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Today’s Events
- Coach Jim Grobe Weekly Press Conference, 1:00 p.m., Watch
- Women's Basketball, vs #9/9 UCLA, 6:00 PM, TV - FSSW+, On-Line Watch & Listen
- Baylor Football Coach’s Show, 6:00 p.m., Listen
Lady Bear’s Basketball
- The No. 2/4 Baylor women's basketball team (1-0) ramps up the competition schedule with its first of two top 10 matchups this week. From Baylor Bears dot com.
The Lady Bears tangle with No. 9/9 UCLA (1-0) inside the Ferrell Center on Monday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. (CT), before hitting the road to meet No. 3/1 Connecticut on Thursday, Nov. 17, at 6:30 p.m.
The Bruins are 1-0 on the season after defeating Pacific, 82-55, in Los Angeles, Calif. The Bruins roster is comprised of two seniors, seven juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen. UCLA returns 11 letter winners from its 2015-16 squad that reached the Sweet Sixteen, where it fell to Texas, 72-64. The Bruins finished the season 26-9 overall and 14-4 in Pac-12 play (tied for third). Head coach Cori Close begins her sixth season with the Bruins. She owns a 98-69 career record.
Fans can watch the Lady Bears play the Bruins on Fox Sports Southwest Plus (FSSW+). John Morris (play-by-play) and Jim Haller (color) are on the call.
Baylor is 6-2 all-time against UCLA. Under head coach Kim Mulkey, the Lady Bears lead the series 4-0. At home, BU is 5-0 against the Bruins. Its two losses came on the road in 1996 and 1976.
- Give the Baylor women’s basketball team credit for not sitting on ceremony — not even one week into the regular season, the Lady Bears are staring down a pair of games that will test them in the toughest ways imaginable. WacoTrib’s Tony Adame has the story.
And while Baylor is used to being among the nation’s elite teams, UCLA has found itself in new territory with its first Top 10 ranking in 17 years as part of a turnaround under sixth-year coach Cori Close.
Dave Campbell will be available to sign copies of Dave Campbell’s Texas Basketball magazine at the Ferrell Center before Monday’s game between No. 2 Baylor and No. 9 UCLA. Baylor women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey and Baylor men’s basketball coach Scott Drew are featured on the cover.
Men’s Basketball
Manu Lecomte - 11 Assists in Debut
Tennis
- Baylor men’s tennis senior Max Tchoutakian claimed the Jack Kramer Collegiate Invitational singles title in straight sets Sunday. From Baylor Bears dot com.
At the Jack Kramer Tennis Club, Tchoutakian got past fellow teammate Bjoern Petersen, 6-2, 6-3, to be the final player standing in the 64-man singles main draw.
Tchoutakian went 4-0 at the event and is now 9-5 in singles fall action. Petersen was 4-1 singles at the event and is now 6-4 on the year.
Sunday’s competition concludes Baylor’s scheduled fall collegiate action.
Baseball
- Through two games in the 2016 Sic’em Omaha Challenge fall intrasquad series, the Kodiaks took a 2-0 lead over the Grizzlies after the first weekend of play. From Baylor Bears dot com.
In Saturday’s series opener, the Kodiaks held on for a 6-5 win behind a strong effort on the mound by Montana Parsons. In five innings he gave up one run on two hits while striking out four to pick up the win. Grizzlies starter Nick Lewis took the loss, giving up four runs in six innings, striking out two.
Cameron Miller doubled in Matt Menard in the bottom of the first to open the scoring for the Kodiaks. A sacrifice fly by Richard Cunningham and a two-out single by Menard in the second increased the Kodiaks lead to 3-0.
The Grizzlies finally got on the board in with a run in the fifth but Parsons struck out Kameron Esthay to end the threat.
With a 6-3 lead in the ninth, the Kodiaks summoned closer Drew Robertson to secure the win. After a two-run error made it a 6-5 game, Robertson induced a ground out from Josh Bissonetteto earn the save.
Aaron Dodson and Cole Weaver each had two hits for the Grizzlies. Ryan Bertelsman led the way for the Kodiaks with three hits.
On Sunday, the Grizzlies took an early lead but the Kodiaks bounced back to earn a 5-3 victory. Kodiaks starter Kyle Hill earned the win, allowing two runs on four hits and five walks with two strikeouts in 5.2 innings. After Trevor Harris posted 1.2 scoreless frames with two strikeouts, Joe Heineman picked up the save as he gave up a run on two hits with one strikeout in 1.2 innings.
Despite a good outing, Grizzlies starter Jimmy Winston was saddled with the loss, giving up three runs on four hits and one walk with six strikeouts over 6.1 frames. Ryan Leckich posted 0.2 perfect innings before Troy Montemayor finished the final two innings, surrendering two runs on three hits.
Dodson put the Grizzlies up 1-0 with a bases-loaded single in the top of the first inning that scored Bissonette after a leadoff double. However, the Kodiaks answered in the bottom of the second inning with an RBI double by Bertelsman and sacrifice fly by Harris for a 2-1 lead.
The Kodiaks added to the lead in the third with a leadoff double by Tucker Cascadden, Menard HBP, sac bunt by Miller and RBI sac bunt by Tucker Johnson.
In the fifth the Grizzlies scored a run to cut the lead down to 3-2. Bissonette knocked a one-out single and came around to score on three straight two-out walks.
Once again, though, the Kodiaks had an answer. In the eighth, a double by Harris, RBI single by Menard and RBI double by Miller created a 5-2 lead that was able to withstand a Grizzles run on a Dodson sac fly in the ninth.
Leading the bats for the Kodiaks was Miller with two hits and an RBI. The Grizzlies bats were led by three hits from Bissonette and three RBI from Dodson.
The series resumes next week with games on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. CT, Friday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Football
- Baylor senior quarterback Seth Russell will undergo surgery to his fractured left ankle and miss the remainder of the 2016 regular season. From Baylor Bears dot com.
“Seth worked so hard to come back from the neck injury, and it’s not about losing the talent and production at quarterback, it’s more just like having one of your own children hurt,” acting head coach Jim Grobe said. “It breaks your heart to see a really, really good guy get hurt like that. Just really, really sad because you love the kid so much.”
Russell was injured in the third quarter of Baylor’s loss at No. 9 Oklahoma Saturday. The ankle injury comes just over a year after the Garland, Texas, product suffered a neck injury on Oct. 24, 2015, against Iowa State. Russell had surgery for that injury as well, missing the remainder of the 2015 season. He returned to action in 2016 and had piloted the Bears to a 6-3 record.
In 2016, Russell had thrown for 2,126 yards and 20 touchdowns, while completing 54.7 percent of his passes (152-of-278) with eight interceptions. The senior had also racked up 506 rushing yards on 94 carries with eight scores. Nationally, Russell ranked 10th with 18.9 points responsible for per game, 15th in passing yards per completion (13.99), 23rd in total offense (292.4) and 30th in passing TDs (20).
As a starter at Baylor, Russell owned a 14-3 record, throwing 54 TD passes and only 14 interceptions in those games. For his career, the veteran signal caller ranks second in school history in passing efficiency (159.36). He is also third in the BU record books with 60 career TD passes and seventh in passing yards (5,461). Russell holds the school record for yards per play in total offense with an average of 8.324.
Russell had also helped Baylor rise to a program-best ranking of No. 2 in both the AP Top 25 and the Amway Coaches Poll in 2015. He was named a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien award last season and was a 2016 watch list member for the Maxwell Award, Wuerffel Trophy, Davey O’Brien Award, Walter Camp Award, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, Manning Award, Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award, Senior Bowl and Rotary Lombardi Award.
Moving forward, Baylor’s first-string quarterback will be Zach Smith, a true freshman from Grandview, Texas, who has appeared in six games for the Bears. Smith owns a 129.85 passer efficiency rating, having thrown for 272 yards and two TDs on 16-of-35 passes.
Baylor will now host Kansas State at 11 a.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium. That game will be televised on ESPN2 and serve as Senior Day for the Bears.
Highlights vs. Oklahoma
- Baylor’s reality now is much different than it was a month ago. WacoTrib’s John Werner has more on this story.
After beating Kansas for their sixth straight win, the Bears had a healthy senior quarterback, the defense was playing great, and they had a shot at the Big 12 championship.
Following Saturday’s 45-24 loss to No. 8 Oklahoma, quarterback Seth Russell is out for the season, the defense was carved up for the third straight game, and the Bears are out of the title chase.
Now the Bears must rely on freshman quarterback Zach Smith in the last three games against Kansas State, Texas Tech and West Virginia. Last fall, he was slinging passes for Grandview High School.
When asked about leading the team the rest of the season, Smith also displayed great confidence. Smith will make his first college start when the Bears host Kansas State at 11 a.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium.
“We’re obviously pretty upset about how we played,” Smith said. “We’ve got to make a change and we’ve got to do it now. We’re looking forward to next week. We’re going to go out there and play a good ballgame.”