Baylor
Duke
No. 16 WBB Faces Duke to Open Season in Paris
11/2/2025 11:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Bears tip off from the City of Lights at 11 a.m. CT
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16/18 BAYLOR BEARS (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Nicki Collen (Marquette, 1998) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
16/18 BAYLOR (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs 7/6 DUKE BLUE DEVILS (0-0, 0-0 ACC) Nov. 3, 2025 • 11:00 a.m. CT Paris, France • Adidas Arena (9,000) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN Talent: Beth Mowins (pxp), Carolyn Peck (analyst) LISTEN: Baylor Sports Media Network via FOX Sports Radio 93.9FM in Central Texas and worldwide at centexsportsfan.com. Talent: Derek Smith (pxp), Lori Fogleman (analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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7/6 DUKE BLUE DEVILS (0-0, 0-0 ACC) Location: Durham, N.C. Conference/Affiliation: Atlantic Coast Head Coach: Kara Lawson (Tennessee, 2003) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
Game notes:
• Baylor and Duke face off in the first ranked-versus-ranked matchup of the NCAA season as part of the Oui-Play 2025 event at Adidas Arena in Paris, France, hosted by Complete Sports Management. The game is also the first nationally televised broadcast of the women's basketball season.
• Baylor opens the season away from home for the first time since 2009 at Tennessee and plays its first neutral-site season opener since 2005 vs. Georgia in Lubbock.
• The Bears will be playing their 17th game outside of the United States, and the first outside of North America, entering with a 15-1 international record.
• Baylor returns to the court with a new-look roster that features six new players and three new coaches, highlighted by three Auburn pickups: Assoc. HC Johnnie Harris, redshirt sophomore Taliah Scott and sophomore Yuting Deng.
• Baylor is ranked 16th in the AP Poll and 18th in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, facing a top-10 Duke squad named seventh in the AP and sixth in the Coaches Poll.
• Monday's game will be Baylor's first NCAA-sanctioned game played outside of North America, as the Bears have played 16 prior games outside of the US border in The Bahamas and Mexico.
• Baylor is 15-1 when playing abroad.
• The first recorded game outside of the US in Baylor WBB history was a part of the Caribbean Classic, where BU defeated Cal, 75-58, in Riviera Maya, Mexico, at the Adventure Spa Palace.
• The Bears have been featured multiple times in The Bahamas: 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2017 Junkanoo Jam, 2015 Junkanoo Jam, 2010 Sunsplash Shootout and 2006 Junkanoo Jam.
• The Bears are 5-1 in international play under Nicki Collen, with wins over Fordham, Arizona State and Houston in the Cancun Challenge, and victories against Southern Miss and Villanova at the Battle 4 Atlantis in The Bahamas. The lone loss came to Indiana in The Bahamas last season.
• Baylor was picked to finish third in the league by the Big 12 head coaches with two first-place votes.
• Darianna Littlepage-Buggs had her second preseason mention come unanimously, joined by Bella Fontleroy as BU representatives.
• The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the WBCA picked Taliah Scott (Ann Meyers-Drysdale - Shooting Guard), Fontleroy (Cheryl Miller - Small Forward) and Littlepage-Buggs (Katrina McClain - Power Forward) to be on their preseason Starting Five watchlists, joining the top 20 position players in the country. Top 10 midseason and final five postseason announcements will follow for each award, with the winner being announced at the WBCA convention.
• Littlepage-Buggs also earned a spot on the Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Women's College Player of the Year Watch List Presented by AXIA Time.
• Baylor's roster features four players in their fourth season under head coach Nicki Collen, the most among Big 12 programs. BYU follows with two, while Kansas, Kansas State, TCU and Texas Tech each have one.
• Kyla Abraham, Bella Fontleroy and Darianna Littlepage-Buggs all signed straight out of high school in an unbroken 2022 recruiting class.
• Jana Van Gytenbeek missed Year No. 3 at BU because of injury, but regained a year of eligibility to finish out her collegiate career under Collen.
• Baylor's No. 16 ranking in the AP's Preseason Poll release was the 22nd consecutive preseason mention, 25th overall, dating back to the national championship-winning season that had Baylor at No. 8 to tip off the 2004-05 season.
• In the 50 years of the AP Poll, the Bears have been ranked first 47 times with the last top-5 ranking coming in 2023-24.
• Those 47 rankings at the top are sixth in the nation, behind UConn, Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana Tech and Texas.
• Baylor leads the Big 12 Conference with the most wins since Nicki Collen took the head coaching position on May 5, 2021.
1. Baylor 102
2. Iowa State 94
3. Kansas State 93
4. Utah 93
5. Colorado 92
6. West Virginia 84
7. Kansas 82
8. Arizona 80
• During this stretch, Baylor extended its streak of 20-win seasons to 25 straight years, the second-longest active run in the nation behind UConn, and remained second only to UConn with 21 consecutive NCAA tournaments featuring at least one win.
