Baylor
St. John's
No. 13 MBB Set For Baha Mar Showdown Against No. 22 St. John's
11/20/2024 10:12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Thursday marks BU's third top-25 matchup in the first five games
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13/15 BAYLOR BEARS (3-1, 0-0 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
13/15 BAYLOR (3-1, 0-0 Big 12) vs. 22/21 ST. JOHN'S (4-0, 0-0 Big East) Nov. 21, 2024 • 6:00 p.m. CT Nassau, Bahamas • Baha Mar Convention Center (2,000) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: CBS Sports Network Talent: Chris Sylvester (pxp), Kyle Macy (analyst), Sam Hyman (sideline) 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 198 or on the SXM App Baylor Social Media:    |
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22/21 ST. JOHN'S RED STORM (4-0, 0-0 Big East) Location: Queens, NY Conference/Affiliation: Big East Head Coach: Rick Pitino (Massachusetts, 1974) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – In 13th-ranked Baylor basketball's second matchup of national championship coaches, the Bears (3-1) and coach Scott Drew will face Rick Pitino and the No. 22/20 St. John's Red Storm (4-0) at 6 p.m. CT Thursday in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship.
This is the opening game of the two-day tournament at the Baha Mar Convention Center in Nassau, Bahamas, with 11th-ranked Tennessee (4-0) facing Virginia (3-0) in the nightcap at 8:30 p.m.
"First, it's a business trip, and you've got to have a team that knows it's a business trip," said Drew, who won the 2021 national championship with the Bears. "With the four teams there, everyone will approach it as a business trip. You're not going to win this because someone is going to let you win, you're going to have to beat them. We're going to have to be at our best. And the great thing is, we'll learn a lot about what areas we need to continue to improve in."
The Bears were at their best in most of the areas in Sunday's 104-41 rout of Tarleton State, forcing 28 turnovers, recording 15 steals and seven blocks and assisting on 22 of their 31 made baskets. Six players scored in double figures, led by Cal transfer Jalen Celestine with four 3-pointers and a game-high 20 points.
"It's crazy," Celestine said, "because going into the other three games, I wasn't missing in warm-ups and I couldn't hit anything (in those games). Luckily, today, I was just able to make some shots, and my teammates kept giving me the ball and putting me in positions to score. And then, I was fortunate enough to make some shots."
Averaging right at 24 minutes per game, Celestine (9.8 ppg) is one of seven Baylor players pouring in close to double-figure points. Miami transfer Norchad Omier leads the way with 13.3 points and 10.0 rebounds, followed closely by senior guard Jayden Nunn (13.0 ppg), Duke transfer Jeremy Roach (12.0 ppg, 4.5 assists) and freshmen VJ Edgecombe (11.3 ppg, 7.5 rebounds) and Robert Wright III (11.0 ppg, 5.8 assists).
Edgecombe, a stat stuffer in the Tarleton game with 17 points, five rebounds, four steals and three blocks, said Nunn "brings everything to the table, for real," as the team's only returning starter.
"Energetic guy, super skilled, (can) shoot the ball at a really high level, defend at a high level, attack," Edgecombe said of Nunn, who scored in double figures for the third-straight game. "He does everything on the floor. I'm thankful just to have J-Nunn on my team, for sure."
From Bimini, Bahamas, Edgecombe is returning to his native country after playing for the Bahamian National Team in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament this summer, where he averaged 16.5 points, 3.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
"(Nassau) is not my island . . . but I'm super excited to get to play in front of my family and everyone else back home once again," he said. "I did it last year. Hopefully, I will go there again this year and go win two games this year, too. But we're just bought in and focused on the next game."
Drew said Edgecombe is "in charge of sellouts" in the two-day tournament.
"If we're not the home team, I would be really surprised," Drew said. "But we've got to make sure he's not distracted."
Baylor is facing a St. John's team coached by Pitino, who won national championships at Kentucky (1996) and Louisville (2013, a title later vacated because of NCAA violations). He has won almost 900 games at the collegiate level and had a 192-220 record in six seasons in the NBA with the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics.
In his second season at St. John's, Pitino is coming off an 85-71 win over New Mexico and his son, Richard Pitino. Two of the top five coaching families in college basketball history, the Drew's (Scott, Bryce and their dad, Homer) have combined for 1,367 wins – trailing only the Iba's (1,632) – while Rick and his son, Richard, rank fifth with 958 career wins.
The Red Storm are led by 6-7 junior guard/forward R.J. Louis, a UMass transfer who is averaging 17.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
Drew, whose Bears defeated John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks, 72-67, on Nov. 9 in a neutral-site matchup of national championship coaches, could have potentially faced another national championship coach in the Bahamas. But Virginia coach Tony Bennett (2019) announced his retirement last month at the age of 55, with associate head coach Ron Sanchez taking over as the interim head coach.
All the games in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship will be broadcast by CBS Sports Network, with Chris Sylvester, Kyle Macy and Sam Hyman calling the action.
Story lines
• No.13/15 Baylor takes on No. 22/21 St. John's in the opening round of Continental Tire Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship in Nassau, Bahamas.
• Thursday's matchup will be Baylor's third against a ranked opponent this season (1-1)
• Baylor is 14-3 against the Big East during the Scott Drew era
• BU is 33-17 against ranked teams over the last four seasons, including a 16-13 mark away from home
• The Bears are one of five programs to be ranked inside the top-10 in each of the last six seasons
• This meeting will be the second between Drew and Rick Pitino, with Drew and the Bears beating Pitino's Louisville Cardinals in the 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis Championship game 66-63
• Two of the winningest families in College basketball history, The Drew's (Scott, Bryce and Homer) have combined for 1,367 wins as a family, which trails only the Iba family for most wins by a father-son combination (1,632). Rick and Richard Pitino rank fifth with 958 career wins between the two of them
• The Drew's and Pitino's are the only coaching families among the top-8 that are still active
• Baylor is 42-13 in regular-season tournaments during the Drew era, including titles in 4 of the last 5 tournaments
• The Bears have won seven regular-season tournament titles under Drew – 2023 NIT Season Tip-Off, 2021 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational, 2017 Hall of Fame Classic, 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2011 Las Vegas Classic and 2007 Paradise Jam.
• BU is 29-5 in its eight regular-season tournaments since 2013-14, going 3-1, 3-1, 3-1, 4-0, 4-0, 3-1, 3-0, 3-0, 1-1 and 2-0
• The Bears are coming off back-to-back 100-point performances, marking the first time since 1989 they have hit the century mark in consecutive games
• Against Tarleton, Baylor allowed just 13 first-half points, the second fewest allowed by the Bears in the Big 12 era
• The 63-point margin of victory marks just the second 60+ point win over a D1 team (and fourth overall) for BU since 1980
• Sunday was the fourth time in the last ten seasons Baylor allowed 41 points or fewer
• A balanced scoring attack, all seven of the Bears in the starting rotation are averaging 8.8 points per game or better.
• Against Sam Houston, the Bears had seven players score in double figures, the first time since 2013 BU has accomplished that feat
• Baylor has not trailed since the end of the Gonzaga game, leading for a total of 116:54 of game time, while being tied for just 3:05 during that stretch.
• The last time Baylor didn't trail in three-straight games was Dec. 20, 2021-Jan. 1, 2022 (Alcorn State, Northwestern State & Iowa State)
• Baylor's 30 assists against SHSU were its most since it had 30 against McNeese Nov. 23, 2022
• Norchad Omier and VJ Edgecombe both recorded double-doubles against the Bearkats, the second time in a six-game stretch BU had multiple players notch a double-double in the same game
• With two double-doubles in his first three games this year, Omier is the first player since Lawrence Roberts in 2001 with two in the first three games of a Baylor career
