Baylor
Creighton
No. 3 Seed MBB Set for Second Round Showdown with No. 6 Seed Creighton
3/18/2023 12:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Bears and Jays meet for the sixth time in series history
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No. 3 BAYLOR BEARS (23-10, 11-7 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
No. 6 CREIGHTON (22-12, 14-6) vs. No. 3 BAYLOR (23-10, 11-7) March 19, 2023 • 6:10 p.m. CT Denver, Colo. • Ball Arena (21,000) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: TBS Talent: Lisa Byington (pxp), Steve Smith (analyst), Avery Johnson (analyst) Andy Katz (Sideline) LISTEN: Learfield/ ESPN 1660 AM / 92.3 FM in Central Texas and on the Varsity Network App. Talent: John Morris (PBP), Pat Nunley National Radio: Westwood One Talent: Dave Pasch (pxp), Fran Fraschilla (analyst) SIRIUS XM: Sirius 203, XM 203, Internet 966 Baylor Social Media:    |
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No. 6 CREIGHTON (22-12, 14-6 Big East) Location: Omaha, Neb. Conference/Affiliation: Big East Head Coach: Greg McDermott (UNI — 1988) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Baylor basketball's road to a sixth Sweet 16 is blocked by a 7-foot-1, 260-pound center and a sharpshooter named . . . Baylor.
Coming off a 74-56 first-round win over UC Santa Barbara, the third-seeded Bears (23-10) will face sixth-seeded Creighton (22-12) at 6:10 p.m. CT Sunday at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., with an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 berth and a trip to Louisville, Ky., on the line.
"The great thing is when you win, it's always a great win in the NCAA Tournament," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Everyone knows the parity, and it's the reason no one has a perfect bracket after the first two days.
"At the same time, the bad news is that means we're preparing for another really good team. . . . Creighton is one of those teams that was ranked seventh in the nation, and then an injury to big fella probably kept them from getting a 3 or 4 seed. But it's a really good team, really well-coached, a lot of respect for them."
The "big fella" Drew is referring to is 7-1, 260-pound junior center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who scored a career-high 31 points in the Bluejays' 72-63 first-round win over North Carolina State. Kalkbrenner, the two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year, is averaging 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game and leads the nation with a 71.7 field goal percentage.
"You don't face a lot of guys 7-1, 260, that have his skill level and his touch," Drew said. "Part of his success is because of players around him. They do a great job getting him the ball. They can shoot it, which spaces the floor. And like any good team, they've got two or three things. If you collapse on them, they can hit the 3. And if you stay out, they hurt you inside."
Tasked with trying to at least slow down Kalbrenner is Baylor's post rotation of 6-10 Flo Thamba (5.0 ppg, 4.7 rebounds), 6-8 Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoa (5.5 ppg, 5.1 rebounds) and 6-10 freshman Josh Ojianwuna (4.3 ppg, 3.5 rebounds).
"The best thing we can do is just limit his touches," Thamba said. "Usually if somebody gets the ball and they're not able to make any kinds of moves . . . but limiting his touches and limiting other players from scoring the ball, that will definitely play in our favor."
Junior guard LJ Cryer, who scored 15 points in the win over UCSB, said the defense starts with the Baylor guards being "physical with their guards" and limiting their post entries.
"We see that they like to throw the ball to the posts," said Cryer, who's averaging 14.5 points per game. "Big fella is pretty good, so we've got to be real physical with them and be physical with the guards as well, to not have those post touches so easy."
Creighton actually has a balanced attack, with all five starters averaging double-digit points. Sophomore forward Arthur Kaluma (11.9 ppg, 6.0 rebounds) joins Kalkbrenner on the frontline with a backcourt trio of Trey Alexander (13.5 ppg), 6-7 senior Baylor Scheierman (12.7 ppg, 8.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists) and point guard Ryan Nembhard (11.9 ppg, 4.9 assists).
A transfer from South Dakota State, where he was the Summit League Player of the Year last season, Scheierman was initially an unranked prospect from Aurora (Neb.) High School who also threw for nearly 4,000 yards and 59 touchdowns as a senior.
"The past 24 hours, the coaches have been saying Baylor a lot," said Scheierman, "and it's kind of thrown me off a little bit. I didn't really follow them a lot growing up. Obviously, I always knew that we had the same name. But at the end of the day, it's just another basketball game. It's going to be a lot of fun."
Drew said Scheierman has "the best name in the tournament," but didn't recruit him out of Aurora or when he entered the transfer portal, because "we didn't need the position at the time."
But Oral Roberts head coach Paul Mills, a former Baylor assistant, "played against him (in the Summit League) and he was a heck of a player."
"The unique thing about him is his size at 6-7, being able to shoot it so deep and pass it," Drew said. "He's a fun player to watch and definitely one of the most skilled players in the college game. . . . Again, love his name, and hopefully this Baylor does better than that Baylor (on Sunday)."
The Baylor Bears, of course, counter with one of the best guard combos in the country with Cryer, Big 12 Freshman of the Year Keyonte George (15.6 ppg, 4.2 rebounds) and senior Adam Flagler (15.6 ppg, 4.7 assists), a first-team All-Big 12 pick who scored 18 points in the first-round win.
"No, I don't think we've faced three guards that are as good as the guards we're going to play (Sunday)," Alexander said. "I think the Big 12 is a very good conference in terms of guard play. . . . It's going to be a challenge for us just to be able to guard all three of them and contain all three of them. But like (Nembhard) said in the last press conference, we just have to play the way we play and play our brand of basketball, and they have to guard us as well."
Baylor is 2-3 all-time against Creighton, but dominated the Bluejays, 85-55, in a second-round NCAA Tournament game nine years ago in San Antonio.
"Nobody has to remind me," Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. "That was a tough, tough day for our program. They played terrific, and we played about as poorly as we could play. That happens every once in a while. You just hope it doesn't happen on that stage. I don't think that there's any revenge in my mind. I'd just like to get this team in (the Sweet 16) so we can keep playing and keep practicing."
Sunday's game will be broadcast on TBS, with Lisa Byington, Steve Smith, Avery Johnson and Andy Katz calling the action.
If the Bears advance, they will get 15th-seeded Princeton (23-8) in the region semifinals next week in Louisville. The only double-digit seed to advance to the Sweet 16 so far, the Tigers stunned second-seeded Arizona, 59-55, in the first round and then dominated seventh-seeded Missouri, 78-63, from start to finish.
Princeton is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1967, when there were only 23 teams in the tournament.
STORY LINES
• No. 3 seed Baylor takes on No. 6 seed Creighton on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on TBS at 5:10 p.m. MT.
• BU is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in the last nine tournaments.
• The Bears are 22-15 in 14 NCAA Championship appearances and 19-9 under Scott Drew.
• Drew is one of two active coaches to have won an NCAA Title and an NIT Title (John Calipari). He is the only active coach to have won both at the same school.
• Baylor is one of just four teams to be a three-seed or higher in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments.
• BU is 9-5 all time when playing as a No. 3 seed.
• The Bears are appearing in the NCAA postseason for a school-record 11th-consecutive time (9 NCAA, 2 NIT).
• Baylor is 42-24 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last 15 seasons.
• BU and Creighton will be meeting for the sixth time, and a second time in the NCAA Tournament.
• Baylor has won the last two meetings against the Jays including an 85-55 win over the Jays in the Second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament .
• The Bears played 19 of 33 (.575%) games this season against teams in the NCAA Tournament field.
• Baylor is 9-10 against the 2023 NCAA Tournament field – No. 1 seed Kansas (1-1), No. 2 seed Marquette (0-1), No. 2 seed UCLA (1-0), No. 2 seed Texas (1-1), No. 3 seed Gonzaga (1-0), No. 3 seed Kansas Stats (0-2), No. 4 seed Virginia (0-1), No. 6 Seed Iowa State (0-3), No. 6 seed TCU (1-1), No. 8 seed Arkansas (1-0), No. 9 seed West Virginia (2-0) and No. 14 seed UC Santa Barbara (1-0).
• BU is 4-2 all time in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Last time out BU shot a season-high .549 to down UC Santa Barbara 74-56 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Adam Flagler had a game-high 18 points becoming BU's all-time leading scorer in NCAA Tournament games.
• Baylor won its fifth-straight first-round game and improved to 8-4 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Baylor is 1 of 10 teams to appear in eight of the last nine tournaments, joining Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina, Purdue, Villanova and Virginia.
• BU has won 18 of its last 19 neutral-site games against non-conference opponents (only loss in that span was vs. Virginia 11/18/22).
• All nine of BU's losses have come against teams currently ranked in the top 30 of the latest NCAA Net rankings.
• The Bears are 13-3 in the last 16 games against AP Top-10 teams, beating Nos. 5, 9, 6, 6, 10, 6, 1, 6, 8, 5, 8, 9 and 8.
• With 499 points, George is just 10 points from Baylor's freshman record of 509 held by Aaron Bruce.
• In the Big 12 Tournament, George set Baylor's freshman record for made-threes in a season (77).
• George was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, BU's first since Quincy Miller in 2012.
• BU is the only Power-Six team to have a guard trio each averaging more than 14.5 points per game.
• BU's 11 quad-one wins are the fourth-most in the nation.
