No. 9 BAYLOR BEARS (19-14, 10-10 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas  Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF )	No. 9 BAYLOR (19-14, 10-10 Big 12) vs. No. 8 MISSISSIPPI STATE (21-12, 8-10 Big 12)  March 21, 2025 • 11:15 a.m. CT Raleigh, N.C. • Lenovo Center (20,000)  LIVE STATS: NCAA.com WATCH: CBS Talent: Ian Eagle (PBP), Bill Raftery (analyst), Grant Hill (analyst), Tracy Wolfson (reporter) LISTEN: Baylor Sports Media Network via ESPN 1660 AM / 92.3 FM in Central Texas  Talent: John Morris (PBP), Pat Nunley (Analyst) LISTEN: Westwood One Talent: Jason Benetti (PBP), Sarah Kustok (Analyst) SIRIUS XM: SiriusXM 208, 201 or on the SXM App Baylor Social Media:
	No. 8 MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS (21-12, 8-10 SEC) Location: Starkville, Miss. Conference/Affiliation: SEC Head Coach: Chris Jans (Loras, 1991) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF)

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
RALEIGH, N.C. – Four years have passed since the Baylor Bears cut down the nets as the 2021 national champions. But the pedigree, and the respect, haven't changed.
 
"Obviously, we're playing against a national championship coach, a national championship program," said Mississippi State coach Chris Jans, whose eighth-seeded Rebels (21-12) will face ninth-seeded Baylor (19-14) at 11:15 a.m. CT Friday at the Lenovo Center in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
 
"I have the utmost respect for Scott Drew and what he's done at Baylor over the last couple decades-plus. Just how he runs his program, how he goes about his business and how his team plays."
 
For only the third time in 12 NCAA Tournament appearances under Drew, the Bears are the lower seed in the first round. They lost to sixth-seeded Purdue, 79-60, as a No. 11 seed in 2008 and then knocked off eighth-seeded Syracuse, 78-69, as a No. 9 seed in 2019.
 
"One thing, with the (transfer) portal and so many transfers, you're blessed to have an opportunity to coach a lot of new guys," Drew said. "And lot of them haven't been in the tournament. So, that's always exciting to see people's first time and just the excitement that goes into it – from arriving in the hotel and seeing the NCAA stuff and just how it's different.
 
"I think all parents can relate to it. It's kind of like kids opening up Christmas gifts, birthday gifts. You're always excited to see that."
 
Baylor has several first-timers in the tournament, including freshmen VJ Edgecombe (15.0 ppg, 5.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists) and Robert O. Wright III (11.3 ppg, 4.3 assists) and Cal transfer Jalen Celestine (7.4 ppg, 6.4 rebounds).
 
Senior guard Jayden Nunn is the only active player on the roster with extensive tournament experience in a Baylor uniform, averaging 9.0 points and shooting 50% from 3-point range in two games last season.
 
But the Bears also boast a pair of players with Final Four experience, with guard Jeremy Roach (10.3 ppg, 2.7 assists) making it with Duke in 2022 and 6-7 senior forward Norchad Omier (15.9 ppg, 10.9 rebounds) going with Miami in '23.
 
"The (NCAA) Tournament is different. It's a different atmosphere. Fans are always hyped. The games are always crowded," said Roach, who played four years with the Blue Devils before transferring to Baylor. "It's always a back-and-forth game because everybody's season is on the line. . . . Every game is going to be a dogfight, so we've got to be locked in from the jump."
 
As a top-3 seed in each of the previous four NCAA Tournaments, Baylor was always the hunted. But as the lower seed this year, the Bears are the hunters.
 
"I don't think anybody in that locker room thinks of themselves like the hunted," Omier said. "We always look at everybody like prey, if I'm being honest. We are the Baylor Bears. That mentality is pretty standard. I think everybody is locked in with that."
 
Drew sees that kind of Final Four experience as an advantage for Baylor, which has had three-straight second-round losses since winning it all in 2021.
 
"A lot of times, they say you've got to knock before you enter," Drew said. "So, definitely having some of that wisdom. And players listen to players more than they listen to coaches. They talk in the locker room, and that advice that Jeremy and Norchad give them matters. That's a part of why we brought them here, that Final Four experience, and that fact that they were able to help teams get there. That's where we want to be this year."
 
While Omier has put together a phenomenal fifth year, earning first-team All-Big 12 honors and recording 21 double-doubles, Roach has had his ups and downs. The 6-2 guard has missed six games with two different concussions and has come off the bench the last nine games after starting 126 of his previous 148 games combined at Duke and Baylor.
 
"It's been a weird season," said Roach, who has scored in double digits just 12 times while shooting a career-low 38.1% from the floor. "I came in with expectations to be this and that. But once you go down with two concussions in one year, it's a little hard to shake back. Just knowing that if you get hit in the head again, your season is going to be done. But it's all been a learning experience. I love my teammates, love the coaches. It's been a great ride."
 
If Baylor wins and advances to Sunday's second-round game, Roach would likely be going up against his former Duke teammates. The Blue Devils (31-3) are the top seed in the East Region and heavy favorites against 16^th-seeded Mount St. Mary's, which defeated American, 83-72, in a first four game Wednesday night in Dayton, Ohio.
 
"It's not like I don't want to play them, but we've still got another opponent in front of us," said Roach, who averaged 13.7 points in 11 NCAA Tournament games with Duke. "We've got to lock in on Mississippi State, and obviously (Duke) has to lock in on (Mount St. Mary's). But it's exciting, especially being back in Raleigh and having a chance to play Duke. We've just got to take it one game at a time and see where everything lands."
 
A Baylor-Duke matchup would also be a reunion for Wright, who was high school teammates at Montverde Academy with 6-9 Duke forward Cooper Flagg (18.9 ppg, 7.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists), a consensus All-American, the ACC Player of the Year and the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
 
"When the bracket got announced that we could possibly play them – the focus is still on Mississippi State, most definitely – but he texted me and sent me like a little hand covering the face emoji," Wright said, "just because he saw that we could play each other. I already played Liam (UConn's Liam McNeeley), so it would be cool to play another teammate, for sure."
 
That will also be the case on Friday, when Omier will be matched against former University of Miami teammate Michael Nwoko, a 6-10 sophomore center who is averaging 6.3 points and 4.6 rebounds for the Bulldogs.
 
"Michael Nwoko and me at Miami, we went on the international trip together. We were roommates the whole trip, so we're pretty close," Omier said. "This comes down to business. We texted each other when we figured out we were going to play each other. But since then, we haven't texted each other. Both of us are competitors, so we're excited to play each other."
 
The Bears' defensive focus, though, will be on 5-11 sophomore guard Josh Hubbard, who is averaging 18.7 points and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 34.3% from distance (104-of-303). He scored a career-high 38 points in an 88-84 loss to then-No. 4 Alabama back on Jan. 28.
 
"We've had a lot of smaller guards, and they've been really successful," said Drew, referencing Pierre Jackson, Kenny Chery and current assistant coach Tweety Carter. "Usually, it starts with, you've got to have a great outside shot. Josh is one of those guys, we call it logo range. He's out there shooting past the NBA line. He's somebody that you can play great defense, and he can make tough shots, usually from 22, 23 feet. . . . Nobody's been able to stop him yet."
 
Baylor has won six-consecutive first-round NCAA Tournament games since back-to-back first-round losses in 2015 and '16 to Georgia State and Yale.
 
"This guy right here (Omier), he's been to the Final Four; Jeremy's been to the Final Four," said Edgecombe, the preseason and postseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year. "They have the experience. They told me it's super fun, especially when you win. It's do or die, so if you win no games, I don't think it's going to be fun at all. So, they're guiding me, just telling me what to do and what not to do. I'm just grateful to have them around, for sure."
 
Friday's game will be broadcast by CBS, with Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson calling the action.


Story lines

• No. 9 seed Baylor will open it's school-record sixth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance against No. 8 Seed Mississippi State Friday at 11:15 a.m. CT on CBS

• This is the third postseason meeting between the Bears and the Bulldogs, with the two previous meetings coming in the NIT in 1990 and 2018

• In the last meeting, MSU used  a last-second three-pointer to beat the home-standing Bears 78-77 in the second round of the 2018 NIT in Waco

• Each of the last two meetings between these two teams have been decided in the final 28 seconds (2011: Baylor layup with :28 left; 2018 MSU three-pointer with :01 left)

• Baylor is 9-4 all-time with six-straight wins in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament

• The Bears are one of just four teams to win at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the last five tournaments, joining Gonzaga, Houston and Kansas

• BU is 1 of 8 teams to appear in nine of the last 10 tournaments, joining Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, North Carolina and Purdue

• Baylor is on a school-record streak of 13-consecutive postseason appearances, the nations fifth-longest active streak

• BU is 1-1 all-time as a No. 9 seed, holding a 3-5 in NCAA Tournament games as the lower/same seed, though four of those five losses were to top-2 seeds

• The Bears are 23-17 in 15 NCAA Championship appearances and 20-11 under Scott Drew

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

• Drew is one of eight coaches in NCAA history, and the only one since 1990, to have won an NCAA title and an NIT Title at the same school. Calipari is the only other active coach to have won both tournaments

• Baylor is 45-29 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last 17 seasons

• Only three active players on Baylor's roster have more than five minutes of NCAA Tournament experience, but two are Final Four participants in Jeremy Roach (Duke, 2022) and Norchad Omier (Miami, 2023)

• Averaging 13.7 points in 11 NCAA Tournament games, Roach helped Duke reach the 2022 Final Four

• In five tournament games with the Hurricanes in 2023, Omier averaged 10 points and 12 rebounds

• The NCAA's active leader in career rebounds (1,675) and double-doubles (89), Omier holds Baylor's single-season record for double-doubles with 21

• Jayden Nunn is the only player on the roster with extensive NCAAT experience in a Baylor uniform, averaging 9.0 points and shooting 50% from three in two games last season.

• VJ Edgecombe was Baylor's third-straight postseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year, making BU the first school in conference history with three straight preseason and postseason freshmen of the year

• Edgecombe has left his mark this season at Baylor, scoring the fourth-most points by a BU freshman (465) and enters Friday tied with Keyonte George for the fourth most points per game by a Baylor rookie (15.0), while also setting the Baylor freshman record with 66 steals

• Fellow frosh, Robert Wright set Baylor's single-season freshman assist record (143), which comes after setting the single-game freshman record of 13 against Norfolk State earlier this season

• The Bears have lost 37 games and counting due to injuries this season: Langston Love (15), Jeremy Roach (6), Jalen Celestine (4) VJ Edgecombe (2) and Josh Ojianwuna (10)

• Of the 1,345 minutes of game time this season, Baylor has had it's full complement of rotation players for just 189:56 (14.2%)

• Baylor has 8+ Big 12 wins for a 14th-straight season after winning 8+game just three times in the league's first 15 years.