Baylor Basketball
Baylor wins season opener 76-61 over Oral Roberts
WACO, Texas. — With starting forward Johnathan Motley serving a one-game suspension, Baylor head coach Scott Drew said it was vital for others to show up against Oral Roberts. After all, fifth-ranked Oregon heads to Waco Tuesday, and the Bears will need everyone playing at a high level.
While some questions remain without Motley in the lineup, the 76-71 win provided good insight for what Drew's team is capable of after replacing some of the best players in program history.
Miami (Fl.) transfer Manu Lecomte, Baylor's replacement for Lester Medford at point guard, started off hot. From the first ticks of the game he was used as a perimeter specialist, an area of concern following the end of last season. In the first 10 minutes of the game, the junior shot five times beyond the arc with a clear effort to take it at the top of the key. He only made two of those shots, finishing the night 2-of-8 from the perimeter, but it is clear there is confidence in his ability from deep. Baylor connected on 10-of-27 for the night.
“That’s something where when you play guards,” head coach Scott Drew said. “Hopefully they make their threes and I thought we had some good looks.”
Baylor’s point guards have typically been assist machines in Drew’s system, and the Belgium native was no exception. Lecomte finished with 10 assists and no turnovers and showed flash in his game when needed as showcased his ability to thread the needle early on during a fast break with guard Jake Lindsey.
Monitoring the absence of all-time leading rebounder Rico Gathers was also a major factor. Like Lecomte, it was another import in Australian forward Jo Lual-Acuil that helped fill in those gaps. Not only did he help control the glass and blocked four shots, but he added two three-pointers — a surprise addition to the 7-footers game.
“It’s what we’ve [of Lecomte] seen in practice. It’s what we’ve seen with [Acuil] in practice,” Drew said. “You never know how it’s gonna translate ’til the actual games begin. And I thought everybody that played did well.”
Ish Wainright, the lone senior on a young Baylor team, is the team’s foremost leader. The forward finished the night with 11 points in 22 minutes and collected five rebounds.
Opposite of Wainright and Acuil, Terry Maston helped aid rebound-life well. The junior finished with nine rebounds in 23 minutes. Maston was the specialist on the offensive glass with four of of those nine coming after missed Baylor shots.
As a team, the Bears out-rebounded Oral Roberts 36 to 34.
“Rebounding, that’s an area where we still gotta do a much better job,” Drew said. “You didn’t have to box out and Rico (Gathers) could take on two guys and get the ball. But that was an area where we definitely need to do better.”
The team finished with 18 personal fouls and Oral Roberts entered one-and-one within 15 minutes. That negative momentum turned to Oral Roberts as it was Baylor that had a bonus first.
Junior guard Al Freeman, who led Baylor in scoring, finished 3-of-4 from three-point range, staying true to his leading status last year when he hit 38 percent. Lecomte and Acuil finished with 13 and 12 points respectively to finish second and third on the team.
Rounding out the rest of the team, guards Wendell Mitchell and King McClure highlighted the bench alongside Maston. The two collected four of Baylor’s nine steals between them.
Oral Roberts had 14 turnovers and were quiet from the floor. The Golden Eagles hit on only 23-of-57 shots for the night. Forward Emmanuel Nzekwesi was the anomaly, hitting 7-of-13 shots. He led the team with 15 points.
Drew said he was impressed by Acuil’s ability to suffocate Albert Owens.
“To have four blocks and hold Albert Owens who’s a good player — in their exhibition had 25 points — to 3-for-14 shooting, I thought that was tremendous,” Drew said.
Baylor hosts fifth-ranked Oregon on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. CT.
While some questions remain without Motley in the lineup, the 76-71 win provided good insight for what Drew's team is capable of after replacing some of the best players in program history.
Miami (Fl.) transfer Manu Lecomte, Baylor's replacement for Lester Medford at point guard, started off hot. From the first ticks of the game he was used as a perimeter specialist, an area of concern following the end of last season. In the first 10 minutes of the game, the junior shot five times beyond the arc with a clear effort to take it at the top of the key. He only made two of those shots, finishing the night 2-of-8 from the perimeter, but it is clear there is confidence in his ability from deep. Baylor connected on 10-of-27 for the night.
“That’s something where when you play guards,” head coach Scott Drew said. “Hopefully they make their threes and I thought we had some good looks.”
Baylor’s point guards have typically been assist machines in Drew’s system, and the Belgium native was no exception. Lecomte finished with 10 assists and no turnovers and showed flash in his game when needed as showcased his ability to thread the needle early on during a fast break with guard Jake Lindsey.
Monitoring the absence of all-time leading rebounder Rico Gathers was also a major factor. Like Lecomte, it was another import in Australian forward Jo Lual-Acuil that helped fill in those gaps. Not only did he help control the glass and blocked four shots, but he added two three-pointers — a surprise addition to the 7-footers game.
“It’s what we’ve [of Lecomte] seen in practice. It’s what we’ve seen with [Acuil] in practice,” Drew said. “You never know how it’s gonna translate ’til the actual games begin. And I thought everybody that played did well.”
Ish Wainright, the lone senior on a young Baylor team, is the team’s foremost leader. The forward finished the night with 11 points in 22 minutes and collected five rebounds.
Opposite of Wainright and Acuil, Terry Maston helped aid rebound-life well. The junior finished with nine rebounds in 23 minutes. Maston was the specialist on the offensive glass with four of of those nine coming after missed Baylor shots.
As a team, the Bears out-rebounded Oral Roberts 36 to 34.
“Rebounding, that’s an area where we still gotta do a much better job,” Drew said. “You didn’t have to box out and Rico (Gathers) could take on two guys and get the ball. But that was an area where we definitely need to do better.”
The team finished with 18 personal fouls and Oral Roberts entered one-and-one within 15 minutes. That negative momentum turned to Oral Roberts as it was Baylor that had a bonus first.
Junior guard Al Freeman, who led Baylor in scoring, finished 3-of-4 from three-point range, staying true to his leading status last year when he hit 38 percent. Lecomte and Acuil finished with 13 and 12 points respectively to finish second and third on the team.
Rounding out the rest of the team, guards Wendell Mitchell and King McClure highlighted the bench alongside Maston. The two collected four of Baylor’s nine steals between them.
Oral Roberts had 14 turnovers and were quiet from the floor. The Golden Eagles hit on only 23-of-57 shots for the night. Forward Emmanuel Nzekwesi was the anomaly, hitting 7-of-13 shots. He led the team with 15 points.
Drew said he was impressed by Acuil’s ability to suffocate Albert Owens.
“To have four blocks and hold Albert Owens who’s a good player — in their exhibition had 25 points — to 3-for-14 shooting, I thought that was tremendous,” Drew said.
Baylor hosts fifth-ranked Oregon on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. CT.
Never miss the latest news from SicEm365!
Join our free email list