RV/RV BAYLOR BEARS (14-8, 6-5 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas  Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF )	UCF (13-9, 4-7 Big 12) vs. RV/RV BAYLOR (13-7, 5-4 Big 12)  Feb. 8, 2025 • 1:00 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Foster Pavilion (7,500)  LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN+ Talent: Lowell Galindo (pxp), BJ Taylor (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 146 or on the SXM App Baylor Social Media:
	UCF Knights (13-9, 4-7 Big 12) Location: Orlando, Fla. Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Johnny Dawkins (Duke, 1986) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)

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Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – Just in case he's actually dreaming, Scott Drew hopes he doesn't wake up.
 
For the first time in 39 days, Drew could have his full allotment of players when the Baylor Bears (14-8, 6-5) host the UCF Knights (13-9, 4-7) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Foster Pavilion. Tuesday's 73-59 road loss to 13^th-ranked Texas Tech was the 10^th game in a row and the 18^th time this year that Baylor has been without one or more of a core rotation of eight players.
 
"I'm saying my prayers, Drew said, "but there's a chance we could have all eight guys that have been playing a lot of minutes – or had chances during non-conference to play a lot of minutes – to get back on the court. We'll see how things go with shoot-around. But I can tell you that (there's) a lot of smiles around the staff the last two days, at least with the possibility."
 
Redshirt junior guard Langston Love (6.5 ppg) has missed 10 games in a row with an ankle injury and has only played eight games this season, while freshman VJ Edgecombe (14.9 ppg, 5.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists) was sidelined Tuesday after sitting out the last 14 ½ minutes of last Saturday's 81-70 win over then-No. 12 Kansas with an ankle injury.
 
"It's very exciting, just knowing that we've finally got our whole team, really all the pieces," said senior guard Jayden Nunn. "We haven't had our whole team since the Utah game (81-56 win on Dec. 31). It's just really exciting to see how we're going to play (Saturday)."
 
The last time Baylor was at full strength, Edgecombe had a game-high 19 points and was one of four double-figure scorers in the Bears' 25-point win over Utah. Since then, they have split their last 10 games, including break-even two-game swings through Arizona and Utah.
 
"The game you saw against Utah, we put on a crazy show against them," said Duke transfer Jeremy Roach (11.9 ppg, 3.4 assists), who scored 12 points in his return to the court after missing the four previous games in concussion protocol.
 
Drew said the Bears are just hoping "we can get healthy for this last stretch run, because you want to play your best basketball at the end of the year."
 
"A lot of the times, you get to the last two, three, four weeks, and then you've got guys banged up and you're not able to go into postseason firing on all cylinders."
 
With Edgecombe out for the second time in his rookie season, getting Roach back for the game at Tech was like a breath of fresh air. The senior guard was 2-of-4 from outside the arc and added seven rebounds with two assists and only one turnover in 38 minutes.
 
"It helps a lot," Nunn said. "We've got another scoring guard, gives us more offensive threats. Having Jeremy back on the court, he's a vet, he knows a lot. He's been to where I want to be (Final Four). So, just coaching us on the court and being our floor general as well."
 
Baylor draws a UCF team that has been up and down all season, defeating Texas A&M, Texas Tech and TCU and taking Kansas and Houston down to the wire, while losing by 51 to Kansas at home and dropping five of its last six games.
 
"They've got a lot of talent. They have some players that'll be in the NBA," Drew said. "Whenever you have that, you're dangerous. This is a team that plays a lot of guys. A lot of different guys are capable of stepping up. It's a really long, athletic, talented team. . . . . They're more than capable of beating anybody. And just like any Big 12 team, the margin of error is slight. We've got to control what we can control."
 
Playing on his third team in as many years, 6-7 junior guard Keyshawn Hall is averaging 18.3 points per game and a league-high 21.3 in conference-only games. Senior guard Darius Johnson and UTSA transfer Jordan Ivy-Curry are averaging 15.0 and 14.3 points, respectively, while 7-2 freshman Moustapha Thiam checks in at 9.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
 
Because of the injuries, and players being in and out of the lineup, the Bears haven't come close to hitting their peak yet, Roach Said.
 
"I think it's going to be a good thing," Roach said, "just kind of giving the Big 12 a different look going into the back stretch and then, obviously, into the Big 12 tournament and into March Madness. It's going to be a fun little stretch for us, for sure."
 
Saturday's game will be streamed by ESPN+, with Lowell Galindo and former UCF and NBA G-League point guard BJ Taylor calling the action.
 
 

Story lines

• Baylor returns home in search of its 11th win at Foster Pavilion this season when it welcomes the UCF Knights for a 1 p.m. tip on ESPN+ with Lowell Galindo and BJ Taylor on the call

• Saturday is the first-ever meeting between these two programs in Waco with the Bears holding a 1-0 series advantage against the Knights after a 77-69 win in Orlando last season

• In that meeting, despite trailing for 30:58 and getting down by as many as 10-points, the Bears snapped a three-game losing streak behind a career-high 24 points and a team-high seven rebounds from Langston Love 

• Baylor's VJ Edgecombe and UCF's Moustapha Thiam were teammates for Austin Rivers Southeast Elite on 2024 Adidas AAU circuit, while Darius Johnson was starting PG on the 2021 SE Elite team

• Last time out, without the services of Edgecombe, Baylor dropped its second-straight contest to Texas Tech, 73-59 in the Hub City

• Tuesday was the 18th game this season where Baylor was missing at least one piece of it's rotation

• 59 points were Baylor's second-fewest this season, while its 19 field goals tied a season low

• Baylor's Norchad Omier led the way for BU with a game-high 16 points and 12 rebounds, his 11th double-double of the season, tying him for the most by a Baylor player since Freddie Gillespie had 11 in 2019-20

• Now with 79 career double-doubles, Omier is tied with Oscar Robertson and Michael Brooks for the ninth-most in NCAA history, his next double-double will tie him with Drexel's Malik Rose for eighth-most

• Baylor's dynamic freshmen duo of Edgecombe and Robert Wright have taken their games to the next level, averaging 23.3 and 16.6 points per game, respectively, over the last five games

• Averaging 14.9 and 13.1 points per game respectively, 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

• Wright is just 15 assists shy of Lucas' freshman assist record (120)

• Last time at Foster Pavilion, Baylor won its fifth-straight home game against the Kansas Jayhawks in dramatic fashion, 81-70 

• Down by 19 at the break, BU erased the KU lead less than seven minutes into the second half, and matched the largest halftime comeback in Big 12 history

• In the process Baylor became the only team over the last 15 seasons to beat a ranked opponent by double-digits after trailing by 20+ points

• Baylor has 70 conference wins over the last six seasons, second only to Kansas' 73, the next closest team in that span is Texas Tech with 55

• Scott Drew is one of six active coaches with a national title, and now has wins over three of the other five this season (Calipari, Pitino and Self)

• BU is 79-9 in home games over the last six seasons

• BU is 169-103 in Big 12 play in 15 seasons since 2010 after going 59-149 in the league's first 13 seasons

• Five of Baylor's eight losses have 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. Seven of the eight losses are Quad-1 losses 

• According to KenPom BU enters the weekend with the third-toughest schedule in the country and the toughest in the Big 12