Baylor
No. 23/23 Texas Tech
No. 13 MBB Hosts No. 23 Texas Tech in a Primetime Matchup, Tuesday
2/5/2024 4:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BU enters with nine wins in the last 11 meetings in Waco
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23/23 TEXAS TECH (16-5, 5-3 Big 12) Location: Lubbock, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Grant McCasland (Baylor, 1999) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
23/23 TEXAS TECH (16-5, 5-3 Big 12) vs. 13/13 BAYLOR (16-5, 5-3 Big 12) Feb. 3, 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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13/13 BAYLOR BEARS (16-5, 5-3 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
Much like Jerome Tang at Kansas State, Baylor coach Scott Drew always cheers for first-year Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland "every game of the year, except this one, obviously."
An assistant coach at Baylor under Drew for five seasons (2011-16), McCasland brings his 23rd-ranked Red Raiders (16-5, 5-3) into town for an 8 p.m. matchup at Foster Pavilion against a Baylor team (16-5, 5-3) that moved up five spots to 13th in the latest polls.
"The good thing is, we're a little used to it now after playing against Coach Tang," said Drew, who is 0-3 against Tang, including a 68-64 overtime loss in Manhattan, Kan., three weeks ago.
"Obviously, a great deal of respect for him and what a great coach he is, what a great program he runs. The thing good about playing against great coaches is you learn when you do. Seeing what they do offensively and defensively, it's not only impressive, but it helps us get better."
In previous stops at Arkansas State (2016-17) and North Texas (2017-23), the former Baylor walk-on guard (1995-99) was more of a defensive-minded coach whose teams would play a slow-down game on offense. At North Texas, he led the Mean Green to the 2023 NIT championship and the program's first NCAA tournament win in 2021.
But this year, his Tech team ranks among the league's best offenses, shooting 41.0% from 3-point range and 47.4% overall in conference play while averaging 75.3 points per game. Sophomore guard Pop Isaacs is averaging better than 20 points per game in conference play and shooting right at 40% from distance.
"(They have) three or four guys on the court that can knock it down at a high clip," Drew said, "and they really stretch the defense. And then, it's all centered around their 4, 5. The 4 man (forward Darrion Williams) does a great job in assist/turnover ratio, being a power forward. And their big (7-footer Warren Washington) is an elite rim runner. And the bench has gotten better and better and more consistent. I think Coach McCasland feels good with his rotation."
While Tech has lost two in a row for the first time, falling on the road at TCU and at home to Cincinnati, Baylor snapped a three-game losing streak with a 77-69 road victory at UCF and followed it up with a 70-68 home-court victory over then-No. 12 Iowa State.
In a game that featured drama from opening tip to final buzzer (and beyond), including Drew getting ejected for the first time in his career, the Bears survived a 20-0 second-half run by the Cyclones and won it on Jayden Nunn's layup with 2.0 seconds left.
"I think it's a game of runs, and everybody is going to have their best punch," said freshman Ja'Kobe Walter, who's averaging a team-best 14.5 points but shooting just 24.5% from 3-point range in conference play. "And I think that was really their best punch of the game. The whole game, we were in control. So, we just tried to regain control, and I think that's what we did."
Drew credited associate head coaches John Jakus and Alvin Brooks III for keeping things together in the closing stretch after he picked up his second technical with 11:20 left in the game.
"In the huddles, all of us take turns," Drew said. "And I think all the staff really did a great job breathing confidence into them. Coach Jakus called some great plays, and I thought Coach Brooks defensively made some great adjustments going to the man and changing it up down the stretch. I think the play calls, the defense, just the encouragement, keeping everyone focused, was tremendous. But every day in practice, I see how good our staff is."
Freshman 7-footer Yves Missi (10.2 ppg, 5.8 rebounds), who had six points and four blocks in the Iowa State game, said the key in the last seven or eight minutes was "just staying together."
"It was kind of the same, just because during practice, we're used to everyone talking," Missi said of Jakus leading the team after Drew's early exit. "So, it wasn't something that was so different about it. But whenever Coach Drew was missing, we still felt it. But just the way that Coach Jakus took over definitely helped us as well."
Toledo transfer RayJ Dennis had a team-high 18 points in the game and is averaging 13.4 points and 6.4 assists, while sophomore guard Langston Love is a Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year candidate with an 11.7-point scoring average off the bench.
Tuesday's game will be broadcast by ESPN, with Chuckie Kempf and Chris Spatola calling the action.
STORY LINES
• No. 13 Baylor hosts No. 23 Texas Tech on Tuesday for an 8pm tip on ESPN.
• Saturday is the 147th all-time series meeting – with Tech holding an 82-64 series advantage, while Baylor holds a 24-15 edge in the Scott Drew era including eight of the last 11 meetings.
• The Bears are 39-30 against the Red Raiders in Waco, including six of the last seven and nine of the last 11 games in Central Texas.
• Drew is facing his former assistant coach and former Baylor guard, Grant McCasland for the first time.
• A 1999 graduate of Baylor University, McCasland earned Academic All-Big 12 honorable mention honors in 1999 after playing for four years under head coach Harry Miller.
• Four current Division I head coaches took their first DI head coaching jobs after stints on Scott Drew's BU staff (McCasland, Jerome Tang (K-State), Paul Mills (Wichita State) and Matthew Driscoll (North Florida).
• Baylor and Tech have played a home-and-home series every year since Tech joined the Southwest Conference in 1958.
• Six of Baylor's 10 remaining games are against teams currently ranked in the top-25.
• The Bears are 3-3 when facing Texas Tech in matchups when both teams are ranked.
• Baylor is 29-12 against ranked teams over the last five seasons, the best record in the country during that span, with 13 of those wins coming at home.
• In the last meeting, Baylor had a season-low three turnovers and scored 89 points, its most against Tech since 2002 (Feb. 4, 2023).
• BU has scored 80+ points in back-to-back games against Tech for the first time since 2010.
• Last time out, the Bears overcame a 20-0 Iowa State run and a last-second shot by the Cyclones' Milan Momcilovic to snap a three-game losing streak for the Bears against Iowa State.
• Jayden Nunn became the first Baylor player since Jo Lual-Acuil in 2018 to make a game-winning shot in the final 10 seconds, when his lay-up dropped with 2.0 seconds to play in the game.
• Despite trailing for 30:58 and getting down by as many as 10-points, the Bears snapped a three-game losing streak with a 77-69 win at UCF.
• Baylor's 10-point deficit against UCF is the largest deficit overcome in a win this season, and its largest since erasing a 14-point first-half deficit in a win over Texas last season (2/25/24).
• BU's three overtime games are its most in a season since 2013-14, and has not played three overtimes games in regular-season conference play since 1994.
• The Bears lead the nation in 3-point FG% (40.8), fourth in offensive efficiency (122.6) and second in the Big 12 in points per game (84.0).
• Baylor's 311-122 record since 2011-12 trails only Kansas (350-90) among Big 12 teams.
• BU's 59-21 Big 12 record over the last five seasons is the second best record of any power-conference team during that span.
• The Bears have now been ranked in the top-10 for a fifth-straight year, one of just four programs (Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas) to accomplish that feat.
