TWO FOR ONE

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – Sometimes, two is better than one.

While Scott Drew has typically relied on one point guard through most of his 23 seasons at Baylor, he's got more of a point guard-by-committee approach with fifth-year senior transfer Obi Agbim from Wyoming and sophomore Isaac Williams IV from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

"The good thing is, Obi and Isaac both have played point before," said Drew, whose 5-1 Bears will face Sacramento State (4-5) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Foster Pavilion. "Their assist-turnover ratios are outstanding. At the same time, both of them give you scoring punches. Obi tends to do it from deep, and Isaac tends to do it from the rim."

Agbim (11.2 ppg, 4.3 assists) and Williams (10.3 ppg, 2.5 assists) are two of the Bears' five double-figure scorers and have combined for better than a 4-to-1 assist-turnover ratio with 41 assists and only nine turnovers.

"There's always an adjustment period when you move up levels," Drew said. "At the Power Four level, you just have more length and shot blocking. And I think the ability to get to the paint, finish over that length, make right decisions, is something they've both gotten a lot better at."

With Omaha transfer JJ White suffering an injury in the first game of the Bears' trip to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival, Williams is now the only scholarship guard coming off the bench. But he's averaging right at 20 minutes per game and shooting 53.7% overall and 57.1% (4-of-7) from 3-point range.

"At the end of the day, it's just basketball. I've done it my whole life," Williams said. "Before I come in, I just tell myself to be aggressive defensively and offensively. And I know if I do that, my guys believe in me, and good things will happen."

When the guard duo is on the court at the same time, Williams said they "really trust each other."

"I tell him, I'm going to get him shots. He tells me the same thing, and to be aggressive," he said. "I wouldn't say we have much to improve on, just keep communicating with each other, being honest with each other and keep believing in each other."

As they gain more and more experience at this level, though, Drew believes Agbim and Williams will "improve with our scheme and reading ball screens and making the right reads."

"Both of them are comfortable being scorers as well," Drew said. "Basketball's kind of changed, as we all know. A lot of times, you turn on NBA games, and the best player has the ball, if he's 6-10, if he's 6-9, if he's 6-11. So, you have to learn how to play with the ball and without it. As coaches, our job is to take what we're given each year and put them in the best position to be successful. The more we coach them, the more we figure out, too."

In what has painfully become a trend of late, Baylor basketball is once again having to deal with a shorter rotation. Depleted by injuries, the Bears are down to a seven-man rotation of scholarship players.

Drew said White will be "out for a little bit," and "we're not close on (6-11 center Juslin Bodo Bodo), either." Freshman Maikcol Perez suffered an ACL injury before the season started, and freshmen Andre Igoudala II and Mayo Soyoye were both "recruited as redshirts. They came in wanting to redshirt. Hopefully, we'll get some guys back."

Even with the limited rotation, Baylor went 2-1 at the Las Vegas tournament, with wins over Creighton (81-74) and San Diego State (91-81) sandwiched around a 96-81 loss to then-No. 14 St. John's.

"Playing three games in three days with seven guys is pretty impressive," Drew said. "I think we grew and learned from the Vegas experience and really played well against San Diego State. Take out the last three minutes when we were up 18, offensively and defensively, it might have been our best game year to date, the first 37 minutes of that game."

Sacramento State is filled with NBA connections. First-year head coach Mike Bibby was a 14-year NBA veteran, spending half of his time with the Sacramento Kings; lead advisor Brad Miller was a two-time all-star in 13 years in the NBA; and first-year general Shaquille O'Neall is a 15-time all-str and four-time NBA champion whose son, Shaqir O'Neal, is a senior transfer from Florida A&M who is averaging 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds.

Tuesday's game will be streamed by ESPN+, with "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and Baylor Hall of Famer Pat Nunley calling the action.

Players Mentioned

Obi Agbim

Juslin Bodo Bodo

Maikcol Perez

Mayo Soyoye

JJ White

Isaac Williams IV

Footer