Gameday Thread: No. 13 Baylor (5-0, 0-0) Travels to SMU (3-3, 0-0)

DALLAS, Texas – The No. 13 Baylor women's basketball team travels to Dallas this Thursday to take on the SMU Mustangs at 7 p.m. at the Moody Coliseum.

The contest is available nationally on ESPNU and a live radio broadcast on ESPN Central Texas (1660 AM/92.3 FM) is also available for fans. Live in-game updates will be provided via Twitter and live stats. 

STARTING FIVE

Baylor is on a hot streak to start the season, opening a perfect 5-0 at home including an 84-77 win over the then-No. 4 Utah Utes on Nov. 14. It was most points scored against a top-five opponent in the regular season since netting 94 against No. 2 Notre Dame on Nov. 20, 2011.

The team has risen in the AP Top-25 Poll for the second-straight week after wins over McNeese and Alcorn State. Baylor now rests at No. 13 in the AP Top-25 and No. 16 in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll.

Many records were nearly met or surpassed against McNeese as the Bears combined for a school-record 17-made threes, posted the second-most assists in school history (43), and for the fifth time in program history, seven players score in double-digits, the first time under head coach Nicki Collen.

The Bears’ 93-47 win over Alcorn State marked the first time that the Bears have surpassed the 80-point mark in the first five games of the season since the 2011-12 campaign, when Baylor recorded a perfect 40-0 season en route to a national championship title.

Thursday's matchup with SMU will be the 40th all-time meeting between the Bears and the Mustangs, a series that SMU controls 22-17. The two teams met last year in Waco to a 58-55 result in favor of the Bears and it marked the first meeting since 1996.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS

SMU is 3-3 to start the season, rattling off three straight wins at home before recording their first loss of the season to No. 5 Colorado. The Mustangs then traveled to California for the San Diego Classic, where they found two more losses including a 67-80 setback to Harvard – a team the Bears had beaten, 81-71, six days prior.

SMU finished the 2022-23 season 17-13, making their second-straight WNIT appearance and holding opponents to an American Athletic Conference second-best 58.3 points per game. The Mustangs are led in scoring by Tiara Young, the Houston transfer and unanimous 22-23 AAC Sixth Player of the Year, averaging 21.0 points per game, and Tamia Jones, averaging 10.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.