Baylor
Colorado
MBB Heads West to Face Colorado
2/21/2025 10:49:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Saturday marks BU's first trip to Boulder since 2010
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BAYLOR BEARS (16-10, 8-7 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF ) |
BAYLOR (16-10, 8-7 Big 12) vs. COLORADO (10-16, 1-14 Big 12) Feb. 22, 2025 • 3:00 p.m. CT Boulder, Colo. • CU Events Center (11,064) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN+ Talent: Pete Sousa (pxp), Jess Settles (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 381 or on the SXM App Baylor Social Media:    |
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COLORADO BUFFALOS (10-16, 1-14 Big 12) Location: Boulder, Colo. Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Tad Boyle (Kansas, 1985) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
BOULDER, Colo. – When Scott Drew looks at the Colorado Buffaloes (10-16, 1-14), he doesn't see the team that's alone in last place in the Big 12 and a dismal 1-10 in games away from the CU Events Center.
"If you look at their last five games, normally the last couple minutes of the game is what's decided it," said Drew, whose Bears (16-10, 8-7) face the Buffs at 3 p.m. CT Saturday in Boulder, "and Coach (Tad) Boyle has got them competing. They're playing hard, playing better than they did early in the year, which is understandable. Every team that's had a lot of transition has gone through that. They lost three players to the NBA, and that's hard to replace, anywhere."
Colorado snapped a 13-game losing streak last Saturday, beating UCF, 76-63, for its first win in the Big 12 since beating Kansas State in the 2011 Big 12 Tournament before heading west to the Pac-12. Senior forward Andrej Jakimovski scored 15 points and senior guard Julian Hammond III added 11 in the Buffs' first win since beating Bellarmine, 79-55, on Dec. 21.
"The good thing is that we're going up within 24 hours, so the altitude shouldn't affect them as much," Drew said. "I know they still have the sign above their dryer erase board: 'Don't Exercise at this Elevation without a Doctor's Permission.' But they all have permission to play."
Employing a roster that includes up to 10 players logging double-digit minutes every night, Colorado is led in scoring by Hammond (12.9 ppg) and Jakimovski (9.9 ppg, 4.4 rebounds). But it's a balanced attack that includes eight players averaging five or more points per game.
"I think they play hard," Drew said. "At altitude, when you play hard, you probably play more guys. So, that makes sense. Another thing is, (Coach Boyle) is probably trying to give people opportunities, because it's a relatively newer team and younger team, and you've got to put guys out there to see what they're like in game experience."
One Baylor player familiar with the Buffs is Cal transfer Jalen Celestine (7.6 ppg, 3.3 rebounds), who has started two of the three games since Josh Ojianwuna's season-ending knee injury. He was 2-3 against Colorado in three seasons in the Pac-12, but he has not won in Boulder.
"Don't let their record fool you, they're a talented team," Celestine said. "They're more than capable of beating anybody in the Big 12. So yeah, we go up there and take care of business, it'll be a great win on our record, because it's hard to win up there.
"The altitude, everything, is in their favor. But we did the scout, we feel prepared, and we're going to execute the game plan as best as possible. I beat them at home, they beat me up there, so hopefully I can break that cycle."
In the smaller lineup, the 6-7 Celestine has had to move from the wing to more of the "4" or power forward position, with 6-7 Miami transfer Norchad Omier (15.7 ppg, 10.3 rebounds) playing almost exclusively at the center position with Ojianwuna out of the lineup.
Including the UCF game, when the 6-10 Ojianwuna went out in the first five minutes, the Bears are 2-2 in this stretch as they adjust to the new seven-man rotation that has guards Jayden Nunn and Jeremy Roach as the only ones coming off the bench.
"We obviously haven't been the healthiest team we want to be," said Celestine, who missed four games with an ankle injury at the start of conference play, "Josh being arguably one of the most important guys on our roster. But overall, just everybody being able to practice (Thursday), we started getting the flow together. I was playing with guys that, honestly, I haven't played with in a minute, besides in game time."
In Monday's 74-67 loss to 19th-ranked Arizona, the Bears were able to dig out of a hole and make it a one-possession game late by playing with more energy, including Omier flying over the scorer's table trying to get a loose ball.
"That's how we're going to outplay teams," Omier said. "They're not going to know what hit them, we're going to come out so aggressive. Energy is going to be a big factor moving forward."
Saturday's game will be streamed by ESPN+, with former KWTX anchor Pete Sousa and former Iowa basketball player Jess Settles calling the action.
Story lines
• Baylor heads west for a 3 p.m. CT tip on ESPN+ in its first trip to Boulder since 2010
• The Bears have won six of the last nine meetings between these two teams, including the last one in at the 2013 Tip-off classic in Dallas
• In the last meeting, Kenny Chery led the Bears with 13 points in his Baylor debut as the defending NIT champion Bears took down their former Big 12 Rivals at the American Airlines Center 72-60
• In the last meeting in Boulder in 2010, The Buffs snapped Baylor's nine-game winning streak despite 23 points from LaceDarius Dunn and 13 points from current assistant Tweety Carter but The Bears would go on to make their first Elite Eight in the modern tournament era
• The Bears are 2-2 in the Mountain Time Zone this season
• Last time out, BU fell to No. 19 Arizona 74-67, suffering its first regular-season sweep by a Big-12 opponent since 2022-2023
• VJ Edgecombe led the Bears with 24 points, his fifth 20-point game of the season and his 10th game of 15-plus points in Big 12 Play
• Edgecombe ranks fourth in the Big 12, averaging 17.4 points per game in conference play and with 15.0 points per game, he is on pace to tie for the fourth-best scoring average by a freshman in BU history
• Norchad Omier recorded his 14th double-double of the season against Arizona with 15 points and 11 rebounds and leads all active players with 82 career double doubles
• Omier is tied with William Chatmon, Cory Jefferson and Johnathan Motley for the sixth-most double-doubles in a season in Baylor history
• Omier's 1,582 career rebounds are 17th-most in NCAA history and he is 20 rebounds away from tying Elvin Hayes for 15th all-time
• Robert Wright is on the verge of making some BU history of his own, needing just two assist to break the freshman assist record, set by John Lucas III (120) in 2001-02
• BU is 32-19 in Big 12 Road games since 2019-20, The best mark in the league in that span
• Baylor has 8+ Big 12 wins for a 14th-straight season after winning 8+game just 3 times in the league's first 15 years
• Baylor has 72 conference wins over the last six seasons, second only to Kansas' 74, the next closest team in that span is Texas Tech with 57
• BU is 170-105 in Big 12 play in 15 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons
• The Bears have lost 29 games and counting due to injuries this season: Langston Love (14), Jeremy Roach (6), Jalen Celestine (4) VJ Edgecombe (2) and Josh Ojianwuna (3) (Out for the season)
• Of the 1,065 minutes of game time this season, Baylor has had it's full complement of rotation players for just 189:56 (17.8%)
• Averaging 15.0 and 12.3 points per game for the season, Edgecombe and Wright are looking to become the first BU freshmen to average 13.0+ points per game in the same year since Lawrence Roberts and John Lucas III averaged 16.6 and 13.2 in 2001-02
• Shooting .748 from the line, The Bears are on pace for their best year at the charity stripe since 2004-05 (.750)
• Nine of Baylor's 10 losses have come against teams that have been ranked in the top-10 at some point this season, while Gonzaga, Tennessee, UConn, Iowa State and Houston have been ranked in the top 4. nine of their 10 losses are Quad-1 losses
• According to KenPom, BU enters the week with the fourth-toughest schedule in the country and the toughest in the Big 12
