Getting Baylor's bench on track; OK-State looks tournament-ready

Getting Baylor’s bench back on track

There are two camps regarding Baylor. One side thinks the Bears have a deep bench, one that can compete with most rotations in the Big 12. The other side sees Baylor as five-deep. Any substitution is a liability.

Lately, the latter has been true and with Al Freeman averaging just over three points per game with little contribution elsewhere, it’s even more damning. If Baylor is to climb over Oklahoma State on Wednesday night, the Bears need a more impactful bench to assist Johnathan Motley and Manu Lecomte- both figuratively and literally.

Jake Lindsey might be the one essential piece Baylor has been missing lately. Due to foul trouble, Lindsey’s minutes have been numbered in Baylor’s last two losses in as many games. Since playing Texas Tech, he averages four fouls per game and has been taken off the floor twice with two games of five fouls.

Without Lindsey on the court, Baylor has been without its third assist leader to give Lecomte a breather. While Lecomte is one of the most impactful players on the court at all times, it’s not sustainable to keep him on the court for 36 minutes or more per game. He’s had four such games in the past five outings.

Lindsey doesn’t only mirror Lecomte as a strong assist-man, he’s also made an impact around the perimeter shooting 41 percent, second among the team.

He’s not alone in needing to step up his game. Fans have also voiced issue with Terry Maston disappearing from games, though for different reasons. Maston hasn’t been in foul trouble like Lindsey if only for the matter that he has played under 12 minutes in four of the past five games.

Still, Maston has found a way to make an impact on occasion like his 14-point, five-rebound performance against Kansas despite playing just 12 minutes. But he’s been almost completely off the map besides that game. Since playing at Kansas State, Maston averages just 5.1 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in 11.3 minutes.

Before that, he averaged over eight points and four rebounds a game in 19 minutes. It’s not just because of a greater competition compared to earlier in the year. He was an impact player that helped lift Baylor over Louisville with 12 points and five rebounds, and his role against Kansas shows just as much talent.

All considered, no one could fault coach Scott Drew if neither Lindsey or Maston took to the court much against OSU. But as long as he’s worked with Lindsey to stay out of foul trouble and with Maston on playing like he did in Lawrence, Baylor should get back to itself old self that opened the season with 15 wins on the back of stronger backup play.

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Oklahoma State’s tournament hopes make Pokes even more dangerous

For Baylor, a loss to Oklahoma State on Wednesday would be detrimental. Losing three-straight games would likely push the Bears out of the top 10 and would essentially need to go undefeated to get a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

However, for the Big 12, a Cowboys win would be tremendous. This isn’t a call for Baylor to lose in Stillwater just to boost the Big 12’s national standing as the most competitive conference. Not even the ultimate collapse to close the season would take Baylor out of the tournament. The Bears have the least to lose in Stillwater while the Pokes have both the most to gain or lose on the same court- that’s partly what makes them so dangerous now.

OSU is riding high on a five-game win streak including wins over then-ranked No. 7 West Virginia on the road and impressive takedowns of tournament hopefuls Texas Tech and TCU. With four wins in the conference, historically speaking, coach Brad Underwood needs just four more conference wins to make punch a ticket for the Big Dance.

Both the 2014-15 and 2013-14 OSU teams made it to the tourney with a Big 12 record of 8-10. OSU has to split its next eight games to clinch the same record and would put the Pokes at 19-12 on the season, right in line with their benchmark comparison to qualify for the tournament.

A win over Baylor would almost surely put the Cowboys on that path, just as a win over Kansas in the Gallagher-Iba Arena did in 2014. The Pokes are sitting pretty to be the third team to upend Baylor in as many games if it continues to follow its protocol the past five games. That starts with forcing turnovers, something Baylor has been a great victim of in the Big 12.

While OSU ranks eighth in the Big 12 in total steals, it has accomplished much more on a per-possession basis, a true hallmark of a Bob Huggins defense which Underwood grew to learn as an assistant at Kansas State.

The Pokes rank 29th in the nation with a steal every 10 possessions, only Iowa State and West Virginia have higher rates in the Big 12. Conversely, Baylor ranks outside the top 125 teams in steals allowed per possession, at 8.1 percent. That rate has steadily risen in conference play with over 10 turnovers in all 10 games. It’s been the bane of Baylor’s existence.

But OSU’s affinity for turnovers is only part of the story, it’s also a team ready to shoot on a second’s notice. Led by three guards shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc, with Jeffrey Carroll making nearly 50 percent, OSU has the eighth highest three-point percentage in the country.

Though Baylor has defended those shots well enough to rank 27th in the nation, allowing just 31 percent to fall through, it’s been done with varying success boosted by single games like Texas making just 11 percent of those shots.

In Waco, OSU wasn’t as successful as its season averages suggest en route to a 61-57 loss having shot just 36 percent and forcing only 13 turnovers. But in their own arena, the tables have been known to turn.