Baylor
Oklahoma State
No. 18 MBB Opens Big 12 Play Saturday at Oklahoma State
1/5/2024 10:11:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BU enters contest winners of eight-straight in Stillwater
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18/18 BAYLOR BEARS (11-2, 0-0 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
18/18 BAYLOR (11-2, 0-0 Big 12) vs. OKLAHOMA STATE (8-5, 0-0 Big 12) Jan. 6, 2024 • 2:00 p.m. CT Stillwater, Okla. • Gallagher-Iba Arena (13,611) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN+ Talent: James Westling (pxp), Jess Settles (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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OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY (8-5, 0-0 Big 12) Location: Stillwater, Okla Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Mike Boynton (South Carolina, 2004) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Coming off the high of a 98-79 win over Cornell before a sellout crowd of 7,500 in the opener at the new Foster Pavilion, the 18th-ranked Baylor Bears (11-2) will begin the Big 12 gauntlet on Saturday with a 2 p.m. tip versus Oklahoma State (8-5) at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla.
"First thing you think of is exciting," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said of opening the conference schedule. "Second thing is the grind, because each and every night's a war. As coaches, (you know) if you do everything well, it gives you a chance to be in a one-possession game. The reason this is the toughest league is it's really hard to win on the road. So, you really have to be on-point."
Players, coaches and fans alike gave raving reviews of the Paul & Alejandra Foster Pavilion, a $212 million fieldhouse located on the south bank of the Brazos River and west of I-35. The sixth-ranked Baylor women (13-0) followed up the men's victory with a 71-50 win over No. 23 TCU the next night.
"Got to take a deep breath, get a good night's sleep, and I think everyone is focused now for the Big 12," Drew said. "I think the players couldn't be more pleased with the environment. First thing I heard was the lighting is so much better. And I said, 'Yeah, it's amazing how much better you can shoot when you can see the rims.'''
The Bears shot better than 55% from the floor (36-of-65), including 14-of-31 from outside the arc. Freshman Ja'Kobe Walter scored a game-high 23 points, grabbed a season-high nine rebounds and was 4-for-9 from 3-point range.
"One thing about Ja'Kobe is he was 4-for-9. He had great looks, he could have gone 9-for-9. He's a great shooter," Drew said of Walter, who ranks first among Big 12 freshmen with 15.9 points per game and tied for fifth overall with 31 made 3-pointers.
VCU transfer Jayden Nunn (10.4 ppg), who had 10 points and four assists versus Cornell, said the Foster Pavilion got so loud, "I couldn't hear the play being called in there."
"It was just like an away game for us, as well, in the new arena," Nunn said, "but I feel like that helps us a lot moving forward and the next game, for sure."
Going on the road for the first of 18 conference games, the Bears will face an improving Oklahoma State team that has won five in a row and seven of its last nine after starting out 1-3. Led by East Carolina transfer Javon Small (15.2 ppg, 4.9 assists) at point guard and backcourt mate Bryce Thompson (12.5 ppg), the Cowboys are third in the league in 3-pointers made (128).
Three of OSU's five losses have been by two points, including back-to-back games against St. Bonaventure and Notre Dame in the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Last year's leading scorer, Thompson missed three games with a leg injury.
"A lot of it is it's a young team," Drew said. "And then, when Bryce Thompson got hurt, who's their most experienced player, an all-conference player, that makes it tougher earlier in the year. If he's healthy, they win a couple of those games.
"That's the tough thing about the league is that some teams like Oklahoma State are different than they were in that first month and they're playing much better basketball right now. Good programs, good coaches, that's what they're going to do. They're going to make their teams better. And Coach (Mike) Boynton has done that."
Saturday's game will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with James Westling and Jess Settles calling the action.
Baylor returns to the Foster Pavilion for back-to-back games, hosting No. 12 BYU (12-1) at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Cincinnati (11-2) at 7 p.m. next Saturday, Jan. 13.
"I just expect it to be the same old Big 12," said 6-9 senior forward Jalen Bridges (9.7 ppg, 4.1 rebounds), who spent his first three seasons at West Virginia. "It's really hard to go into an opposing arena and steal a game. There is no such thing as an off night in this league. Everybody's talented, everybody's deep, so we've got to bring our best every single night."
Story lines
• No. 18 Baylor heads to Stillwater for a 2pm tip in the conference opener against Oklahoma State on ESPN+.
• Saturday is the 94th all-time series meeting – with Oklahoma State holding a 57-36 series advantage.
• The Bears hold the 33-25 series edge since the two squads joined the Big 12.
• BU is 14-3 in its last 17 games against the Pokes, including eight-straight wins in Stillwater.
• In the last meeting in Stillwater, the Bears held off a late 15-2 run by the Pokes to secure a 74-68 win.
• The last meeting between these two at Gallagher-Iba in February was BU's last true road game.
• BU opens conference play on the road for the fourth-straight season and the 10th time in the last 11 years.
• Baylor is 67-49 in Big 12 road games since 2012, second-best in the league behind only Kansas (73-44).
• The Bears are 10-10 under Scott Drew in Big 12 openers, winning three of the last four.
• Baylor's 306-119 record since 2011-12 trails only Kansas (344-87) among Big 12 teams.
• Last time out, 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.
• Ja'Kobe Walter had a game-high 23 points and a season-high 9 rebounds, while Yves Missi scored 16 points on 8-of-8 shooting, becoming the first player since Flo Thamba in 2021 to shoot 1.000 taking at least eight shots.
• The Bears had a historic final game at the Ferrell Center shooting a program-record 67.2% from the field in a 59 point win over Mississippi Valley State (107-48).
• Baylor hit 19 three-pointers, the most by a Baylor team in Ferrell Center history and one shy of the program record (20).
• Baylor is 89-15 vs. unranked teams over the last four seasons (.856%).
• The Bears lead the nation in 3-point FG% (44.8), rank third in offensive efficiency (121.6) and eighth in points per game (89.2).
• RayJ Dennis ranks second in the Big 12 in assists per game (6.4), with the Bears getting 15.9 points per game from Walter to lead the offense, the most among Big 12 Conference Freshmen.
• 15.9 points per game would rank as the third-most by a freshman in program history.
• Five Bears are averaging at least 10 points per game, including Dennis (13.9), Yves Missi (10.7), Langston Love (10.5) and Jayden Nunn (10.4). Missi leads the team with 6.5 rebounds per game.
• Missi's 2.1 blocks per game puts him second among freshman in Division I.
• BU has had six players win Big 12 Sixth-Man of the Year, no other conference school has more than two.
• BU is 89-22 over the last four seasons, the nation's best record by a Power-6 team in that span.
• Baylor is 115-26 over the last five seasons, the nation's second-best winning % among Power-6 teams in that span (.816%).
• BU is playing its 360th game as a ranked team under Scott Drew — Baylor was ranked in just two of 2,197 games over the program's 97 seasons prior to Drew.
• Baylor has built leads of 10+ points in 61 of 85 games since the start of the 2021 NCAA Tournament (58-3 record).
