninth-ranked Baylor (20-7, 9-5) will get a chance to split another series when the Bears play 14th-ranked Kansas State (20-7, 8-6) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan.
Longtime Baylor assistant Jerome Tang won the first head-to-head meeting with his former boss when the Wildcats pulled out a 97-95 overtime win over Scott Drew's Baylor Bears on Jan. 7 at the Ferrell Center.
The Bears had five players in double figures in the first matchup, led by Adam Flagler and Keyonte George with 23 and 22 points, respectfully, while Markquis Nowell had 32 points and Keyontae Jonson 24 for K-State.
"Honestly, we learned nothing (about Nowell and Johnson), because we know how good both of them were, and we saw how good both of them were playing," Drew said. "I learned Nowell can shoot from the jump ball circle in the Ferrell Center. And I know Keyontae's somebody you have to have a lot of respect for what he's overcome. He's a great player."
The same transition defense issues Baylor had in that game showed up again in Saturday's 87-71 loss at Kansas, when the Jayhawks scored 55 second-half points, scored 14 fast-break points and added 13 points off the Bears' 11 turnovers.
"I think transition defense is always transition defense, it doesn't matter what you're doing there," Drew said. "That's twofold. You turn it over, you take bad shots, you're going to be in transition defense. If you take care of the ball and make shots, that helps with that. Then, our communication skills with our effort to get back. We got back several times and we had no communication. You've got to do both. Teams saw that, we saw that, and we'll get better."
Baylor had a double-digit halftime lead at Kansas, but lost it in the first six minutes of the second half and fell for the 20th time in 21 trips to Lawrence.
"We were getting blown by and not helping each other and being connected," said George, who hit five 3-pointers and scored 20 points for his 11th 20-point game of the season, the most by a Baylor freshman in 21 years. "In the first half, we were connected, playing fast, getting to the rim, making shots. . . . Everybody knows we have great guards and a great offense, but we have to guard the ball well."
That will be particularly challenging against Nowell, a 5-8 fifth-year senior point guard who ranks first in the Big 12 in scoring (20.0 ppg), assists (6.7) and free-throw percentage (91.6%) in conference-only games. Against Baylor, he recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 32 points and a career-high 14 assists, hitting four treys and 12-of-13 from the line.
"You can look at him and say, 'Oh, he's too small,''' George said of Nowell, who has scored in double digits in all but four games, "but you know that's not the case. He comes out here and plays like everybody else does. He's able to make his reads, he's able to get to the rim. He's playing with all kinds of confidence. He's been in college basketball for a long time, he's a college vet, and he knows what it takes to win."
Johnson, a transfer from Florida, has had just as big of an impact. Ranked second in the league in scoring (17.4 ppg) and third in rebounds (7.4) for all games, he had a streak of 24-consecutive double-digit outings snapped with nine points in a loss at Texas Tech.
"Their staff has done a great job with those two," Drew said of Johnson and Nowell. "We know what challenges we have with them. At the same time, it's a great challenge and a great opportunity to play against great players. And their team wins because of the team and not just two people."
With Tang energizing the student and community fan bases, K-State has had sellouts in six of its last seven games at Bramlage, where the Wildcats are 14-1 this season.
"He's done a great job getting students out," Drew said of Tang, who was at Baylor for 19 years before taking the K-State job after the 2022 season. "I think the community has done a great job, his staff and his players are to be commended for their hard work with it. Most of all, they've played well on the court, makes it easy to cheer for them."
Tuesday's game will be broadcast by ESPN2, with Rich Hollenberg and Fran Fraschilla calling the action.
Baylor returns home to face eighth-ranked Texas (21-6, 10-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday in the front end of a basketball doubleheader at the Ferrell Center. In the back end, the Baylor women (16-10, 7-7) host Texas Tech (16-11, 4-10) at 5 p.m.
STORY LINES
• No. 9/10 Baylor continues its road swing in the Sunflower State with a 6 p.m. matchup with No. 14/16 Kansas State on ESPN2 Tuesday.
• This is the 49th meeting in series history with BU holding the 25-24 lead
• BU has won seven of the last eight meetings, including the last three in Manhattan.
• Kansas State snapped BU's seven-game winning streak in the series, which was the longest by either team.
• KSU's win was the first overtime win in the series since Jan. 20, 2016.
• The Bears are aiming to avoid a series sweep at the hands of the Wildcats for the first time since 2019.
• BU is coming off an 87-71 loss to Kansas where the Jayhawks had four turnovers, the fewest by a BU opponent since WVU in 2014.
• The Bears are the only Big 12 team to have at least one win over the Jayhawks in each of the last 4 years.
• BU's eight quad-one wins are tied for the second-most in the Big 12 (Kansas — 13).
• Baylor is 12-3 against top-10 ranked teams over the last 3 years, beating Nos. 5, 9, 6, 6, 10, 6, 1, 6, 8, 5, 8 an 9.
• Drew has won 20+ games in 14 of the last 16 years — the Bears had 3 seasons of 20+ wins prior to his arrival.
• BU has won 8+ Big 12 games in 12-straight seasons after winning 8+ just 3 times in the league's first 15 years.
• BU has won 75-straight when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent (last loss March 2, 2019 at K-State).
• The Bears are a nations-best 26-10 vs. AP top-25 teams over the last four years, with 16 of those wins coming away from home.
• At 25-8, BU has the best Big 12 road record over the last four seasons, and is one of just three teams with a .500+ road record in the conference during that span.
• Baylor's 52-13 Big 12 record over the last four seasons is the best of any Power-5 team.
• BU is 163-94 in Big 12 play in 13 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons.
• Baylor has double-digit Big 12 wins in 7 of the last 8 years and 9 of the last 13 seasons. BU didn't reach double-digit Big 12 wins in any of its first 13 years in the league.
•Against TCU, BU trailed by 10 with 8:44 to play, overcoming a 10-point deficit 2nd-half deficit on the road for the first time in over three years (1/18/20, at OSU).
• Adam Flagler scored 16-straight second-half points against the Frogs to lift BU to its fourth Big 12 road win of the season (T-most in the conference).
• Flagler leads the Big 12 (8th in the nation) in assist-turnover ratio (3.00).
• Keyonte George and Flagler were named to the Jerry West Top-10 and the Naismith Midseason team.
• The BU duo made the Bears one of two teams in the nation with multiple members on the Naismith Midseason Team.
• George has 11, 20-point games this season, the most by a BU freshman since Lawrence Roberts (11) in 2001-02.
• George's 16.6 points per game rank third among freshman in Division I.
• With a win over TCU, Flo Thamba surpassed Matthew Mayer for the most Big 12 wins in program history (54).
• All six of BU's losses have come against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25.
• Eleven of Baylor's 12 starting point guards during the Scott Drew era have earned All-Big 12 recognition.
