25/24 BAYLOR BEARS (11-5, 3-2 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas  Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF )	TCU (9-7, 2-3 Big 12) vs. 25/24 BAYLOR (11-5, 3-2 Big 12)  Jan. 19, 2024 • 4:00 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Foster Pavilion (7,500)  LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN Talent: Rich Hollenberg (pxp), Fran Fraschilla (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 200 or on the SXM App Baylor Social Media:
	TCU Horned Frogs (9-7, 2-3 Big 12) Location: Fort Worth, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Jamie Dixon (TCU, 1987) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)

Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – Other than coaches Scott Drew and Jamie Dixon, there's very little holdover from those Baylor and TCU teams that battled it out in the Horned Frogs' 105-102, three-overtime thriller in last year's game at the brand-new Foster Pavilion.
 
"We prefer to experience something different. Didn't like the ending of that game," said Drew, whose 25^th-ranked Bears (11-5, 3-2) will host TCU (9-7, 2-3) at 4 p.m. Sunday in a game broadcast by ESPN.
 
 "At the same time, it's a typical Big 12 game. And that means, you've got to control what you can control. We've been really good in the Foster, the crowds have been super. I know the weather is not supposed to be great, but it'll be warm in the Foster."
 
TCU, which has had a total makeover with six first-year transfers and six freshmen, returns only one player from last year's game. Ernest Udeh Jr. (7.4 points, 7.9 rebounds), a 6-11 transfer from Kansas, rejected a shot by RayJ Dennis at the end of the third OT that sealed the Frogs' second-straight road win over Baylor.
 
Senior guard Jayden Nunn (10.7 ppg) is the Bears' lone starter returning from that game. Redshirt junior Josh Ojianwuna (8.3 ppg, 7.3 rebounds) had five points in 14 minutes off the bench, while redshirt junior guard Langston Love (6.5 ppg) had a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.
 
"Like so many Big 12 teams, so much roster turnover," Drew said of TCU, which is winless in six road or neutral-site games. "The common traits would be, they don't beat themselves, very good defensively, very physical. Coach Dixon always does a good job putting them in position to win. They've had an opportunity, when they lost Frankie Collins for the year, to really find out who they were going to be and how they were going to play. He's doing a good job with that."
 
Coming off a 73-64 homecourt loss to Utah, TCU is led by mid-major transfers Noah Reynolds (12.5 ppg, 3.5 assists) from Green Bay and Vasean Allette (11.4 ppg, 3.5 rebounds) from Old Dominion. An Arizona State transfer, Collins was leading the Horned Frogs in scoring (11.2 ppg), assists (4.4) and steals (1.9) before undergoing season-ending foot surgery.
 
Ojianwuna said the Bears have to avoid going into the game thinking "it's going to be an easier game," just because TCU lost to Utah and the Bears blew out the Utes, 81-56, in last month's Big 12 opener.
 
Baylor is trying to bounce back as well, coming off an 81-70 loss on the road at Arizona, when the Bears faced a 23-point halftime deficit and fell behind by as many as 27 before a second-half rally that got them within nine. BU is 16-2 at Foster since its January 2024 opening but just 3-5 in road and neutral-site games this season.
 
"First half, they did a great job forcing turnovers and getting easies," Drew said. "We missed some shots and, unfortunately, we weren't able to get transition and easies and second-chance points when we went through the scoring drought. . . . Proud that we cut it down to nine points with a chance to go lower and gave ourselves a chance in the second half."
 
Already shorthanded with Love and Cal transfer Jalen Celestine (7.9 ppg) both out with ankle injuries, Miami transfer Norchad Omier (15.5 ppg, 10.2 rebounds) picked up two quick fouls in the first 70 seconds and finished with nine points, four rebounds and four turnovers in 26 minutes.
 
"I thought I was coming to the Big 12, the physical conference," said Omier, who needs 22 rebounds to become the 13^th player in NCAA history with 2,000+ points and 1,500+ rebounds. "They say it's the most physical conference in college. I just hope they keep their word in the next games because I'm an aggressive guy. I've got to approach the game smart, but I can't take away my aggressiveness."
 
Freshman VJ Edgecombe (12.5 ppg, 5.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists) scored all of his game-high 14 points in the second half, with Duke transfer Jeremy Roach (11.9 ppg, 3.6 assists) and Nunn scoring 13 and 10 points, respectively, in the loss at Arizona.
 
When the Bears got down by 23 in the first half, "there was a lot of pointing hands and blaming someone else for what is going on," Ojianwuna said.
 
"I think anytime you get embarrassed like that, you tend to point fingers, but the good teams don't, they find a way," Drew said. "In the second half, I thought we did a great job of competing and finding a way to be more successful. . . . A lot of positive thngs to build off of second half, a lot of things we can do better the first half."
 
Sunday's game will be broadcast by ESPN, with Rich Hollenberg and Fran Fraschilla calling the action.
 




Story lines

• No. 25/24 Baylor returns home for a Sunday matinee against in-state rival TCU at 4 p.m. on ESPN

• The Bears are in the midst of a 10-game home winning streak, the third-longest active streak in the Big 12 and its longest since a 12-game streak from Jan. 2022-Jan. 2023

• Averaging 92.1 points per game at Foster Pavilion this year, the Bears are outscoring teams by an average of 35.8 points at home (22.5 ppg in Big 12 Play)

• BU enters this contest winners of seven of the last 10 and 18 of the last 24 against the Frogs 

• In the last meeting, Baylor held TCU to its regular-season low 54 points in a 62-54 win in Cowtown

• The last time these two teams matched up at Foster Pavilion TCU outlasted Baylor 105-102 in a triple-overtime thriller

• The game was Baylor's first triple OT game since a five overtime game on Jan. 23, 2008 at Texas A&M and was just the fourth time in program history a game has gone at least three overtimes

• Last time out, Baylor trailed by as many as 27 in the second half at Arizona but used a 20-6 run late to get within nine, before falling 81-70 to the Wildcats

• Down by 23 at the break, BU scored 51 second-half points, its most in a half against a power-conference foe this season and the most since getting 53 in the second-half against Texas on March 4, 2024

• Baylor's five losses have all come against teams that have been ranked in the top-10 at some point this season, while Gonzaga, Tennessee, UConn and Iowa State) have been ranked in the top 3

• BU returned to the AP Top-25 after a brief absence last week, and have now been ranked in 103 of the last 107 polls

• According to KenPom, BU has played the third-hardest schedule in the country entering the weekend

• BU is 166-100 in Big 12 play in 15 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons

• Baylor is one of five programs to be ranked inside the top-10 in each of the last six seasons

• The Bears' front-court force of Norchad Omier and Josh Ojianwuna are each tied for second in the conference averaging 9.2 rebounds a game in Big 12 play, the only team in the league with two players in the top-10

• Josh Ojianwuna recorded his third double-double in the last five games with 12 points and a career-high 17 rebs

• Ojianwuna's 17 rebounds against Arizona State were the most by a Baylor player against a Big 12 opponent since Freddie Gillespie had 17 at TCU on Feb. 29, 2020

• The Bears lead the conference and rank fifth in the Power-5 with 13.7 offensive rebounds per game 

• Sitting at +3.1 BU is third in the Big 12 and 15th in the Power-5 in turnover margin

• Baylor is one of two Big 12 (ISU), nine Power-4, and 15 Division 1 teams with 5+ players averaging double figures

• Drew is one of just seven active coaches with at least 450 wins at their current institution (Mark Few, Tom Izzo, Bill Self, Greg Kampe, Randy Bennett, Matt Painter)

• One of six active coaches who have won a national title, Drew will see four of the five other coaches as a part of its regular-season schedule. Drew has wins against John Calipari & Rick Pitino, with his only loss coming to Dan Hurley in Dec.

• Omier, The NCAA's active leader in career rebounds (1,478), double-doubles (76) and rebound average (10.9), while sitting 10th in career points (2,062)

• The senior is just 22 rebounds from becoming the 13th player in NCAA history with 2,000+ points and 1,500+ rebounds

• Omier is tied for 14th in NCAA history with 76 career double-doubles, with two more, he will tie three players including Lou Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) for the 11th-most in NCAA history