Daily Bears Report 11/22

Today’s Events

Women's Basketball, vs Southeastern Louisiana, 7:00 PM

Lady Bears Basketball

The No. 5/4 Baylor Lady Bears (3-1) take on Southeastern Louisiana (1-2) on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, inside the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. (CT).

Arrive early to celebrate with senior Nina Davis, who scored her 2,000th career point in Sunday’s win over Mississippi Valley State, 101-36. She will be presented with a commemorative ball prior to the national anthem.

Fans in attendance will also receive a player poster of freshman Calveion “Juicy” Landrum.

Baylor fans can stream the game online at www.BaylorBears.com or tune in to the game on the Baylor Sports Network, IMG College and ESPN 1660 AM. Rick May (play-by-play) and Lori Fogelmann (analyst) will call the action.

The Southeastern Louisiana women's basketball team will close out its pre-Thanksgiving schedule on Tuesday with its most formidable challenge of the 2016-17 season with a 7 p.m. non-conference contest at No. 2 Baylor at the Ferrell Center. From Lions Sports dot net.

The game between the Lady Lions (1-2) and the host Lady Bears (3-1) can be heard live in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), online at www.LionSports.net/listenlive and via the TuneIn Radio app. Live video (BaylorBears.com subscription required) and live stats, provided by BU, will be accessible on the women's basketball schedule page at www.LionSports.net. Southeastern was able to get in to the win column for the first time last Wednesday, defeating Mobile, 67-52, in the Lady Lions' home opener. SLU limited the visiting Lady Rams to 25.4 percent (15-for-59) field goal shooting and forced Mobile into 22 turnovers.

Men’s Basketball

The Baylor men’s basketball team made its first appearance in the Top 25 this season as it was ranked No. 20 in Monday’s Associated Press poll. From BearsExtra.

The Bears blew out then-No. 4 Oregon last Tuesday, 66-49, and improved to 3-0 with an 81-72 win over Florida Gulf Coast on Friday.

The Bears were among five ranked Big 12 teams, including No. 5 Kansas, No. 19 West Virginia, No. 21 Iowa State and No. 22 Texas.

The Bears face VCU on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas.

Kentucky moves into the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press college basketball poll, replacing Duke, which dropped to sixth following its final-seconds loss to Kansas in the Champions Classic. From KWTX TV 10.

The Wildcats (4-0), who also beat then-No. 13 Michigan State in the Champions Classic, received 42 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel in the poll released Monday. Kentucky was ranked No. 1 for two weeks last season.

Defending national champion Villanova (5-0) moved up one spot to second with 21 No. 1 votes following a four-win week that included one at then-No. 15 Purdue.

Indiana (3-0), which moved up three places to third, received the other two first-place votes. This is the Hoosiers' highest ranking since they were third in the next-to-last poll of 2012-13.

Baylor, after its 17-point win over No. 4 Oregon jumped into the rankings at No. 20.

North Carolina moved up one place to fourth and was followed by Kansas, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, Xavier and Louisville.

Football

Baylor looks to snap a 4-game losing streak when facing Texas Tech Friday in the 8th-annual Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Shootout on ESPN at 5 p.m. From Baylor Bears dot com.

Baylor and Texas Tech are meeting for the 75th time. BU leads the all-time series 37-36-1. BU has won the last 5 meetings in the series to hold a 5-2 edge in 7 games of the neutral site series. Baylor will be trying to win 6 straight vs. TTU for first time since 1947-60 (11 in a row). The Bears have won 7 of their last 9 neutral site contests, but are just 2-2 away from Waco in 2016. Baylor has an all-time record of 48-50-5 in DFW, but has won 7 of its last 9 games played there. The Bears are 5-2 all-time at AT&T Stadium, scoring an average of 49.4 points in those 7 games.

Though his football team hasn’t won since mid-October, Jim Grobe doesn’t regret leaving his home at Georgia’s Lake Oconee to coach Baylor. From BearsExtra.

With just two games remaining, he’s still highly motivated to help the Bears snap their four-game losing streak.

“I have one focus right now and that’s to get a win,” Grobe said. “As much as I feel bad, I feel worse for our team. I know how hard we push these guys, and I’d just really like to see our guys finish strong. I’m all in with trying to help our guys get there.”

The Bears face Texas Tech at 5 p.m. Friday in the Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Shootout at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Baylor will be closer to full strength Friday as running back Terence Williams is expected back after missing the Kansas State game with a tendon injury and running back JaMycal Hasty will return from a knee injury.

Grobe said cornerback Ryan Reid is progressing well through concussion protocol, and there’s a chance defensive Xavier Jones will be back from an ankle injury that he suffered against the Wildcats.

However, linebacker Taylor Young is questionable after missing the last two weeks with a knee injury.

“He walks around like me right now – he’s got a little bit of a limp,” Grobe said. “But he’s a tough guy and wants to play. He’s missed two weeks and it’s really hurt us.”

Other News

• A Baylor athletic department official has been placed on an indefinite leave of absence, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, after he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge stemming from an incident with a reporter after a football game. From USA Today.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Police charged Heath Nielsen, Baylor’s associate athletic director for communications, after James McBride, a reporter from the Keller, Texas-based Texas Blaze News, told authorities that Nielsen assaulted him Nov. 5 after the Bears' 62-22 loss to TCU in Waco, Texas. According to Waco TV station KWTX, McBride said he was attempting to take a photograph with a Baylor football player when Nielsen grabbed him by the throat and pushed him away, saying McBride was breaking the school’s rules against conducting interviews on the field after games.

Nielsen, who was placed on the leave of absence shortly after the alleged incident, was arrested Nov. 8.

• Baylor Associate Athletic Director Heath Nielsen, 47, is free on bond following his arrest earlier this month on a misdemeanor assault warrant stemming from an attack on Nov. 5 in which a sportswriter was grabbed by the throat and pushed away from a player after the Bears’ 62-22 loss to TCU. From KWTX TV 10.

Nielsen was charged with assault with bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor.

Nielsen is in his 17th year at Baylor, works directly with the football program “and is responsible for management of the public image of the program.”

• Bears for Leadership Reform placed a full size ad in the WacoTrib on Saturday. Here’s a link to the ad. Here’s another link to their website. Famous OBF Quote: “In the spirit of full transparency, will the Board of Directors for Bears for Leadership Reform make available all their past, present and future agendas and minutes available to all interested parties?”