Baylor
Cincinnati
No. 14 MBB Continues Home Stand against Cincinnati
1/12/2024 2:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Saturday is BU's annual "Go Gold" game
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CINCINNATI (12-3, 1-1 Big 12) Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Wes Miller (North Carolina, 2007) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
CINCINNATI (12-3, 1-1 Big 12) vs. 14/14 BAYLOR (13-2, 2-0 Big 12) Jan. 13, 2024 • 7:00 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Foster Pavilion (7,500) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN Talent: Chuckie Kempf (pxp), Chris Spatola (analyst) LISTEN: Baylor Sports Media Network via ESPN 1660 AM / 92.3 FM in Central Texas and worldwide at centexsportsfan.com Talent: John Morris (PBP), Pat Nunley (Analyst) SIRIUS XM: SiriusXM 84 or on the SXM App Baylor Social Media:    |
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14/14 BAYLOR BEARS (13-2, 2-0 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
With losses by three top-10 teams, 14th-ranked Baylor (13-2, 2-0) finds itself tied atop the Big 12 Conference standings with two teams coached by Scott Drew's former assistants, Texas Tech's Grant McCasland and Kansas State's Jerome Tang.
One of those will fall out of the top spot when Tech (13-2, 2-0) hosts Kansas State (12-3, 2-0) in Lubbock. But when the Bears face league newcomer Cincinnati (12-3, 1-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Foster Pavilion, they'll be trying to avoid a recent trend that saw No. 2 Houston, third-ranked Kansas and No. 9 Oklahoma all lose to unranked teams on the road.
"You have to in the Big 12 win close games," Drew said, "because if you look at the scores night-in and night-out, most games are one- or two-possession games So, if you're going to have a winning record, if you're going to be successful, you've got to be able to perform in the most critical parts of the game. And that's usually in the last five minutes."
To Drew's point, eight of the first 14 games in Big 12 play have been decided by single digits.
Toledo transfer RayJ Dennis (13.9 ppg, 6.1 assists) calls it the "grind to five." Baylor pulled out a 75-70 overtime win on the road in the conference opener at Oklahoma State and then overcame a nine-point second-half deficit to beat No. 18 BYU, 81-72, Tuesday night at home.
"We practice those situations in close games," Dennis said. "The last five minutes of the game, calling it grind to five. Just keeping our composure and understanding that basketball is a game of runs. So, when a team like BYU goes up by nine, you're not panicking. We're all right."
Moving from the AAC this year, Cincinnati won its conference opener at BYU, 71-60, before falling by one at home against 25th-ranked Texas, 74-73. Much like Baylor, the Bearcats have a deep team, with nine players averaging at least 6.7 points per game.
Leading the way is 6-11, 240-pound power forward Victor Lakhin with a team-high 14.1 points and 8.1 rebounds, helping Cincinnati rank first in the Big 12 and second nationally in rebounding margin (plus-12.8). He is also one of seven Bearcats with double-digit 3-pointers, knocking down 13-of-39.
"What's tough is they play him at the 4 and the 5," Drew said. "And when you've got two 7-footers basically, that's a lot of size, a lot of length. You can see why they're a good rebounding team. They're a physical team. And because they're a deep team, they can rotate fresh bodies in. At the same time, whatever someone else's advantage is, there's advantages for you facing teams with bigs as well."
The "other 7-footer" is center Aziz Bandaogo, a two-time transfer from Akron and Utah Valley that's averaging 8.4 points and 8.8 rebounds. He was the Defensive Player of the Year in the WAC last season, averaging 11.5 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game.
Sophomore forward Josh Ojianwuna said he likes the physical game, "because I've been going through practice against Yves (Missi) and Jon (Tchamwa Tchatchoua), so I'm used to the physicality. I'm ready for that."
Baylor's inside duo of Missi and Ojianwuna struggled against BYU's size, though, combining for just four points and four boards and going 0-for-3 from the floor. A freshman 7-footer, Missi (10.1 ppg, 6.3 rebounds) failed to score for the first time this season and had a season-low one rebound after recording a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds at OSU.
"Normally, people that are in their first year in the Big 12, that's what you get with freshmen is more inconsistency," Drew said. "People who have been three or four years in the Big 12, they just know that night-in and night-out what's expected. That's where guys that are four or five years in the Power 5 conferences have a big advantage."
Freshman Ja'Kobe Walter (15.3 ppg) bounced back from a tough outing against OSU, hitting just 2-of-11 from the floor and scoring seven points, to put up 16 points versus BYU.
"One thing that has impressed us with the whole group is their resilience," Drew said. "If someone has a bad game, it doesn't carry over to the next game. If they have a bad half, it doesn't carry over to the next half, necessarily. . . . Ja'Kobe has the moxie, toughness to make tough plays. The belief in himself – spiritually, he has a really solid background – the bigger the moment, the better those guys usually play."
Saturday's game is an ESPN broadcast, with Chuckie Kempf and Chris Spatola calling the action.
Story lines
• No. 14 Baylor hosts Cincinnati in its annual "Go Gold" game in a prime-time 7 p.m. tip on ESPN.
• This is the first meeting between these two programs as conference foes, and the second all-time series meeting – with BU winning the last meeting 55-45 in the Queen City in 1946.
• BU is seeking a 3-0 start in conference play for the fourth time in the last five years and the eighth time in the Scott Drew Era.
• Entering Saturday, Drew and two of his former assistants are leading the only teams with unblemished Big 12 records (KSU 2-0 under Jerome Tang and Texas Tech 2-0 under Grant McCasland).
• Last time out, The Bears beat BYU 81-72 in the conference home opener, building on their nations-best 28-12 record against vs. AP top-25 teams over the last five years.
• Trailing by as many as nine with 17:19 to play in the second half, BU used a 10-0 run over the next four minutes to take back the lead and were able to hold off the Cougars down the stretch.
• Jalen Bridges poured in a season-high 25 points on 7-of-14 shooting to help the Bears capture a fourth Big 12 home-opener in the last five seasons.
• BU committed a season-low five turnovers, its fewest since only losing it just three times against Texas Tech last season (2/4/23).
• In the conference opener, BU outlasted a feisty Oklahoma State squad 75-70 in overtime for its ninth-straight win at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
• Despite only hitting two three-pointers, the nation's leading 3-point shooting team out-rebounded the Pokes on the offensive glass 16-5, giving them a 12-6 advantage in second-chance points.
• The win was Baylor's first overtime victory since it won 66-64 in Stillwater on Feb 21, 2022.
• Yves Missi recorded his fourth double-double of the season, the most by a BU player since Freddie Gillespie had 10 in 2019-20.
• BU is 163-105 in Big 12 play in 14 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons.
• Baylor's 308-119 record since 2011-12 trails only Kansas (345-88) among Big 12 teams.
• Baylor opened its brand-new Foster Pavilion with a 98-79 win over the Cornell Big Red, behind 58 first-half points, its most points in a half since scoring 61 against MVSU in the 2022-23 season opener.
• The Bears lead the nation in 3-point FG% (43.3), rank fourth in offensive efficiency (122.4) and sixth in points per game (88.1).
• RayJ Dennis ranks second in the Big 12 in assists per game (6.1), with the Bears getting 15.3 points per game from Walter to lead the offense, the most among Big 12 Conference Freshmen.
• 15.3 points per game would rank as the fourth-most by a freshman in program history.
• Six Bears are averaging at least 10 points per game, including Dennis (13.9), Langston Love (11.3), Jalen Bridges (10.7), Yves Missi (10.1) and Jayden Nunn (10.0). Missi leads the team with 6.3 rebounds per game.
• BU has had six players win Big 12 Sixth-Man of the Year, no other conference school has more than two.
• Missi's 1.8 blocks per game puts him fifth among freshman in Division I.
