Quotes and Notes: Rebounding and Rotations Lead Questions as Bears Prepare for WVU
Baylor men's basketball (15-9, 7-6 Big 12) is preparing for a bubble battle with the West Virginia Mountaineers (15-9, 6-7 Big 12) in the Foster Pavilion on Saturday.
A win for the Bears would take them to 8-6 in conference play with six games left to play. Of those six games — which are split evenly between home and away — four are against teams currently in the bottom half of the standings. A win against WVU would give Baylor some room to work with down the stretch if the minimum goal is 11-9, a Big 12 record likely good enough to carry the Bears into the Big Dance, considering the strength of their non-conference record.
On the flip side, a loss could quickly turn into two, with No. 13 Arizona coming to Waco on Monday. That would leave Baylor under .500 in conference play for the first time this season, with work to do to ensure an NCAA bid.
So, what challenges do the Bears face from the Mountaineers in this matchup?
"Javon Small is a heck of a player and somebody that we're very familiar with," Baylor head coach Scott Drew said during his preview press conference on Thursday. "At Oklahoma State, he played very well against us. We recruited him last year in the portal and have a lot of respect for him as a player. Defensively [they are a] really sound, really aggressive, really athletic team [who] make it hard to score. And they're really good when they can — like any team — get turnovers and get in transition."
By the numbers, Small, the 6-foot-3 guard, is scoring 18.5 points per game while averaging just about four rebounds and five assists per game. He shoots the ball at a 36% clip from deep.
On the scoring front, Small only has one high-level, consistent sidekick: Tucker DeVries. The 6-foot-7 guard puts up nearly 15 points each game while grabbing just under five rebounds and dishing out three assists. He is shooting a great 47% from three this year, but he only has 55 attempts, which does not even qualify him for the NCAA three-point percentage leaderboard. DeVries, however, is done for the season with an injury.
Overall, the Mountaineers are rated as the No. 47 in adjusted net efficiency in the nation, according to KenPom. Their defense is their strong suit, fitting the program's reputation and history. Per KenPom, that unit is the 18th most efficient defense in the nation. Meanwhile, the WVU offense lags behind at No. 103 in KenPom adjusted offensive efficiency.
"They're always a gritty, physical team," Baylor guard Langston Love (RJr.) said. "They've got some nice guards. They've got a nice team all around. So, you know, we're not taking anybody lightly."
While the film will be studied and preparations made for the specific threats West Virginia poses, the Bears have much to focus on in-house.
With Joshua Ojianwuna (Jr.) suffering a season-ending knee injury last Saturday and Baylor playing on Monday night, the Green and Gold did not have time to get used to the center's absence in practice. However, the Monday game did have at least one bright spot.
"The advantage to playing on Monday is it does give you a chance to get guys who are banged up healthy with an extra day or two of recovery," said Drew. "It gives you a little more time coaching-staff-wise to tweak. Think about changing things, add things, offensively and defensively. Time is always good, especially down the stretch run."
But back to the specifics of what Baylor might do to cope with the loss of Ojianwuna: Who will take the minutes, and will Baylor exclusively go smaller?
"Marino Dubravcic's a possibility," Drew said when asked about the current true center options on the roster. "Yanis [Ndjonga] has been redshirting, and I don't think that'll change. So I think we're probably in the situation where if you're looking for size, Marino would be your best option off the bench."
The Bears will likely continue playing the rotation of seven players who saw significant minutes at Houston. Dubravcic and forward Jason Asemota (Fr.) could also see limited minutes here and there as needed.
"Some years you deal with more injuries and whatnot, and this year we just haven't had the time to really get the stability and be able to build," Drew said on the overall situation. "It's been more reactive, plug-and-play and figure things out."
Again, looking at the positives the Bears can take away from the loss to the No. 6 Cougars, Love's second game back offers some promise for what the Bears could morph into by the end of the season.
Love scored 15 points on Monday to follow up his 16 from last Saturday. The defense has room to improve, but there is good reason for that.
"He's played really well," Drew said of Love. "We haven't had much chance really to practice with him. It's been basically [just go] play because he just got cleared. And so this week is a good thing to get an opportunity to work on some things. Our defense is different than it was last year … he'll get better each and every day that he's in our system because our system has changed."
As for the thoughts of the man himself on his return performances and specifically his scoring output, Love is staying humble and hungry.
"I distribute that to God and my teammates and just going out there being aggressive and then just hoping for the best. Being in college for as long as I've been in college, you really just know your spots at this point."
The redshirt junior also commented on perhaps the biggest area for concern about the Ojianwuna-less Bears: rebounding. He said that without Ojianwuna, "It's different, but it's all different for all of us. We all have got to make up for his rebounding and his defensive presence. So just adjusting our games to fit what the team needs now is the biggest thing."
So, how do the Bears improve their rebounding despite having to go with smaller lineups?
"Everybody's got to pick up what they've done," Drew said. "And when you had Josh and Norchad [Omier] in there, that's two grown men. And now, with just Norchad in there — especially if he's not in position — we need other guys to be in there."
Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe (Fr.) went into more depth on the keys that the Green and Gold will be sticking to as they attack the boards.
"The ball is not won when it comes to jumping or anything," a notable thing to say when the freshman is likely not getting out-jumped by any opponent this year. "You've got to do your work early. We've got to hit them. You've got to get lower than them. Like they say, the lowest man wins. So if you get lower than them and hit them, you're gonna get some rebounds."
If the Bears win that battle, they will be one step closer to beating the Mountaineers and making the NCAAs. That journey will continue when Baylor and West Virginia tip off at 1 p.m. in Waco. The broadcast will be available on ESPN2.