Gameday Thread: Baylor Lady Bears face KSU for 12th overall Big 12 title
BAYLOR'S 11TH-CONSECUTIVE BIG 12 REGULAR-SEASON TITLE, 12TH OVERALL, IN REACH FOR SATURDAY VS. K-STATE
West Virginia's loss to Iowa State Wednesday cleared a path for Baylor to clinch at least a share of its 12th Big 12 Regular Season Championship Saturday vs. K-State. With a win, the Lady Bears would reach 14-1 and would need just one more victory in its final three contests to secure the outright championship. Beginning with 2011, Baylor has 10-straight regular-season titles, and Saturday could mark the 11th-straight. Eleven consecutive regular season titles would be tied for fifth best all-time in Division I women's hoops, and the Lady Bears have the longest active streak in that category. Next closest to Baylor is UConn with eight, which includes this season where the Huskies have already clinched the Big East title.
SENIOR CELEBRATION: RICHARDS, URSIN, CARRINGTON TO BE HONORED SATURDAY
Baylor will celebrate seniors DiDi Richards, Moon Ursin and DiJonai Carrington Saturday. The NCAA ruled prior to the season that all players on active rosters will not lose a year of eligibility in 2020-21 leaving the door open for all three players to return. However, with all three players achieving undergraduate degrees and no official decisions made, the program will celebrate the trio with their families at the Ferrell Center Friday. Richards and Ursin are crowd favorites, were members of the 2019 NCAA Championship team and Carrington is in strong consideration for the Big 12's Sixth Person of the Year Award this season.
LADY BEARS VS. THE WILDCATS
Baylor's 35-game winning streak over K-State is the longest of any streak the Lady Bears have going in the Big 12. The Wildcats last took a victory over Baylor, Jan. 27, 2004, in Manhattan. That game was the end of a four-game streak for the Wildcats and the only four wins that K-State has over Baylor since Kim Mulkey took the reins in the 2000-01 season. The Lady Bears lead the all-time series 39-8 and are 37-4 in the Mulkey era. In Manhattan, Feb. 7, Baylor's NaLyssa Smith scored 17 points while Moon Ursin and DiJonai Carrington each added 16. DiDi Richards had 10 assists and three steals to go along with seven points for Baylor, and Ayoka Lee scored 21 points in the losing effort for K-State.
LADY BEARS IN NATION'S LEAD FOR FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE DEFENSE … AGAIN
For four-straight years and five since the 2010-11 season, the Baylor Lady Bears have been the NCAA Statistical Champion in Defensive Field Goal Percentage. It took until Feb. 14, but Baylor leads the category again through 20 games at a .316 clip. The Lady Bears also lead the nation in rebound margin (19.0) and Assists Per Game (22.1).
AP POLL RESEARCH SHOWS MULKEY AS ACTIVE LEADER IN TOTAL TOP 25 APPEARANCES AS PLAYER, ASSISTANT AND HEAD COACH
Longtime women's hoops guru Mel Greenberg put together a list of coaches and players' appearances in the AP Top 25 poll over the years and found that Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey is the NCAA's active leader in appearances at 665 from her time as a player and assistant at Louisiana Tech and her 21-year tenure as head coach at Baylor. She trails only Holly Warlick for most all-time appearances; Warlick played, assisted Pat Summitt and was head coach at Tennessee from 2012-2019.
RICHARDS EYES THIRD-PLACE ALL-TIME ON CAREER-ASSISTS LIST AT BU
When most think of DiDi Richards, they think defense. After all, she was the National Defensive Player of the Year by both the WBCA and Naismith last season without having high steals or blocks numbers. Her reputation for on-ball defense and pestering the Big 12 and the nation's top perimeter players earned her the awards. But, many might not know that Richards is one of Baylor's all-time best passers. This season, she ranks first in the Big 12 in assists per game, which ranks 2nd nationally. Her 513 assists coming into Saturday's game ranks 4th all-time on the Baylor career assists list. She will have a strong shot to leave Baylor at 3rd all-time in that category, trailing Kristy Wallace's 525 by just 12 assists. Richards has four Big 12 games left to play, a Big 12 Tournament and an NCAA Tournament. Her pace is 7.1 assists per game, and if she continues at that rate, she would pass Wallace in the next 2 games. Niya Johnson is Baylor's all-time leader with 988 and Odyssey Sims ranked second at 641.
COVID-19'S EFFECT ON THE LADY BEARS
Baylor lost four games scheduled for the Preseason WNIT in Waco in November, along with a Thanksgiving week game vs. Oregon in Las Vegas. Baylor lost its top-10 matchup with UConn Jan. 7.
Moon Ursin, lost her grandmother, Ruby Alexander, to the virus in April after a swift and brief battle with COVID. Kamaria McDaniel, a transfer from Penn State that is having to sit this season, lost her grandfather, Johnny Webster, Sr., in April as well. Kim Mulkey, Jordyn Oliver, DiJonai Carrington and Caitlin Bickle have all had to miss time due to COVID-19 protocols this season.
RICHARDS RETURNS TO FLOOR AFTER SPINAL INJURY, FEATURED ON ESPN'S SPORTSCENTER
Oct. 24, Moon Ursin and DiDi Richards collided in mid-air during a practice scrimmage, leaving Ursin with a concussion and Richards with a Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormality (SCIOWRA). Ursin returned to practice after clearing concussion protocol in mid-November while Richards' rehab began immediately after she briefly lost feeling below her knees. Richards was first confined to a walker to assist her in walking, but by mid-November, she was completing individual drills and workouts with medical and strength & conditioning staff. Richards shocked doctors, team medical staff and coaches with the rate of her rehab. Thirty-eight days after the injury, she played 30 minutes off the bench at South Florida Dec. 1. She scored a bucket 13 seconds into her entry, and she resumed her starting role Dec. 6 at Arkansas.
Her return to the floor sparked interest from ESPN with Mechelle Voepel writing a feature on her recovery, and Scott Van Pelt led off his Tuesday edition of SportsCenter, covering Richards' return with the "Best Thing I Saw Today" segment.