Game Thread: Baylor Aims to Upset No. 3 Iowa State at Home

Damn, we took all that flack for the Nanji, and we still suck.

No bueno

Johnny Bear said:

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Big12Fan2024 said:

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I said Tounde is a bit unpolished earlier, which he is, but that guy gives 100+%. His motor never stops.

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You can really see the athleticism as he's blowing layups and missing open 3's.

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Quality wise, definitely seems to be a long way from the NBA now. I'm curious if he slides down the projected drafts as the season wears on.

At this point just let Carr run point

Where's he projected now? I can't imagine him being projected high. All you need to do is watch him for 10 minutes to see he's not ready

Bad thing is even if he stay another year, he will probably hit the portal.

IowaBear said:

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Where's he projected now? I can't imagine him being projected high. All you need to do is watch him for 10 minutes to see he's not ready

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I don't see him in any of the lottery picks any longer, but still in 1st round. Although, I could have missed one that may still have him there. He reminds me of a lot of the Kentucky recruits the past few years that started off lottery or 1st round projections and ended up coming back for a second year to clean up some things. I think he would have a really difficult time with handles in the NBA unless that improves quite a bit.

IvanBear said:

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Post game interview by Drew is the most depressing it's sounded in years. He's just not happy with how this is going.

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But he's got no problem cashing that check on payday.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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The best thing about this bunch is they don't quit. Still scrappy.

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Sounds like what we said every Saturday in the Fall

Yeah I'm tired of having to say that. I appreciate effort as much as the next guy. But man it really feels like both basketball and football are fading bad

Silver lining...at least we didn't spend $22 mil to start 0-2 in conference play.

Kentucky starts SEC play 0–2 for the first time since 2005 😳 pic.twitter.com/N9n90MpGBE

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) January 8, 2026

Kentucky has a $22,000,000 roster and is 2-6 in Power conference games with an average loss of 14 points.

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) January 8, 2026

Oldbear83 said:

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19% from the field for Baylor.

If we could shoot, if we could make freaking lay-ups, if we could make our free throws, any of those and we're leading.

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If we could have fine any of that consistently, would have won. Hopefully, Nnaji will shake off the rust quickly and become the contributor we need him to be. Otherwise, it's going to be a long season.

Big12Fan2024 said:

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Sounds like he was as frustrated with our struggles offensively as the fans. And, there's a good chance we have a similar showing against UH and its pressure D on Saturday. But if we continue to play as physical and aggressive on D as we played last night and get a few shots to fall (FT or inside bunnies), it should bode well for us against a good portion of the Big 12 schedule. Season is far from over.

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Our first 6 conference games would be a brutal gauntlet even for a good team that's hitting on all cylinders and the 7th game is TCU in Waco where they've had our number in recent seasons. Even with continued improved defensive intensity as was the case against ISU, it's hard at best to see us winning more than a couple of those games and a 0-7 conference start also looms as a real possibility. Hopefully this team gets it together fast and ends up with a better result than that through those 7 games, but it's hard to feel very hopeful at this point.

Johnny Bear said:

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Big12Fan2024 said:

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Sounds like he was as frustrated with our struggles offensively as the fans. And, there's a good chance we have a similar showing against UH and its pressure D on Saturday. But if we continue to play as physical and aggressive on D as we played last night and get a few shots to fall (FT or inside bunnies), it should bode well for us against a good portion of the Big 12 schedule. Season is far from over.

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Our first 6 conference games would be a brutal gauntlet even for a good team that's hitting on all cylinders and the 7th game is TCU in Waco where they've had our number in recent seasons. Even with continued improved defensive intensity as was the case against ISU, it's hard at best to see us winning more than a couple of those games and a 0-7 conference start also looms as a real possibility. Hopefully this team gets it together fast and ends up with a better result than that through those 7 games, but it's hard to feel very hopeful at this point.

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You make some excellent points. I just never have viewed this team through the lens of being a team that contends for the championship. For me (and not trying to say others should view it this way, this is just my view), this is a team with enough talent to finish in the 6th through 8th spots, which would likely earn an NCAA invite and that is about the ceiling of this team. There are too many deficiencies for this team to finish above UH, Tech, Iowa St, BYU and Arizona. I do, however, think there's still enough substance to battle KU, TCU and a couple others for that 6 thru 8 spots. We just won't have a lot of room for error against some of the bottom part of our schedule.

Had we started the season with Utah and Arizona St, there is a much higher probability we're sitting here 2-0 and everyone is excited. It just so happened we drew a very front loaded schedule where the games against the bottom tier fall later in the season. The instant reaction from some to that comment is, Yeah we heard that in football too, which is understandable because I think some of the frustration with football's lack of success sometimes bleeds into the basketball season. It's gonna be tough sitting through this initial portion of the schedule and likely taking several lumps, while remaining reasonably optimistic we still have a chance to at least make the NCAA tournament but that's the mindset I'm going to try to keep. Not saying others should accept that. That's just my viewpoint.

Tounde Yessoufou with a resounding call to action for #Baylor to be tougher moving forward in Big 12 play after tonight's loss.

"It's one thing to talk about [toughness] and it's another thing to actually apply... we get too comfortable... we got to be tougher." #SicEm pic.twitter.com/l9ogaoSLzW

— Parker Rehm (@parker_rehm) January 8, 2026

Need to pull one out Saturday. Every game at home v Sampson has been one possession. Need to find a way to win this or yeah, it could get bad.

Offense needs a retool. Dumping the ball to Carr 35 ft out with 8 on the shot clock isn't it.

I disagree with Tounde. We were plenty tough last night. We weren't controlled and unfortunately he and Skillings continue to be at the top of that list. That lack of control team-wide resulted in at least 16 points of missed, point blank, 5 feet and less (or is it fewer) bunnies that I counted. You simply can't leave that many points on the court against a team like Iowa St.

Agreed. The TCU and Iowa St games are concerning in that it seems like, even though we have no one from last year's team on this squad, we've fallen back into the bad spacing and ball movement that ultimately results in a jacked 30 footer as time starts to expire. In short, we're not valuing possessions and you have to value them in Big 12 games which are usually gonna be reasonably close at the end. We're 10-48 or a woeful 20.8% from 3 in the first two Big 12 games. We've gotta become effective creating some space and then converting, particularly against a team like UH. And these are all things Drew has told them. It's up to them to implement it.

I think the X factor to this team is Williams. We are so much better when Williams can penetrate and draw the defense, which makes everyone else so much better. Williams can get into the paint at will and we don't have anyone else who can do that consistently. Obi should only be playing off the ball. Williams is still raw though, and is playing through a lot of mistakes. Like Williams, this team overall is very mistake-prone on both ends of the court but I see the effort and they are a fun group to root for.

It would be great to see some quit in this team.

Quit missing FTs.

Quit missing bunnies.

Quit missing wide open 3s.

Quit the excessive TOs.

Williams just doesn't have the ball handling skill yet. A great backup and a great find. Huge potential.

But man this team needs a seasoned guard who can playmake and score so badly (we all knew this and talked about it all offseason).

Obi's been a whiff so far. From what I remember Obi and Rataj were very clearly in the top 40 transfers rankings. Dozens of other guys near that level that are killing it this year.