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Baylor Basketball

Gameday Thread: #18 Baylor (14-5; 3-3) at UCF (12-7; 3-4)

January 29, 2024
51,742

#18 Baylor (14-5; 3-3) travels to Orlando, Florida to take on UCF (12-7; 3-4) Wednesday January 31st at 6pm CST.  The game will be televised on ESPN+

KenPom Prediction:  Baylor 72 UCF 69

Torvik Prediction:  Baylor 69 UCF 68

Evan Miyakawa:  Baylor 73 UCF 68

Haslametrics:  Baylor 69 UCF 65


Coaches

UCF:  Johnny Dawkins (60) 299-209 (143-94 at UCF); 2 NCAAs; Sweet 16

Baylor:  Scott Drew (53); 455-248 overall (435-237 at Baylor); 11 NCAAs; 5 Sweet 16s; 3 Elite 8s; FF; 1 National Championship

Head to Head:  0-0


UCF Starters

Guard:  Darius Johnson (JR) 6-1 200 lbs; 13 ppg; 3 reb; 3 asst; 38% FG; 36% 3pt; 80% FT

Guard:  Jaylin Sellers (JR) 6-4 195 lbs; 17 ppg; 4 reb; 43% FG; 28% 3pt; 85% FT

Forward: Demarr Langford (SR) 6-5 230 lbs; 2 ppg; 42% FG; 43% FT

Forward:  Thierno Sylla (SO) 6-11 215 lbs; 5 ppg; 4 reb; 36% FG; 30% 3pt; 61% FT

Forward:  Ibrahima Diallo (SR) 7-0 245 lbs; 6 ppg; 7 reb; 2 blks; 57% FG; 57% FT

UCF Bench

Forward:  Marchelus Avery (SR) 6-7 210 lbs; 9 ppg; 4 reb; 39% FG; 38% 3pt; 68% FT

Forward:  Antwann Jones (SR) 6-6 215 lbs; 4 ppg; 41% FG; 36% 3pt; 55% FT

Forward:  Omar Payne (SR) 6-10 230 lbs; 5 ppg; 4 reb; 57% FG; 38% 3pt; 69% FT

Forward:  Tyler Hendricks (FR) 6-6 190 lbs; 3 ppg; 2 reb; 46% FG; 39% 3pt; 88% FT


Baylor Starters

Guard:  RayJ Dennis (SR) 6-3 180 lbs; 13 ppg; 4 reb; 7 asst;  50% FG; 37% 3pt; 71% FT

Guard:  Jayden Nunn (JR) 6-3 190 lbs; 10 ppg; 2 reb; 2 asst; 44% FG; 42% 3pt; 67% FT 

Guard:  Ja’Kobe Walter (FR) 6-5 185 lbs; 15 ppg; 5 reb; 2 asst; 41% FG; 36% 3pt; 85% FT

Forward:  Jalen Bridges (JR) 6-9 225 lbs; 11 ppg; 5 reb; 44% FG; 37% 3pt; 84% FT

Forward:  Yves Missi (FR) 6-11 220 lbs; 10 ppg; 6 reb; 2 blocks; 64% FG; 51% FT

Baylor Bench

Guard:  Langston Love (SO) 6-5 210 lbs; 12 ppg; 3 reb; 47% FG; 48% 3pt; 82% FT

Forward:  Caleb Lohner (JR) 6-8 235 lbs; 3 ppg; 3 reb; 58% FG; 33% 3pt; 75% FT

Forward:  Josh Ojianwuna (SO) 6-10 240 lbs; 5 ppg; 3 reb; 78% FG; 65% FT

Guard:  Miro Little (FR) 6-4 185 lbs; 3 ppg; 50% FG; 44% 3pt; 77% FT

Discussion from...

Gameday Thread: #18 Baylor (14-5; 3-3) at UCF (12-7; 3-4)

26,125 Views | 297 Replies | Last: 9 mo ago by boognish_bear
DanaDane
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I keep forgetting they're down 2 starters.
IowaBear
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We're garbage defensively. There's zero way to spin it. ISU gonna hang 90 on us.
Oldbear83
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IowaBear said:

Down 6 against UCFs B team.. awesome start
With Iowa State and Kansas for 2 of our next 3 games, we better find some toughness now.
IowaBear
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Shouldn't surprise you
Stefano DiMera
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This.

We're more athletic and quicker. We need to force the pace.

It's almost like we're afraid of picking up a foul...on offense and defense.
IowaBear
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Not happening… we're 20 games in. We are who we are.. charmin soft
Quinton
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Drew needs to get in physical athletic transfer forwards yesterday. If he needs to sacrifice some of the offensive skill set he loves for swing guys, so be it. Need physical guys.
bear2be2
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This is a disaster.
Oldbear83
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IowaBear said:

Not happening… we're 20 games in. We are who we are.. charmin soft
Down 9 in the first half to a team playing without 2 starters, and as I type we turn over the ball again.
Gametime
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Out of the top 25 pretty soon.
Stefano DiMera
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When's last time we got a 50-50 ball. Cornell?
DanaDane
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RayJ makes too many damn bounce passes into the knees of bigs in a crowded lane. I wish he would drive to the basket.
IowaBear
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We're pathetic. If we lose this I see us missing the tournament and rightfully so
bear2be2
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Missi's a freak athlete. He's going to be a really good pro IMO. Unfortunately, we're only going to ever see flashes of that in Waco.
Hotsauce
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It's so frustrating to see Missi be THAT much better than everyone else...like 1/4 of the time haha.
bear2be2
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We're going to be lucky to only be down five at half. We need to finish this half strong.
bear2be2
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Hotsauce said:

It's so frustrating to see Missi be THAT much better than everyone else...like 1/4 of the time haha.
That's one-and-done freshmen in general. The talent is there. Nothing else is yet.
DanaDane
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Could someone please put out an APB on JaKobe Walter. Did he make the trip to Orlando?
bear2be2
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DanaDane said:

Could someone please put out an APB on JaKobe Walter. Did he make the trip to Orlando?
He got body snatched by Nolan Dennis.
Oldbear83
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IowaBear said:

We're pathetic. If we lose this I see us missing the tournament and rightfully so
At the very least no way we finish in the top 4 of the conference, and I never expected a Drew team post 2021 to be in that position.

We made a nice dunk ... to finish only six behind at the half.

SIC EM 94
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IowaBear said:

We're pathetic. If we lose this I see us missing the tournament and rightfully so

Baylor is not missing the tournament…settle down.
DanaDane
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It's great if you can use them as supplemental talent. But not as your primary sources. Just not reliable enough or physically mature enough, which is to be expected.
Mitch Henessey
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On the one hand, we're lost defensively.

On the other, UCF is a 27% 3pt shooting team. They're shooting 61.5%. There's absolutely no way they keep that up in the second half.
bear2be2
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DanaDane said:

It's great if you can use them as supplemental talent. But not as your primary sources. Just not reliable enough or physically mature enough, which is to be expected.
The problem is those guys don't want to be supplemental talent. You have to make promises to land them that make your team worse.

We saw it action with Keyonte George last year.
bear2be2
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Mitch Henessey said:

On the one hand, we're lost defensively.

On the other, UCF is a 27% 3pt shooting team. They're shooting 61.5%. There's absolutely no way they keep that up in the second half.
The problem is we let teams get hot by giving them uncontested shots early. And once you let players get confident, they hit shots they normally wouldn't.

It's not a coincidence that everyone has their best shooting days against us.

That said, I do agree with you that there's no way they keep that pace up.
IowaBear
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They are if they keep losing. Go look at that February schedule. To be losing this game is a frigging joke. There's zero way to defend this
BearFan33
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I haven't been able to watch so far. Did we try any zone?
Oldbear83
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SIC EM 94 said:

IowaBear said:

We're pathetic. If we lose this I see us missing the tournament and rightfully so

Baylor is not missing the tournament…settle down.
It's hard to imagine us getting a seed above 8th if we don't turn things around fast. Lose today and I can see us losing to ISU, Tech and Kansas just like that we're 3 and 7 and wondering where the opportunity went.
DanaDane
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I'm tracking that one Mitch. We've said that 6 times this year at the half and in all 6 cases the opponent fell in the 2nd half but still ended up shooting 15% or more higher than their season average per game.
IowaBear
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You're going to offend Crawfoso. I'm sure Walter is giving us high energy and effort.
bear2be2
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BearFan33 said:

I haven't been able to watch so far. Did we try any zone?
Yes, we've run quite a bit of zone. It helped, but not significantly.
Crawfoso1973
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Missi had some incredible plays on both ends. Need more of that from more guys this 2nd half. Game still well within reach and their 3 point shooting will hopefully regress to the mean.
Oldbear83
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Mitch Henessey said:

On the one hand, we're lost defensively.

On the other, UCF is a 27% 3pt shooting team. They're shooting 61.5%. There's absolutely no way they keep that up in the second half.
We have heard that before. No pressure means they really can keep hitting us deep.

We have to defend better in every possession. We're acting like we're afraid to touch them.
bear2be2
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IowaBear said:

They are if they keep losing. Go look at that February schedule. To be losing this game is a frigging joke. There's zero way to defend this
The biggest issue isn't the results. It's the level of play that has "achieved" them.

We're not playing good basketball and haven't in a long time.
IowaBear
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Start Love over Walter. Don't care if he's a 5 star. Loves the better player by a mile
 
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