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Baylor (21-3, 8-3) takes on TCU (17-7, 6-5) at 1:00 Saturday. The game is at the Ferrell Center and airs on ESPNU.
Baylor won the first meeting 62-53. Manu Lecomte led the way with 17 points in the first game. With Al Freeman possibly suspended for this game(Scott Drew said he still is suspended for now), the Bears may look to run Lecomte off the ball quite a bit. He drained 3-point shots while working off the ball against Oklahoma State:
Vladimir Brodziansky had an excellent game for TCU in the first contest. Brodziansky does that against just about everyone, but he often gained deep position and made easy shots. He’s nearly impossible to stop though. On positions Brodziansky finishes, he is averaging 1.226 points per possession, per Synergy. That puts him in the 99th percentile. It seems the best bet is to stop Brodziansky from getting the ball. That’s easy to say and hard to do.
TCU might press more in this one. As Oklahoma State showed late in the game on Wednesday, the best way to defend Baylor continues to be pressing the Bear’s guards. But TCU doesn’t have a great roster to apply constant pressure. And when TCU did press Baylor, this was the way it often ended:
Prediction
It’s hard to beat a team 11 straight times. TCU has one of the nation’s best big men, and they are a team capable of beating anyone.
Baylor is better than just about anyone though. They have unique size and a top six defense. TCU will need to get blazing hot from 3-point range and limit Johnathan Motley. That can happen, but I’d be surprised if it did.
King McClure and Jake Lindsey played well in Stillwater, and I think they will play well in Waco. Add in having the best player in the Big 12, and the Bears should be too much for the Frogs. I’ll take Baylor 76-68.