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Baylor-Oregon: 3 Keys, Preview and Prediction

Sic ‘Em!

NCAA Basketball: Baylor at Arizona Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Baylor takes on Oregon at 6:00 tomorrow at the Ferrell Center. The game airs on ESPN2.

Here are three keys to the contest:

1) Limiting turnovers- The Ducks play quite a bit of zone, and they rank just 261st in forcing turnovers. But Baylor’s been abysmal at not turning it over lately, falling to 271st in that stat.

2) Hit 33% of 3-point attempts- Baylor is 325th in 3-point shooting, the 2nd worst among the power seven conferences. If Bol Bol doesn’t play—which seems unlikely, given the line has Baylor favored by 2.5—then expect the Ducks to focus everything on allowing Baylor to prove they can make shots.

3) Avoid fouling- The Ducks are 20th in free throw percentage, and Baylor foul a ton. If Bol Bol plays, the Bears will be hard pressed to not foul the 7-foot-2 likely top 10 pick.

Prediction:

Oregon isn’t great—something that applies to every PAC-12 team. I’ll say this is the night that Baylor hits a bunch of threes and pulls off an upset. But with no feel on whether Bol Bol plays, this is tough to predict. I’ll take Baylor 70-66.

Season Record: 5-5

ATS: 2-4