Baylor Basketball

Game Thread: Baylor Basketball Battles No. 5 Houston in Tough Road Test

Baylor takes on Houston.
By Ashley Hodge
March 3, 2026
18k Views
160 Comments
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Photo by Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365.com

HOUSTON – Baylor men’s basketball (15-14, 5-11) travels to Houston to take on the No. 5 Cougars (24-5, 12-4) on Wednesday, March 4, at 8 p.m. CT, at the Fertitta Center. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Computer Models

  • Torvik: Baylor (51), UH (5)
    • Prediction: UH 81, Baylor 64
  • KenPom: Baylor (51), UH (6)
    • Prediction: UH 80, Baylor 66
  • Haslametrics: Baylor (49), UH (6)
    • Prediction: UH 79, Baylor 64
  • Evan Miyakawa: Baylor (50), UH (5)
    • Prediction: UH 81, Baylor 62

Projected Lineups

Baylor Starters

  • Guard: Obi Agbim (5Sr.) 6-3, 185 (11 ppg; 3 asst)
  • Guard: Isaac Williams IV (So.) 6-1, 190 (11 ppg; 3 asst)
  • Guard: Tounde Yessoufou (Fr.) 6-5, 215 (18 ppg; 6 reb; 2 steals)
  • Guard: Cameron Carr (RSo.) 6-5, 175 (19 ppg; 6 reb; 3 asst)
  • Center: Caden Powell (Sr.) 6-9, 225 (7 ppg; 6 reb)

Baylor Bench

  • Forward: Michael Rataj (Sr.) 6-8, 230 (8 ppg; 5 reb; 2 asst)
  • Forward: Dan Skillings (Sr.) 6-7, 200 (10 ppg; 6 reb; 2 asst) 
  • Center: James Nnaji (Fr.) 7-0 250 (2 ppg; 3 reb)

Projected Lineups

Houston Starters

  • Guard: Kingston Flemings (Fr.) 6-4, 190 (16 ppg; 5 asst; 2 steals)
  • Guard: Milos Uzan (Sr.) 6-4, 195 (12 ppg; 4 asst)
  • Guard: Emmanuel Sharp (Sr.) 6-3, 205 (16 ppg; 3 reb)
  • Forward: Joseph Tugler (Jr.) 6-8, 230 (8 ppg; 5 reb)
  • Forward: Chris Cenac (Fr.) 6-11, 240 (10 ppg; 8 reb)

Houston Bench

  • Guard: Isiah Hartwell (Fr.) 6-6, 220 (4 ppg; 2 reb)
  • Guard: Chase McCarty (Fr.) 6-5, 215 (3 ppg)
  • Guard: Mercy Miller (So.) 6-4, 200 (5 ppg; 2 reb)
  • Forward: Kalifa Sakho (Sr.) 6-11, 230 (3 ppg; 3 reb)
160 Comments
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Game Thread: Baylor Basketball Battles No. 5 Houston in Tough Road Test

8,992 Views | 160 Replies | Last: 2 hrs ago by bear2be2
Guitarbiscuit
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10:06p, 3/4/26
The team really put up effort tonight. Great work on the boards. Hopefully next year we have more depth and get a point guard.
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ImABearToo
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10:08p, 3/4/26
Keep it under 20.
“Life is short, eat desert first!”
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Johnny Bear
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In reply to BUBradley • 10:08p, 3/4/26
BUBradley said:
anyone know anything about James Nnaji? Haven't seen him play in the past few games

Prolly because he's a big time project player at best and is nowhere near ready to play at this level. What I don't get is how the dude was ever an NBA draft pick, other than he's a seven footer that looks the part.
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Guitarbiscuit
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In reply to boognish_bear • 10:09p, 3/4/26
boognish_bear said:
Don't know how this thing is going to end...but what a gutty ass effort by the boys tonight. Leaving it all out there.

Much better intensity on defense and defensive boards.


I agree. There are low effort lazy ass losses. And then there are high intensity losses. This one is the latter.
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Guitarbiscuit
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In reply to Johnny Bear • 10:10p, 3/4/26
Johnny Bear said:
BUBradley said:
anyone know anything about James Nnaji? Haven't seen him play in the past few games

Prolly because he's a big time project player at best and is nowhere near ready to play at this level. What I don't get is how the dude was ever an NBA draft pick, other than he's a seven footer that looks the part.


There are some who believe he will be an impact player for us. I just don't see that happening. He really looks the part but every time I see him play, he seems lost.
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merckywaters
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In reply to ImABearToo • 10:13p, 3/4/26
Yet better than us in football and bball
#FreeCinque
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Fre3dombear
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10:18p, 3/4/26
Clank
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Fre3dombear
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10:20p, 3/4/26
At one point agbim was 3-6 from 3 and we had an 11 point lead
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Johnny Bear
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In reply to Guitarbiscuit • 10:22p, 3/4/26
Guitarbiscuit said:
Johnny Bear said:
BUBradley said:
anyone know anything about James Nnaji? Haven't seen him play in the past few games

Prolly because he's a big time project player at best and is nowhere near ready to play at this level. What I don't get is how the dude was ever an NBA draft pick, other than he's a seven footer that looks the part.


There are some who believe he will be an impact player for us. I just don't see that happening. He really looks the part but every time I see him play, he seems lost.

If he stays with us, he may well get better, but he's got a long way to go.
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IowaBear
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10:23p, 3/4/26
Really do envy the program Houston has built. They're set for continued. Long term success. Baylor is playing in the cellar
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Johnny Bear
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In reply to IowaBear • 10:33p, 3/4/26
IowaBear said:
Really do envy the program Houston has built. They're set for continued. Long term success. Baylor is playing in the cellar

As Fran was indicating, great effort and a good job (other than the TO's) for 34 minutes on the road against a Top 10 team tonight, but yeah, it's discouraging that among the Texas based B12 teams we are currently a solid dead last.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Johnny Bear • 10:52p, 3/4/26
Johnny Bear said:
IowaBear said:
Really do envy the program Houston has built. They're set for continued. Long term success. Baylor is playing in the cellar

As Fran was indicating, great effort and a good job (other than the TO's) for 34 minutes on the road against a Top 10 team tonight, but yeah, it's discouraging that among the Texas based B12 teams we are currently a solid dead last.

We're last even if you expand it out to Texas-based Power 4 schools. We're behind A&M, Texas and SMU as well right now.

This program is not in a great place.
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TWD 1974
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In reply to IowaBear • 11:19p, 3/4/26
IowaBear said:
Really do envy the program Houston has built. They're set for continued. Long term success. Baylor is playing in the cellar

Any Baptist casino moguls we could reach out to? Suppose not.

When is the Sampson succession happening? As we have learned in the few years, nothing ever stays the same, great teams are lucky if they have a 3 year run and then, time to rebuild. Some of the programs we are looking up at are losing a ton of players. I'm convinced we can get better. Getting all the way back to 2021 level is just way, way more expensive than it used to be.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Johnny Bear • 4:25a, 3/5/26
Fortunately, in our system, CSD doesn't expect much offense from the 5 position. A player like Thamba with no offensive skill was a starter on our Natty team. I'm gonna give Nnaji a full offseason to get healthy, in game condition, and learn our system before judging him one way or the other.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Guitarbiscuit • 4:30a, 3/5/26
Guitarbiscuit said:
The team really put up effort tonight. Great work on the boards. Hopefully next year we have more depth and get a point guard.

I think Williams is our franchise PG if we can pony up enough money to keep him. But I agree we need another PG who can play 30+ minutes and share backcourt duties with him. And no more senior transfers, por favor.
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BluesBear
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5:11a, 3/5/26
Dear lord. What do we pay Skillings. Someone must know. How can someone be so bad, especially on the defensive side. Do we not have some large bodies on campus of kids who played ball in HS and could have helped with some minutes this year as walk ons ? Maybe pre-Linda when we didn't go so woke.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to BluesBear • 7:13a, 3/5/26
Skillings is not that bad. He is our best offensive rebounder and plays with energy and hustle. He ideally would be our 3rd or 4th player off the bench. But our depth is so limited we need him to play more minutes and his deficiencies show.
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Big12Bear
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7:32a, 3/5/26
I suspect Nnaji has a "strained back." Since his breakout game against L'ville where he had 7 points, 4 boards, 2 blocks (and a really nice move and finish on an and one) in 18 minutes, he has barely seen the floor.

Of course, this also coincides with Drew making some changes that have resulted in BU playing its best hoops of the season. Moving Yessoufou to the 4 and Williams being the facilitator has made a big big difference. And Yessoufou had some grown man rebounds last night. A lot of them.
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Johnny Bear
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 7:57a, 3/5/26
Crawfoso1973 said:
Fortunately, in our system, CSD doesn't expect much offense from the 5 position. A player like Thamba with no offensive skill was a starter on our Natty team. I'm gonna give Nnaji a full offseason to get healthy, in game condition, and learn our system before judging him one way or the other.

I don't know that it's so much Drew doesn't care about offensive production out of the 5 spot as it is that for whatever other reason(s) we rarely succeed in recruiting players at that position that are consistent scorers. A skilled consistent scorer at that position that can also rebound and set good screens could only make Drew's system even more effective and provide more opportunities for the back court players to score as well.
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BabyJBear
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In reply to bear2be2 • 8:01a, 3/5/26
A&M and SMU do not belong in the same conversation as Baylor, TTU, and Houston when it comes to their basketball programs. There is a clear top 3 in the state of Texas, with UT sitting comfortably in fourth place.

To pretend like we have fallen miles behind TTU and Houston based on two seasons is myopic. Even elite programs have down years. Nobody looking at our program from the outside with any understanding of recent history thinks Baylor is "in the cellar" or that Scott Drew has forgotten how to build teams/ coach. Only fans suffer from such paranoid delusions.

Kenpom thinks Baylor and UCF this season are the same team. Compare their numbers. Luck matters.

In terms of Kenpom rankings, this year's team is basically as good as the 2018 team. That's… not bad, especially considering how the next few years went. It's important to keep some perspective.
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IowaBear
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In reply to BabyJBear • 8:09a, 3/5/26
You're in denial. Tech and Houston have been significantly ahead of Baylor for awhile now. Baylor is firmly in the B12 cellar. There's literally nothing (trajectory wise) to suggest that's going to change anytime soon. The results on the court speak for themselves. Tech and Houston have lapped Baylor. And a ****ty ass TCU program owns Baylor. It's OK to be honest about where the program is. It's been headed this way for several seasons now.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Johnny Bear • 8:22a, 3/5/26
Absolutely. My point is that Nnaji doesn't need to be a low post scoring option like Omier to be a useful rotation player for us. I am not writing him off until we see an offseason of development and time to get healthy.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to IowaBear • 8:24a, 3/5/26
Zoom out from the current season. Big picture we are not in the bid 12 cellar.
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IvanBear
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 8:29a, 3/5/26
Crawfoso1973 said:
Absolutely. My point is that Nnaji doesn't need to be a low post scoring option like Omier to be a useful rotation player for us. I am not writing him off until we see an offseason of development and time to get healthy.


He's garbage and it should cost our GM his job. He was brought in to play year and he's been beyond worthless. I hope he's cheap
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IowaBear
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 8:39a, 3/5/26
I don't look at the past. That's probably the difference between my thoughts/opinions and others on here. I look at where we are right now and where we're headed. Tell me I'm wrong.. are we in the cellar right now? What evidence is there to suggest that's changing? We're headed for another complete roster overhaul (Drew's fault… again) it's absolutely fair to say Baylor's in the cellar and has been headed there for a few years trajectory wise.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to IvanBear • 9:04a, 3/5/26
Part of the reason we are in this situation -total roster turnover every season- is due to the mindset of impatience and instant gratification. For our program to turn around, we need to go back to our developmental roots. A prospect like Nnaji has a tremendous ceiling if given the time to get healthy and develop.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to IowaBear • 9:05a, 3/5/26
One thing I can agree with you on, Drew needs to pivot and change his approach to roster construction. This off-season will be very telling.
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Quinton
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9:30a, 3/5/26
Not enough depth unfortunately. This team is playing a little better but just doesn't have the gas tank.

Say what you will about Tounde, he bodied his defender much of the game. He would be really good in a second year imo (won't happen).

Credit to Obi, he is what he is.. but he's played like a D1 player recently. He would be a perfect 6th man scoring punch in an ideal world. Rataj.. not much else left to say.

This one and AZ were winnable, just can't seem to get it done. Defense and ball security simply have to get significantly better. Hopefully Drew can get it turned next year.
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bear2be2
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In reply to IowaBear • 9:33a, 3/5/26
IowaBear said:
You're in denial. Tech and Houston have been significantly ahead of Baylor for awhile now. Baylor is firmly in the B12 cellar. There's literally nothing (trajectory wise) to suggest that's going to change anytime soon. The results on the court speak for themselves. Tech and Houston have lapped Baylor. And a ****ty ass TCU program owns Baylor. It's OK to be honest about where the program is. It's been headed this way for several seasons now.
Exactly. Anyone trying to hold onto this notion that we're still a top program is delusional.

The results are what they are, and our unwillingness/inability to keep players in our program ensures that any success we do experience will be both throttled and temporary.

Look at the Big 12 standings. Our current peers are the also-rans of the league. And until something charges with the way that we're building our rosters, that will continue to be the case going forward.
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Quinton
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In reply to Big12Bear • 9:36a, 3/5/26
Nnaji can't play physically. Someone whiffed on the guy's availability big time. IF he can get healthy and an offseason, he can be decent.

Right now he can't go over 30 seconds without being completely gassed.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 9:37a, 3/5/26
Crawfoso1973 said:
Zoom out from the current season. Big picture we are not in the bid 12 cellar.
It's not just the current season. Our trajectory sucks and has for years now. We look like late-era Eddie Sutton into Sean Sutton era Oklahoma State right now.

Any optimism for next year and beyond is based solely on hope.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 9:41a, 3/5/26
Crawfoso1973 said:
Part of the reason we are in this situation -total roster turnover every season- is due to the mindset of impatience and instant gratification. For our program to turn around, we need to go back to our developmental roots. A prospect like Nnaji has a tremendous ceiling if given the time to get healthy and develop.
I'm with you completely on Nnaji. I don't get the hate honestly.

Get him healthy and fully integrated into our offensive and defensive schemes and I don't see any reason why he can't be a solid multi-year rotation player for us.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Quinton • 9:45a, 3/5/26
Quinton said:
Nnaji can't play physically. Someone whiffed on the guy's availability big time. IF he can get healthy and an offseason, he can be decent.

Right now he can't go over 30 seconds without being completely gassed.
I'm not sure where this idea comes from that there are/were a bunch of usable rotation bigs sitting out there at the mid-term just waiting to join a team's rotation in January.

Nnaji was a flyer with long-term upside. I'm sure we hoped he'd be ready to contribute immediately, but that was always a long shot. He hadn't been playing basketball for a long time because of a back injury and arrived with no clue of what we do on either side of the floor.
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Guitarbiscuit
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 9:51a, 3/5/26
Guitarbiscuit]The team really put up effort tonight. Great work on the boards. Hopefully next year we have more depth and get a point guard.

I think Williams is our franchise PG if we can pony up enough money to keep him. But I agree we need another PG who can play 30+ minutes and share backcourt duties with him. And no more senior transfers, por favor.[/quote

I think Williams is well worth trying to retain, but it would be nice to have a point who can drive to the paint at will. Looks like he can do that versus bad and even decent teams. But against superior defensive teams he does get shut down a bit. Still I do like him. He's definitely not dead weight.
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bear2be2
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In reply to Guitarbiscuit • 9:55a, 3/5/26
Guitarbiscuit said:
Guitarbiscuit]The team really put up effort tonight. Great work on the boards. Hopefully next year we have more depth and get a point guard.

I think Williams is our franchise PG if we can pony up enough money to keep him. But I agree we need another PG who can play 30+ minutes and share backcourt duties with him. And no more senior transfers, por favor.[/quote

I think Williams is well worth trying to retain, but it would be nice to have a point who can drive to the paint at will. Looks like he can do that versus bad and even decent teams. But against superior defensive teams he does get shut down a bit. Still I do like him. He's definitely not dead weight.
He had a great game against Arizona. Last night was just a bad game for him IMO.

But the progress he has made from his freshman to sophomore year is enormous. If he continues to progress, I think he can be a solid starting point guard for us.
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