Daily Bears Report 11/25 - Updated.

Today’s Events

All times Central Time.

• Women's Basketball, vs Kent State, 10:00 AM, Listen IMG at 9:30 AM CT, Listen KRZI ESPN 1660, Watch Authorized Stream Live on YouTube
• Men's Basketball, vs Louisville, 2:30 PM, Listen at 2:00 PM CT, ESPN
• Football, vs Texas Tech, 5:00 PM, Listen, ESPN

YouTube live streaming?  See Poll below.

Lady Bears Basketball

The No. 5/6 Baylor Lady Bears (4-1) will play three games in three days at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla., from Nov. 25-27. Baylor opens action at 10 a.m. (CT) against Kent State on Friday, Nov. 25. With a win, the team will meet the winner of the No. 18/17 DePaul/RV Western Kentucky game on Saturday, Nov. 26. Two wins gets the Lady Bears to the championship game on Sunday, Nov. 27, where they will face the winner of the second bracket, which includes No. 8/8 Ohio State, No. 11/18 Syracuse, George Washington and Florida Gulf Coast. Watch live on authorized YouTube stream. Our Daily Bears has this story, Game Preview and Game Thread here.

Baylor Men’s Basketball

Another big early deficit, another comfortable win. This story by Our daily Bears Kendall Kaut can be found here.

Baylor handled Michigan State 73-58. The Bears have found something in the second half in the Bahamas and are now one game away from winning the tournament.

The Bears were down 26-16. And then Scott Drew reminded the world he can coach. The Bears switched to man-to-man defense, and the Spartans were stalled. Baylor entered halftime down just three.

Baylor once again proved to be a second-half team at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament at Paradise Island, Bahamas on Thursday. From United Press International.

This time though, the Bears didn't wait as long to start their second-half surge as they did during a first-round win over VCU on Wednesday.

Instead of waiting until there was eight minutes left in the game against VCU to mount their charge, the Bears did so right from the start of the second half on Thursday against Michigan State, turning a halftime deficit into a lopsided 73-58 win in a tournament semifinal.

No. 20 Baylor trailed 33-30 at halftime but outscored No. 24 Michigan State 43-25 in the second half to improve to 5-0 on the season and advance to Friday's championship game against No. 10 Louisville.

"We were able to get stops and get some transition buckets," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "When we are able to get in transition and get some easy ones, that loosens things up. In the first half, they were getting transition baskets and we weren't getting back. I thought first when you score, it is easier to get back. Second of all, you get stops and transitions, it's easier to score. It all kind of works together."

Postgame Interview vs. Michigan State

Johnathan Motley carried No. 20 Baylor in the first half, but once the entire crew joined in it was all over for No. 24 Michigan State. From BearsExtra.

The Bears completely dominated the Spartans in the second half to romp to a 73-58 win Thursday to advance to the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.

The Bears (5-0) will play for the title Friday at 2:30 p.m. against No. 10 Louisville (5-0), a 62-52 winner over Wichita State in Thursday’s semifinals.

Motley scored 20 of his game-high 26 points in the first half as the Bears went into halftime trailing 33-30. But Baylor quickly took command with a 12-2 run to open the second half and the Spartans (3-3) never regained the lead.

"We went man (defense) and our communication stepped up tremendously," said Baylor forward Ish Wainright. "We had energy on the bench and on the court and took their best players out of the game. We did a lot of lobs to the bigs and it changed the whole momentum of the game."

While center Jo Lual-Acuil added 14 points for the Bears, Wainright was a catalyst with seven points, eight rebounds and a career-high eight assists.

"Ish is our only senior and gets guys to play hard and compete," said Baylor coach Scott Drew in his postgame radio interview. "Because of that everyone buys in. They feed off Ish’s unselfishness, he’s all about the team and a great leader to have."

• Baylor may have only one senior on this year’s roster, but eight of nine rotation players are at least 20 years old.

• All five players in Baylor’s projected starting lineup are in their fourth or fifth years of college. Manu Lecomte (21), Johnathan Motley (21) and Al Freeman (22) are fourth-year juniors, Ishmail Wainright (22) is a fourth-year senior and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. (22) is a fifth-year junior.

• The Bears also have sophomore guards King McClure (20) and Jake Lindsey (20) and junior forward Terry Maston (21), who have all played in 38 consecutive games.

• Baylor faces Louisville in Friday’s championship game of the 6th-annual Battle 4 Atlantis.

• Baylor is appearing in a regular-season tournament championship for the 3rd time in the last 4 years (2013, 2014, 2016) and the 6th time in the Drew era (2007, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016).

• BU has won 3 tournament titles under Drew (2007 Paradise Jam, 2011 Las Vegas Classic, 2013 NIT).

• Baylor has come from behind at half to win both Battle 4 Atlantis games. BU trailed by 8 to VCU (out-scored VCU 43-27 in 2nd half) and by 3 at half to Michigan State (out-scored MSU 43-25 in 2nd).

• In Battle 4 Atlantis games, BU opponents are shooting 53% in first halves and 37% in second halves.

• Baylor has won all five games this season by 8+ points and averages a +12.8-point scoring margin.

• Johnathan Motley had 26 points vs. Michigan State, giving him 45 at Atlantis. He needs 26 more to tie Andrew Andrews (71 for Washington in 2015) for the tournament scoring record.

Highlights vs. Michigan State

Our Daily Bears’ Kendall Kaut will have the Game Preview and Game Thread for today’s game against Louisville up later this morning:

A month ago, Baylor received zero votes in the A.P. Top 25. With a win today, the Bears would have four wins against the KenPom top 40. That would be two more than anyone else.

• Friday is the first-ever meeting between Baylor and Louisville.

Football