FIVE MINUTES OF FAME

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – Monday's game against Arlington Baptist University might be as close as Baylor junior walk-on guard James Goodis ever gets to his "15 minutes of fame."

But it's safe to say that the Florida native and Indiana University transfer will never forget those five minutes he played in the Bears' record-setting 124-61 win over the visiting Patriots before an appreciative crowd of 7,018 at Foster Pavilion.

With nothing but practice to show for his first 2 ½ years of college basketball, Goodis "touched the floor" for the first time with 5:12 left and hit his only two shots, draining a corner 3-pointer with 1:21 left. To the delight of his teammates and the crowd, Goodis bowed as a "nod to my half-Asian heritage" when his trey tickled the net.

"Oh man, it felt good," said Goodis, who played for the same Montverde Academy program in Florida that produced NBA first-round draft pick Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks. "I've been in college for three years, and to be able to touch the floor and be out there with my teammates and really represent the culture of JOY was a great thing. It's very surreal."

Compared to the 6-foot Goodis, fellow walk-on guards Drew Perry and Will Kuykendall have practically been stat-box stuffers. They both played in their fifth game of the season and have combined for 23 points, each hitting a 3-pointer in Monday's game.

"People kind of see it as almost, 'Oh, they're at the end of the bench,''' said Kuykendall, an Arizona transfer who logged a career-high 11 minutes, adding one rebound and an assist. "But God has put us in a great position to be there, so we feel we're called to be there. And we're just trying to make the most of what it is."

A 5-foot-10 true freshman from Dallas, Perry missed his first two shots before etching his name in the book with a 3-pointer at the 2:36 mark off an assist from Isaac Williams. He became the ninth Baylor player to score in a game that tied for the fourth-highest point total in program history, the most in the Scott Drew era and the most in Foster Pavilion.

"It's really a testament to the coaching staff and our teammates," said Perry, who scored 2,083 career points at Lakehill Prep. "They keep us ready every single day. We do the same drills and we're in practice every day. They quiz us on the plays. Coach (Scott) Drew and our teammates, they do an amazing job. They're the most important group of guys there is in the whole country. I can say that with confidence."

With senior guard Obi Agbim out with an illness and 7-footer James Nnaji not cleared yet as a midyear addition, the Bears (10-2) used a six-man rotation in taking a 69-33 halftime lead. All six players reached double-digit points by halftime, led by Williams with 14 of his season-high 22 points in his first start as a Bear.

"First and foremost, nobody got injured, and we did a lot of good things," Coach Drew said. "James Goodis got his first college buckets, which was really cool. You could see that everyone was really excited for him. And anytime you set two records – highest field goal percentage (73.5) and most points in the Foster – that's an exciting thing."

Drew said the team's assist-to-turnover ratio (33-14) "showed the team's unselfishness."

"Thirty-three assists in a game where virtually at any point you could start to be more concerned with your numbers and getting shots up. And we didn't do that," he said. "To get 86 points in the paint, that's what should have happened and did. So, a lot of positives. Now, on to bigger and better things with the Big 12."

In a game filled with mosts, freshman Tounde Yessoufou matched his career high with 28 points; Cameron Carr had 17 points and a career-best 10 assists; Michael Rataj (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Caden Powell (12 points, 15 rebounds) both recorded double-doubles; and Dan Skillings Jr. showed off his all-around game with 19 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

"Coming back from (Christmas) break, you can run a bunch of sprints or play a game," Drew said. "Playing the game is great, and hopefully we can get some of the rust off. At the same time, we talked about making this a really efficient game. You look at the field goal percentage and the assist-to-turnover ratio, a lot of efficiency in those. And that's always more enjoyable than just running lines in practice."

Potentially, if he's cleared, Nnaji could see his first college action and first in a Baylor uniform in Saturday's 1 p.m. Big 12 opener at TCU (10-3).

"I think all of that's going to depend on how quick we get him through physicals and then how quick he can pick up some offense, defense, and what kind of shape he's in," Drew said of Nnaji, a native of Nigeria who was the 31^st overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft as a EuroLeague player.

"The great thing is, when he's cleared, it gives us an extra player in the rotation. Going into a Big 12 game with six people, you don't want to do that."

FIVE MINUTES OF FAME

Players Mentioned

Obi Agbim

Cameron Carr

James Goodis

Will Kuykendall

James Nnaji

Drew Perry

Caden Powell

Michael Rataj

Dan Skillings Jr.

Tounde Yessoufou

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