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10/10 BAYLOR BEARS (22-9, 11-7 Big 12)
Location: Waco, Texas
Conference/Affiliation: Big 12
Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
IOWA STATE (18-12, 9-9) vs. 10/10 BAYLOR (22-9, 11-7)
March 9, 2023 • 11:30 a.m. CT
Kansas City, Mo. • The T-Mobile Center (19,135)
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast
WATCH: ESPN/2
Talent: Jon Sciambi (pxp), Fran Fraschilla (analyst), Kris Budden (Sideline)
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 199, XM 199, Internet 953
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IOWA STATE CYCLONES (18-12, 9-9 Big 12)
Location: Ames, Iowa
Conference/Affiliation: Big 12
Head Coach: T.J. Otzelberger (Wisc. Whitewater — 2001)
Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Nine weeks passed between Baylor's conference-opening loss to Iowa State in Ames and the Cyclones' 73-58 win over the Bears in Saturday's regular-season finale at the Ferrell Center.
They didn't have to wait quite as long this time.
For the third time in the Big 12 era, 10th-ranked and fourth-seeded Baylor (22-9) is opening the Big 12 Championship with the same team it played to end the regular season, facing fifth-seeded Iowa State (18-12) in Thursday's 11:30 am. quarterfinal at the T-Mobile Center.
"It's always good to have an opportunity to right your wrongs," said junior forward Jalen Bridges, who's averaging 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds. "We all have things we could have done last game that could have helped us. Now, we have the opportunity to take care of it and fix it."
Baylor struggled against Iowa State's multiple defensive looks, shooting just 36% overall, 10-of-28 from outside the arc and 10-of-18 from the line. The Bears also turned it over 14 times and got outrebounded, 36-24.
"We've got to do a much better job attacking their defense and getting easier looks, protecting the ball," Baylor coach Scott Drew said "We always want to score in transition and want to make sure we're running whenever we can. . . . Their primary defense is the defense that hurt us the most. That's where our bad shots came from. Their primary man-to-man defense – which is ironically similar to ours – just size and length make it a little bit different."
One of the benefits in playing a team twice in less than a week is spending less time scouting.
"You didn't have to watch the last five or six games they played," Drew said, "because you already just did. So, we know what they're about and how they do things. And they know what we do. A lot of times, it just comes down to who executes the best and wants it the most."
Both teams are missing key pieces heading into the Big 12 tournament. Redshirt freshman guard Langston Love (6.6 ppg) sat out Saturday's game with a corneal abrasion in his left knee and is expected to miss the conference tournament, while Iowa State guard Caleb Grill (9.5 ppg, 4.0 rebounds) was dismissed from the team last week.
Keyonte George, named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year by the league coaches, came back from an ankle injury to score seven points in the loss to Iowa State. The Bears also have LJ Cryer (14.6 ppg) available after playing sparingly as a freshman in 2021 and missing last year's tournament with a foot injury.
"It's a blessing," Cryer said. "It's something I always dream of. Last year, obviously, was taken away from me. That was really upsetting, but I'm happy that I got to make it this far, and I'm going to soak it all in."
Senior guards Jare Holmes and Gabe Kalscheur lead a balanced Iowa State scoring attack with 13.2 and 12.7 points, respectively. Senior forward Tre King only averages 5.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game, but chipped in with 13 and seven versus the Bears on Saturday.
"I think everybody in the Big 12 has a chance to win this," Drew said of the Big 12 tournament, which started on Wednesday with first-round wins by seventh-seeded Oklahoma State (18-14) and eighth-seeded West Virginia (19-13).
"You've got teams that are all capable of winning three games in a row. And this time of the year, a lot of teams are only playing seven, eight guys. So, really, it comes down to each and every night, who wants it the most, who's going to play the hardest? Most of all, who's going to execute?"
Thursday's game will be broadcast by ESPN or ESPN2, with Jon Sciambi, Fran Fraschilla and Kris Budden calling the action.
Top-ranked Kansas (25-6) will face West Virginia at 2 p.m., followed by No. 7 Texas (23-8) versus Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. and No. 12 Kansas State (23-8) facing 22nd-ranked TCU (20-11) at 8:30 p.m.
STORY LINES
• No. 10 Baylor takes on Iowa State in Thursday's Big 12 Championship Quarterfinal on ESPN/2 Thursday morning at 11:30 a.m.
• Thursday marks the first time since 2010 that BU has played a Big 12 opponent in back-to-back games. Baylor beat Texas to end the regular season and then beat the Horns again in Kansas City in the Big 12 quarterfinals.
• The Bears also played Nebraska in back-to-back games in 2009, losing to the Cornhuskers to end the regular season and beating them in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament in route to the Finals.
• Baylor is 8-8 all time (7-7 in the Scott Drew era) in the Big 12 Quarterfinals.
• The Bears are 1-4 against the Cyclones in the Big 12 Tournament, with BU's only win coming in 2001.
• Baylor is aiming to win its first Big 12 Tournament title (three title-game appearances).
• BU has only lost three games in a season to one team five times in the Drew Era (2007, Texas; 2012, Mizzou; 2015, Kansas; 2016, Kansas; 2018, WVU).
• Thursday is the 47th all-time series meeting – with Baylor holding a 24-22 series advantage.
• The last meeting between these two in the Big 12 Tournament was a 74-65 ISU win in the Championship game in 2015.
• In the last meeting, The Cyclones held the Bears to a season-low 58 points in a 73-58 Cyclone win.
• Baylor's Adam Flagler (First Team), Keyonte George (Second, All-Freshman and All-Newcomer Teams) and LJ Cryer (Third Team) were named All-Big 12 selections by league's coaches.
• Twelve of Baylor's 13 starting point guards during the Drew era have earned All-Big 12 recognition.
• Flagler is one of two Big 12 shooting guards on a five-man list of finalists for the Jerry West Award (nation's top shooting guard).
• Additionally, George was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, BU's first since Quincy Miller in 2012.
• With 479 points, George is just 30 points from Baylor's freshman record of 509 held by Aaron Bruce.
• George's 16.0 points per game rank sixth among freshman in Division I.
• 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 tied for the second-most in the nation behind Kansas.
• Scott Drew has won 20+ games in 14 of the last 16 years — the Bears had 3 seasons of 20+ wins prior to his arrival.
• Baylor has double-digit Big 12 wins in 8 of the last 9 years. Only Kansas has more double-digit conference seasons in that span. BU didn't reach double-digit Big 12 wins in any of its first 13 years in the league.
• BU has won 77-straight when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent (last loss March 2, 2019 at K-State).
• Baylor's 54-15 Big 12 record over the last four seasons is the best of any Power-5 team.
• BU is 165-96 in Big 12 play in 13 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons.
• At 26-9, 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.
• All nine of BU's losses have come against teams currently ranked in the top 30 of the latest NCAA Net rankings
