Baylor Basketball

Game Thread: Nnaji Expected to Debut as Baylor Basketball Opens Big 12 play at TCU

Baylor men's basketball (10-2) travels to TCU (10-3) to open up Big 12 conference play on Saturday, January 3rd at 1 p.m., CT. The game will be televised on TNT.
By Ashley Hodge
January 1, 2026
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161 Comments
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Photo by Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365.com

FORT WORTH, Texas – Baylor men's basketball (10-2) travels to TCU (10-3) to open up Big 12 conference play on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 1 p.m., CT. The game will be televised on TNT.  

Computer Models

  • Torvik: Baylor (41), TCU (50)
    • Prediction:TCU 81, Baylor 78
  • KenPom: Baylor (30), TCU (54)
    • Prediction: TCU 79, Baylor 78
  • Haslametrics: Baylor (32), TCU (60)
    • Prediction: Baylor 79, TCU 78
  • Evan Miyakawa: Baylor (36), TCU (41)
    • Prediction: TCU 81, Baylor 77
  • Massey: Baylor (23), TCU (49)
    • Prediction: Baylor 74, TCU 72

Projected Lineups

Baylor Starters

  • Guard: Obi Agbim (5Sr.) 6-3, 185 (12 ppg; 4 asst)
  • Guard: Tounde Yessoufou (Fr.) 6-5, 215 (19 ppg; 6 reb; 2 steals)
  • Forward: Cameron Carr (RSo.) 6-5, 175 (21 ppg; 6 reb; 2 blks)
  • Forward: Dan Skillings (Sr.) 6-7, 200 (12 ppg; 7 reb; 3 asst)
  • Forward: Michael Rataj (Sr.) 6-8, 230 (10 ppg; 7 reb; 3 asst)

Baylor Bench

  • Center: Caden Powell (Sr.) 6-9, 225 (7 ppg; 9 reb)
  • Guard: Isaac Williams IV (So.) 6-1, 190 (12 ppg; 3 asst)
  • Center: James Nnaji (Fr.) 7-0 250 (31st pick in 2023 NBA draft)

Projected Lineups

TCU Starters

  • Guard: Brock Harding (Sr.) 6-0, 160 (9 ppg; 6 asst)
  • Guard: Jayden Pierre (Sr.) 6-0, 180 (11 ppg; 2 asst)
  • Forward: Liutaurus Lelevicius (Jr.) 6-7, 225 (8 ppg; 4 reb)
  • Forward: David Punch (So.) 6-7, 245 (14 ppg; 8 reb)
  • Forward: Xavier Edmonds (Jr.) 6-8, 245 (11 ppg; 4 reb)

TCU Bench

  • Guard: Micah Robinson (So.) 6-6, 230 (10 ppg; 5 reb)
  • Guard: Tanner Tolson (Jr.) 6-5, 195 (7 ppg; 3 reb)
  • Guard: Jace Posey (So.) 6-5, 220 (6 ppg; 3 reb)
161 Comments
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Game Thread: Nnaji Expected to Debut as Baylor Basketball Opens Big 12 play at TCU

18,657 Views | 161 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by bear2be2
Johnny Bear
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In reply to IowaBear • 1:49p, 1/3/26
IowaBear said:
This isn't a good TCu team. Maybe not a must win but for a team that's going to be on the bubble it would be a bad loss

Like us, their ceiling is prolly middle of the pack - but yes, this is the one we need to take, especially given our early conference schedule
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Crawfoso1973
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1:49p, 1/3/26
Obi and Rataj are disappearing against big 12 physicality. They need to wake up or we are in big trouble in this league.
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Big12Fan2024
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1:50p, 1/3/26
Way to go Carr. We needed that.
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IowaBear
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1:50p, 1/3/26
Yeah Agbim and Rataj have been incredibly underwhelming. Both were billed as studs. And both have been closer to duds
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BearFan33
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1:55p, 1/3/26
Tcu hitting 42% from 3. Their spacing has been excellent

Hopefully they cool off
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Big12Fan2024
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1:56p, 1/3/26
I don't understand how year after year we are in the bottom third of all D1 schools in 3 point D. I thought that would change some this year, but so far it hasn't.
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IowaBear
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1:56p, 1/3/26
That was hard on the eyes. I fear win or lose this is going to be along long conference season. TCU is a bottom 4 team from a talent perspective. Not sure Bu is much better off
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Big12Fan2024
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1:58p, 1/3/26
Bears shooting 36% from the field, 22% from 3 (2 of 9) and 25% from the FT line for the first half.
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Crawfoso1973
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2:03p, 1/3/26
Nnaji looks great considering his level of conditioning and just setting foot in Waco. He gives us an active presence in the paint who can contest shots and will only get better from here.
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Big12Fan2024
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2:04p, 1/3/26
Other Big 12 Scores:

UH 24
UC 27 2:00 1st half

UCF 44
Kansas 41 HALF

BYU 56
KState 49 11:40 2nd half


Tech 102
Ok State 80 FINAL
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to IowaBear • 2:05p, 1/3/26
IowaBear said:
Yeah Agbim and Rataj have been incredibly underwhelming. Both were billed as studs. And both have been closer to duds


They both play very small against length and athleticism.
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bear2be2
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In reply to IowaBear • 2:10p, 1/3/26
IowaBear said:
This isn't a good TCu team. Maybe not a must win but for a team that's going to be on the bubble it would be a bad loss

I'm not sure there are any bad road losses in the Big 12. But this is one you definitely want to steal because we're likely going to drop a few home games.
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BearFan33
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2:12p, 1/3/26
Bad turnovers
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IowaBear
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In reply to bear2be2 • 2:13p, 1/3/26
Same TCU team that trailed from start to finish against New Orleans
Not a terrible loss by any means (if they lose, still in this game) but one that they need imo considering Bu is likely a bubble team up through selection Sunday
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BearFan33
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2:16p, 1/3/26
Please cover the white guy in the corner
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Big12Fan2024
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2:16p, 1/3/26
This team plays extremely poor transition D. We will lose several home games solely due to that. This is a game we really need.
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BearFan33
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2:17p, 1/3/26
We need defensive stops

Can't trade points
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BearFan33
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2:18p, 1/3/26
Refs calling a foul on us on every one of their drives makes getting stops tough

Balance it out here refs
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bear2be2
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In reply to IowaBear • 2:19p, 1/3/26
IowaBear said:
Same TCU team that trailed from start to finish against New Orleans
Not a terrible loss by any means (if they lose, still in this game) but one that they need imo considering Bu is likely a bubble team up through selection Sunday

They also played right with Michigan and beat Florida. They're not a bad team.
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Big12Fan2024
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2:19p, 1/3/26
TCU continues the either: swish from 3, or miss the rim entirely. Very odd.
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El Oso
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2:20p, 1/3/26
It's going to be a long season if this is our best.
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IowaBear
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In reply to bear2be2 • 2:20p, 1/3/26
I'll go out on a limb and say they finish well under .500 in B12 play. Baylor's manning them look better than they actually are. Than again this isn't a good Baylor team either
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BearFan33
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2:21p, 1/3/26
I expected nnaji to be a foul machine. But his around the basket defense seems pretty good
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bear2be2
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In reply to Big12Fan2024 • 2:22p, 1/3/26
Big12Fan2024 said:
This team plays extremely poor transition D. We will lose several home games solely due to that. This is a game we really need.

We play poor defense, in general. It's frustrating that we can't solve that. Year after year, we stink on that end.
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Big12Fan2024
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2:22p, 1/3/26
Need someone on our side to get hot from 3. Hopefully Agbim is due. TCU doing a good job defensively bottling up Carr. so that he has limited touches.
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bear2be2
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In reply to El Oso • 2:23p, 1/3/26
El Oso said:
It's going to be a long season if this is our best.

This is pretty clearly not our best. But it it's going to be a tough Big 12 season anyway. This league is really freaking good.
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khakilamble
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2:28p, 1/3/26
Is it just me or is this foul discrepancy absurd?
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bear2be2
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In reply to khakilamble • 2:29p, 1/3/26
khakilamble said:
Is it just me or is this foul discrepancy absurd?

We're not really doing anything to draw fouls on the offensive end. We're settling for a lot of bad shots.
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IowaBear
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In reply to khakilamble • 2:29p, 1/3/26
They're attacking the rim relentlessly. Baylor is settling.
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CorsicanaBear
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2:30p, 1/3/26
We do not have a good team. Unless Naji is some kind of magic worker I will be surprised if we win 5 conference games. The administration has let the jewel of our athletic program turn to *****
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IowaBear
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In reply to CorsicanaBear • 2:31p, 1/3/26
Will win 5. The bottom of the league is bad. WV, Cincy, uCF, Colorado, aSU, KSU are all winnable. Top of the league is gonna hand BU some serious beatdowns
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El Oso
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In reply to khakilamble • 2:33p, 1/3/26
khakilamble said:
Is it just me or is this foul discrepancy absurd?

You know you are getting your ass beat when you try to blame it on the refs.
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Johnny Bear
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2:34p, 1/3/26
On top of everything else doing a lousy job of defensive reboundIng
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IowaBear
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2:35p, 1/3/26
The fall of Baylor basketball from the top of the B12 to a middling team has really sucked. Especially with the football program in the gutter.
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Delmar 2.0
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2:36p, 1/3/26
BU looks shockingly mediocre, but what do you expect when the entire team from last season leaves and you've got to scrape together 10 guys in a few months and try to make a team out of them? This new NIL/portal nonsense is crazy stupid.
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