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Baylor Basketball

Gameday Thread: #11 Baylor (19-6; 8-4) at #25 BYU (18-7; 6-6)

February 18, 2024
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#11 Baylor (19-6; 8-4) travels to Provo, Utah to take on #25 BYU (18-7; 6-6) Tuesday February 20th at 8pm CST.  The game will be televised on ESPN2.  

 

KenPom Prediction:  BYU 79 Baylor 77

Torvik Prediction:  BYU 81 Baylor 76

Evan Miyakawa:  BYU 80 Baylor 76

Haslametrics:  BYU 78 Baylor 73

Coaches

BYU:  Mark Pope (51) 182-104 (105-48 at BYU); NCAA

Baylor:  Scott Drew (53); 460-249 overall (440-238 at Baylor); 11 NCAAs; 5 Sweet 16s; 3 Elite 8s; FF; 1 National Championship

Head to Head:  1-0 Drew

BYU Starters

Guard:  Dallin Hall (SO) 6-4 195 lbs; 9 ppg; 4 reb; 5 asst; 45% FG; 38% 3pt; 62% FT

Guard: Trevin Knell (JR) 6-5 185 lbs; 12 ppg; 4 reb; 2 asst; 47% FG; 41% 3pt; 75% FT

Guard: Spencer Johnson (SR) 6-5 195 lbs; 11 ppg; 6 reb; 3 asst; 42% FG; 30%pt; 78% FT

Forward:  Noah Watterman (SR) 6-11 220 lbs; 10 ppg; 6 reb; 46% FG; 38% 3pt; 85% FT

Forward:  Aly Khalifa (JR) 6-11 245 lbs; 6 ppg; 4 reb; 4 asst; 42% FG; 36% 3pt; 44% FT

BYU Bench

Forward:  Jaxson Robinson (SR) 6-7 190 lbs; 14 ppg; 3 reb; 2 asst; 43% FG; 36% 3pt; 89% FT

Forward:  Foussenyi Traore (JR) 6-6 240 lbs; 11 ppg; 5 reb; 62% FG; 67% 3pt; 78% FT

Guard: Richie Saunders (SO) 6-5 200 lbs; 9 ppg; 4 reb; 53% FG; 33% 3pt; 71% FT

Forward:  Atiki Ally Atiki (JR) 6-10 220 lbs; 4 ppg; 3 reb; 62% FG; 46% FT

Baylor Starters

Guard:  RayJ Dennis (SR) 6-3 180 lbs; 13 ppg; 4 reb; 7 asst;  49% FG; 40% 3pt; 70% FT

Guard:  Jayden Nunn (JR) 6-3 190 lbs; 11 ppg; 3 reb; 2 asst; 48% FG; 45% 3pt; 67% FT 

Guard:  Ja’Kobe Walter (FR) 6-5 185 lbs; 15 ppg; 5 reb; 2 asst; 39% FG; 33% 3pt; 86% FT

Forward:  Jalen Bridges (JR) 6-9 225 lbs; 11 ppg; 5 reb; 2 asst; 45% FG; 39% 3pt; 86% FT

Forward:  Yves Missi (FR) 6-11 220 lbs; 11 ppg; 6 reb; 2 blocks; 65% FG; 58% FT

Baylor Bench

Guard:  Langston Love (SO) 6-5 210 lbs; 12 ppg; 3 reb; 46% FG; 49% 3pt; 80% FT

Forward:  Caleb Lohner (JR) 6-8 235 lbs; 2 ppg; 2 reb; 54% FG; 25% 3pt; 79% FT

Forward:  Josh Ojianwuna (SO) 6-10 240 lbs; 5 ppg; 3 reb; 79% FG; 59% FT

Guard:  Miro Little (FR) 6-4 185 lbs; 2 ppg; 46% FG; 38% 3pt; 73% FT

Discussion from...

Gameday Thread: #11 Baylor (19-6; 8-4) at #25 BYU (18-7; 6-6)

49,807 Views | 398 Replies | Last: 10 mo ago by Oldbear83
Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Mitch Henessey • 10:49p, 2/20/24
Mitch Henessey said:
I hate to armchair quarterback this, but I wouldn't have played Langston tonight. I said as much in the game thread Saturday.

Coming off back-to-back cross country flights, in a game that isn't necessarily a "must win," the downside (him getting hurt again, which he did) outweighed the upside.
My exact thoughts and feelings as well. We should have learned our lesson from rushing Keyonte back last year. He was never the same even after returning. Now looking like the same scenario with Love.
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IowaBear
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 10:52p, 2/20/24
I seriously doubt Drew would have played LL if he wasn't 100% you're assuming too much here. Injuries happen and LL is absolutely injury prone. He looked fine Saturday and it was said as much.
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Mitch Henessey
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In reply to IowaBear • 10:52p, 2/20/24
IowaBear said:
In fairness he did look healthy and ready to go. At least on Saturday. Granted that could have been misleading
I don't doubt that at all. But sitting on a plane for 7+ hours over 2 days on a balky ankle probably isn't the best recipe. Who knows? Maybe it was a freak thing and it had nothing to do with the original injury. That's why I hate armchairing it. I have so little information compared to Drew and staff.
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Oldbear83
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In reply to oldbear69 • 10:53p, 2/20/24
oldbear69 said:
Oldbear83 said:
SIC EM 94 said:
Correct…and again nobody is claiming the refs cost Baylor the game. I'm not so sure why that's so hard for you to understand. Poor defense, poor shooting, and the horrendous effort rebounding the ball gave Baylor little chance to pull off the road win.
I think travelling coast to coast after the West Virginia game cost us some energy.

Hope sleeping in the home beds helps recharge the team.
here u go again, excuses, excuses, excuses,,,sleeping in a strange bed cost us the game,,at least you got off the
referee collusion excuse...just say it , we stunk it up in every way,,,,
You are such a quitter.

Why exactly do you even post here?
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IowaBear
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In reply to Mitch Henessey • 10:54p, 2/20/24
I can't recall Drew ever rushing a player back. Feels like one of those unlucky deals where LL is just gonna have a nagging issue the rest of the way
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to IowaBear • 10:55p, 2/20/24
Keyonte
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Oldbear83
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In reply to oldbear69 • 10:55p, 2/20/24
Wattawhiner: "we're a pretty ordinary team"

Uh-huh.

So explain why the NCAA calls Baylor a 3-seed right now, and we are #11 in the NET rankings?
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Mitch Henessey
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In reply to IowaBear • 10:56p, 2/20/24
IowaBear said:
I can't recall Drew ever rushing a player back. Feels like one of those unlucky deals where LL is just gonna have a nagging issue the rest of the way
I'm not saying we rushed Langston back. Just that, given how important we know he is to the team, I would have sat him until Saturday out of an abundance of caution.
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IowaBear
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In reply to Mitch Henessey • 10:57p, 2/20/24
I get what you're saying. I'm just saying this exact thing could have happened Saturday. It appeared to be another freak injury and just plain bad luck.
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DanaDane
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In reply to IowaBear • 10:58p, 2/20/24
IowaBear said:
In fairness he did look healthy and ready to go. At least on Saturday. Granted that could have been misleading
As fluidly as he was moving in the first half, it's hard to believe he wasn't ready although I kinda agree with Craw and Mitch that perhaps you still sit him. But Drew and staff knew/know his condition better than I ever will and I'm sure he was chomping at the bit to get back on the court tonight.
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Mitch Henessey
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In reply to IowaBear • 10:59p, 2/20/24
IowaBear said:
I get what you're saying. I'm just saying this exact thing could have happened Saturday. It appeared to be another freak injury and just plain bad luck.
You're probably right. I'm just bummed for him. And for us.
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IowaBear
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In reply to Mitch Henessey • 11:04p, 2/20/24
Definitely puts a damper on things going forward. I think we're really going to feel his loss these next few weeks (assuming he's out)
We managed to get by without him but against teams at or near the bottom of the league. Different set of animals await in Houston, Tech, KU,TCU
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Mitch Henessey
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In reply to IowaBear • 11:07p, 2/20/24
IowaBear said:
Definitely puts a damper on things going forward. I think we're really going to feel his loss these next few weeks (assuming he's out)
We managed to get by without him but against teams at or near the bottom of the league. Different set of animals await in Houston, Tech, KU,TCU
I love that you omitted Texas there. **** 'em. They suck anyway.
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bear2be2
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In reply to IowaBear • 11:09p, 2/20/24
IowaBear said:
Definitely puts a damper on things going forward. I think we're really going to feel his loss these next few weeks (assuming he's out)
We managed to get by without him but against teams at or near the bottom of the league. Different set of animals await in Houston, Tech, KU,TCU
I think the biggest damper is that we remain a really terrible man-to-man defensive team. We definitely saw it tonight, but it was apparent in Morgantown as well. If we can't zone you, we can't defend you. That's a problem because we're basically playing with an arm behind our back every time we face an efficient offensive team.
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IowaBear
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In reply to Mitch Henessey • 11:10p, 2/20/24
Texas is the easiest game left. Drew will have the Bears ready to send them to the SEC with an L.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Mitch Henessey • 11:10p, 2/20/24
Mitch Henessey said:
IowaBear said:
Definitely puts a damper on things going forward. I think we're really going to feel his loss these next few weeks (assuming he's out)
We managed to get by without him but against teams at or near the bottom of the league. Different set of animals await in Houston, Tech, KU,TCU
I love that you omitted Texas there. **** 'em. They suck anyway.
We'll struggle with Texas again because they can do things offensively that we don't defend well. We should still win at home, but I'm not confident in our ability to slow any team with a top 30 offense.

Abmas, Disu and Hunter will eat our lunch again. So we had better be prepared to score early and often. We'll likely need to to win.

We've dropped from 68th to 85th in defensive efficiency the last two games. If we don't watch out, we're going to close this season in the 100s for the second straight year.
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IowaBear
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In reply to bear2be2 • 11:12p, 2/20/24
That's been an issue all year. That wasn't gonna change. We win in spite of defense. And that just got even harder with LL going down again. We can zone Houston, TCU, and Tx. Self and KU would and will eat our zone if we played it against them.
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bear2be2
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In reply to IowaBear • 11:16p, 2/20/24
IowaBear said:
That's been an issue all year. That wasn't gonna change. We win in spite of defense. And that just got even harder with LL going down again. We can zone Houston, TCU, and Tx. Self and KU would and will eat our zone if we played it against them.
We haven't beaten many of the good offensive teams in our league. BYU, which we split with, Iowa State and Tech at home without Washington. That's pretty much it. We've feasted on the defense-first teams in our league, but we've only got one of those left -- and they also happen to be top 20 in offensive efficiency because of their effort on the offensive glass.

We'd better find a way to make some stops down the stretch or our recent 5-1 run will look like fool's gold by tournament time.
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Quinton
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In reply to DanaDane • 11:17p, 2/20/24
DanaDane said:
There are a lot of great things to see on that court so far, but nothing makes me breathe much better than seeing Love looking like he doesn't have any issues moving in any direction.


Unfortunately, sounds like you're going to need to hold your breath. This kid is totally snake bit. Great work ethic and simply cannot catch a break.
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DanaDane
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In reply to Quinton • 11:20p, 2/20/24
I really wish I knew what happened. He gave no signs of any issues with movement in the 1st half. Makes me wonder of all the possibilities it could have been, and the fact the players were carrying him to the locker room per the report doesn't make me feel any better.

Unfortunately, it seems like every school has that one good player that for whatever reasons seems to be kept from ever realizing his full potential due to injuries.
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oldbear69
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In reply to Oldbear83 • 11:27p, 2/20/24
Well somebody has to challenge "the excuse maker",,,bad refs , mileage , strange beds geez where were u when I came home with a bad report card ?
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Quinton
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In reply to bear2be2 • 11:29p, 2/20/24
We need to bring in a defensive specialist on staff and ithe current defensive staff leaders can learn and focus on recruiting. They aren't up to it at the moment .

It's been obvious for awhile now. We also need to look very carefully at recruiting evals. We have whiffed one too many times. And the capable guys we do have look completely lost half the time. Prerequisites should be obvious: Prereqs include decent footwork/feet, lateral explosion, change of direction , defensive aptitude/instinct, and intensity
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oldbear69
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11:42p, 2/20/24
Just curious ,, what's our record in next 5 games ?
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boognish_bear
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11:49p, 2/20/24
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boognish_bear
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11:51p, 2/20/24
Not sure if Matt has some inside knowledge on Love....hope so

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Guitarbiscuit
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In reply to IowaBear • 12:15a, 2/21/24
IowaBear said:
Texas is the easiest game left. Drew will have the Bears ready to send them to the SEC with an L.

I don't trust that we will beat Texas.
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Guitarbiscuit
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In reply to DanaDane • 12:24a, 2/21/24
DanaDane said:
-When you have 8 total assists in a game and all 8 came from one player, you have a team problem with moving the basketball on offense. You're basically playing one-on-one ball.

-I'm tired of complaining about the D. The signs after the past 2 years are obvious. There's a fundamental coaching or recruiting issue on the defensive side of the ball that needs to get fixed.


Our defensive swagger left with Tang.
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BusyTarpDuster2017
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12:43a, 2/21/24
Just watched the game on DVR. I guess the Mormon God can also part the seas, in this case a green/gold one instead of Red, judging by how many wide open lanes they had for layups. There wasn't a green/gold jersey within 10 feet of them. A tubby, un-athletic looking big who shoots nearly 100% from three? An arab who is a Mormon? The Mormon head coach who is a Pope? A white, blonde curly haired guy (Lohner) showing the highest ups in that alley-oop? Man, nothing made sense.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Guitarbiscuit • 6:53a, 2/21/24
At home, we will smoke them.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Guitarbiscuit • 6:55a, 2/21/24
And Davion. And Vital. And Butler. And Teague. And Sochan. All replaced by guys who struggle to stay in front of a telephone pole. We need to reevaluate our recruiting metrics. No one, not even Tang, can "coach up" guys who are naturally terrible defenders.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 7:16a, 2/21/24
Crawfoso1973 said:
At home, we will smoke them.
You have to make stops to smoke anyone. I'll believe we can defend Texas well enough to blow them out when I see it. I expect another shootout.
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william
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 7:24a, 2/21/24
Crawfoso1973 said:
And Davion. And Vital. And Butler. And Teague. And Sochan. All replaced by guys who struggle to stay in front of a telephone pole. We need to reevaluate our recruiting metrics. No one, not even Tang, can "coach up" guys who are naturally terrible defenders.
dese mots are muy juste...........

- KKM

{ sipping coffee }

{ eating donut }

caught most of the game on KSL - always interesting to hear the home crew broadcast.

good win for the Fightin' Joes.

onward.
Are you a man or a mouse!? - F. D.
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CHP Bear
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In reply to boognish_bear • 7:52a, 2/21/24
boognish_bear said:
Coach Drew had a great comeback re: crowd cheering. "I think our performance gave them a lot to cheer about."
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DaboBear
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In reply to CHP Bear • 8:34a, 2/21/24
For CSD to deadpan that comment is telling. Equivalent to "smoke was coming out his ears."
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CHP Bear
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In reply to DaboBear • 9:17a, 2/21/24
DaboBear said:
For CSD to deadpan that comment is telling. Equivalent to "smoke was coming out his ears."
Agree. Watching and listening to his comments lead me to believe he was more than dismayed. However, he did throw in a quick/brief comment about coaching. Guess he thought his coaching comment would take off some of the edge.
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