Game Thread: Baylor Men's Basketball Open Season against UT Rio Grande Valley

We're shooting 37% from 3 on 11-30, but unfortunately giving up 39% on 9-23.

UTRG is shooting 50% from the field.

I hope Sanchez is the defensive guru he's been billed to be and we see some defensive adjustments as we work through the early part of the schedule.

BYU about to start. Interested in seeing the $3.5 mil point guard that Mormon money bought.

Unfortunately, he looked that way in both exhibition games too.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Carr is gonna make a lot of money playing college basketball for someone (hopefully us) next year.

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He has nba size and athleticism. If he cleans up the passing and ball handling, hopefully he doesn't fly up draft boards until next year.

We never seem to find the Hou and Iowa St guys that are good but aren't quite good enough for the league and play until they're 23. It's feast or famine with Bu's standout players

Scoring Update:

Baylor 87
UTRG 74

2:26 to go

I bet Skillings ends up in a sixth man role to give us some scoring off the bench, and Powell gets moved into the starting five.

Quinton said:

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Big12Fan2024 said:

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Carr is gonna make a lot of money playing college basketball for someone (hopefully us) next year.

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He has nba size and athleticism. If he cleans up the passing and ball handling, hopefully he doesn't fly up draft boards until next year.

We never seem to find the Hou and Iowa St guys that are good but aren't quite good enough for the league and play until they're 23. It's feast or famine with Bu's standout players

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This is what I'm worried about.

Yeah. It's like Kelvin has some kind of magic wand to find really good, but not great, guys so he gets a full 4 years from them!

I think Obi will be fine at the point. He plays a very controlled game.

Good first opponent to get over the first game jitters. We'll get a good view against stiff competition Sunday night.

Like a lot of things I saw offensively. As they have for several years now, defensive concerns linger but hopefully Sanchez has some adjustments as we move through the early season.

Bears win 96-81

bear2be2 said:

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I bet Skillings ends up in a sixth man role to give us some scoring off the bench, and Powell gets moved into the starting five.

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I think that was the original plan until Bodo Bodo decided he loved ATV's but they didn't love him.

Just hope it's not going to be another season where if we don't at least scare 80 points on offense we're probably going down.

Quinton said:

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We never seem to find the Hou and Iowa St guys that are good but aren't quite good enough for the league and play until they're 23. It's feast or famine with Bu's standout players

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Jared Butler
Mark Vital
Rico Gathers
Taurean Prince
Jonathan Motley
Quincy Acy
AJ Walton
Tweety Carter
Lacedarius Dunn

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Yeah. It's like Kelvin has some kind of magic wand to find really good, but not great, guys so he gets a full 4 years from them!

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And Drew is the complete opposite unfortunately. He has a great eye for talent but they either outperform and flash too much or flame out. And when he catches one (Wright) he flakes.

EvilTroyAndAbed said:

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Quinton said:

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We never seem to find the Hou and Iowa St guys that are good but aren't quite good enough for the league and play until they're 23. It's feast or famine with Bu's standout players

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Jared Butler
Mark Vital
Rico Gathers
Taurean Prince
Jonathan Motley
Quincy Acy
AJ Walton
Tweety Carter
Lacedarius Dunn

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So basically nobody in the last 5 years. We're talking recent. AJ Walton should be nowhere close to this list. Prince and Motley are solid examples but so long ago.

And Butler was pure luck with Covid. He was close to a first after 2020. Even though he did have flaws for the next level, he was gone if he had played in the 2020 tournament.

It's especially important in the nil era and we haven't successfully done it.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Koa Peat finishes with 30 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block in his first game as a freshman as #13 Arizona beats #3 Florida 93-87. Would've been nice if he had chosen us!

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Was high on him but surprised to see such a strong opening game performance against a very seasoned front court.

Still like Peterson more, but might give him a run.

Cool to see Cam Carr's resurgence at Baylor. Carr was a guy that NBA scouts came away raving about in the preseason before his freshman year at Tennessee in 2023. Played just 101 minutes over a season-plus.

Went for 28 points vs. UTRGV after averaging 19 in two exhibitions.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) November 4, 2025

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Carr is gonna make a lot of money playing college basketball for someone (hopefully us) next year.

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I think his next stop is the NBA, not another college team. Maybe as soon as next year.

bear2be2 said:

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I think Obi will be fine at the point. He plays a very controlled game.

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We don't have a PG but as the season progresses I think Carr will be the closest thing to it. Obi looks much more effective and comfortable playing off the ball and focusing on scoring.

bear2be2 said:

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I bet Skillings ends up in a sixth man role to give us some scoring off the bench, and Powell gets moved into the starting five.

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I don't know if it will happen, but I would like to see Rataj as 6th man and Powell starting halves. We could reallly use Powell's size and athleticism defensively against starting bigs. And Rataj might be a better 6th man where we would be better able to hide his lack of athleticism in a reserve role.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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bear2be2 said:

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I think Obi will be fine at the point. He plays a very controlled game.

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We don't have a PG but as the season progresses I think Carr will be the closest thing to it. Obi looks much more effective and comfortable playing off the ball and focusing on scoring.

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Carr's ball-handling and decision-making will have to get much better for that to even be an option. He's kind of a turnover machine right now. He's a very good player, but I don't see him in the role you're envisioning at all.

This is a wing-led team that won't need a traditional point guard to run the offense. It just needs someone to get the ball up the court to get the team into its offense. Agbim and Williams can likely handle that role just fine. The two combined for an 8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio last night, including a very respectable 5-to-0 from Obi.

bear2be2 said:

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Crawfoso1973 said:

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bear2be2 said:

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I think Obi will be fine at the point. He plays a very controlled game.

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We don't have a PG but as the season progresses I think Carr will be the closest thing to it. Obi looks much more effective and comfortable playing off the ball and focusing on scoring.

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Carr's ball-handling and decision-making will have to get much better for that to even be an option. He's kind of a turnover machine right now. He's a very good player, but I don't see him in the role you're envisioning at all.

This is a wing-led team that won't need a traditional point guard to run the offense. It just needs someone to get the ball up the court to get the team into its offense. Agbim and Williams can likely handle that role just fine. The two combined for an 8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio last night, including a very respectable 5-to-0 from Obi.

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Yes, we are in agreement. Carr is not a PG. Similar to VJ last year who would initiate offense on occasion. That is kind of the point I'm making, we really don't have a PG. Obi is the closest thing to it, I suppose. I like the Williams kid but without any kind of jump shot teams can just sag off him. He will get minutes though even with all the development he needs to put in. White looks more like pure bench / practice player, not a rotation player at this level. This team is built the opposite of our last several teams, which were guard-heavy. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Quinton said:

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EvilTroyAndAbed said:

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Quinton said:

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We never seem to find the Hou and Iowa St guys that are good but aren't quite good enough for the league and play until they're 23. It's feast or famine with Bu's standout players

---

Jared Butler
Mark Vital
Rico Gathers
Taurean Prince
Jonathan Motley
Quincy Acy
AJ Walton
Tweety Carter
Lacedarius Dunn

---

So basically nobody in the last 5 years. We're talking recent. AJ Walton should be nowhere close to this list. Prince and Motley are solid examples but so long ago.

And Butler was pure luck with Covid. He was close to a first after 2020. Even though he did have flaws for the next level, he was gone if he had played in the 2020 tournament.

It's especially important in the nil era and we haven't successfully done it.

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You said never. You didn't say NIL era.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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We're shooting 37% from 3 on 11-30, but unfortunately giving up 39% on 9-23.

UTRG is shooting 50% from the field.

I hope Sanchez is the defensive guru he's been billed to be and we see some defensive adjustments as we work through the early part of the schedule.

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I share your concern -the defense was not good tonight

WA Jim said:

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Big12Fan2024 said:

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We're shooting 37% from 3 on 11-30, but unfortunately giving up 39% on 9-23.

UTRG is shooting 50% from the field.

I hope Sanchez is the defensive guru he's been billed to be and we see some defensive adjustments as we work through the early part of the schedule.

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I share your concern -the defense was not good tonight

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I'll take a wait-and-see approach with this group because it's got better defensive pieces -- and a more proven defensive coach -- than the past several Baylor teams.

With 15 new faces and a new defensive philosophy, it's likely going to take some time for everything to come together this year. I'll give it another month or so before I really start drawing any conclusions on the defense.

bear2be2 said:

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WA Jim said:

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Big12Fan2024 said:

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We're shooting 37% from 3 on 11-30, but unfortunately giving up 39% on 9-23.

UTRG is shooting 50% from the field.

I hope Sanchez is the defensive guru he's been billed to be and we see some defensive adjustments as we work through the early part of the schedule.

---

I share your concern -the defense was not good tonight

---

I'll take a wait-and-see approach with this group because it's got better defensive pieces -- and a more proven defensive coach -- than the post several Baylor teams.

With 15 new faces and a new defensive philosophy, it's likely going to take some time for everything to come together this year. I'll give it another month or so before I really start drawing any conclusions on the defense.

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I agree - I was just saying in was not good last night - giving up 80+ to that level of competition- I saw so many times that guys went baseline on us - a lot of easy baskets - I'm thinking part of it was keep it simple strategy - not a lot of double teams or help D or even much switching…so I have not written it off yet - give it month - fair enough

Crawfoso1973 said:

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bear2be2 said:

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I think Obi will be fine at the point. He plays a very controlled game.

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We don't have a PG but as the season progresses I think Carr will be the closest thing to it. Obi looks much more effective and comfortable playing off the ball and focusing on scoring.

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I see what you're saying, but if that's the case I will be concerned for our long term potential. Carr rarely saw the floor at Tennessee during his brief time there because he was undependable with the ball when they tried to turn him into a traditional PG type during fall practice. He turned the ball over quite a bit in the World University games when he was placed in a facilitator role. He struggled with handles in both exhibition games. He's a bit careless with the basketball so far when trying to facilitate, which is not unexpected given his lack of overall experience playing college basketball.

He shines in all the other areas and I suspect Drew will find someone to help feed him the ball to showcase some of his moves and his arm length and wingspan, which make him difficult to guard. I think Agbim, Yessoufou and Skillings can attract enough attention to get Cam in iso situations too. Rataj has struggled shooting in both exhibitions and again last night, but hopefully he will return at some point to more of a scorer like he was at Oregon St. and that will draw even more attention away from Cam.

I'll be interested to see our flow with the step up in competition Sunday night. Hopefully that is when experience at the World University games and the exhibitions will help us be prepared for higher quality competition.

So far on X tonight, 57 guys are in the 2026 NBA Draft’s First Round.

— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) November 4, 2025

Like clockwork. Hopefully Fran's tweet proves true with Carr. Need him back next year to finally reset the program.