The Shootaround: A Rivalry Renewed

Week In Review

#16 Baylor 75 Northwestern State 62

62 NORTHWESTERN STATE (1-7, 0-0)

1ST 2ND F 38 24 62 39 36 75 Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes |  USATSI Gallery Waco, Texas • Attendance: 4,627

75 BAYLOR (7-1, 0-0)

Rico Gathers made Baylor basketball history, becoming the first Bear since 1966 to record a 30 point, 20 rebound game as the Bears were able to overcome a sluggish start to pull away from Northwestern State in the 2nd half and get the win. In fact, Rico actually outrebounded the entire Demons roster 21-18. The win caps off a 6-0 homestand for the Bears and increased Baylor’s non-conference home winning streak to 31 games. Taurean Prince also had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds and Al Freeman added 15 points to pace the Bears offensively. Northwestern State came out of the gates fast and grabbed as much as a 6 point lead in the 1st half as Baylor struggled with outside shooting for most of the night, hitting just 1-13 from 3 point land. A Gathers putback gave the Bears a 1 point halftime lead 39-38. Baylor came out strong in the 2nd half and although they never really blew away the Demons as expected, they kept the opponent at arm’s length and got defensive stops when needed. Northwestern State’s leading scorer Zeek Woodley had a nice night but the Bears held the rest of the Demons in check. It was nice to see Baylor be able to play well and get a fairly comfortable win on a night when they really didn’t shoot the ball well.

Looking Ahead

Hardin-Simmons v. #16 Baylor
Abrams Gym (Fort Hood, TX)
Dec. 16, 7:00 PM CT
FSSW

This is Scott Drew’s annual random game against a non-Division I team and it’s noteworthy not for the opposition but for where the game is being played. Baylor will take on Division III Hardin-Simmons at the gym on base at Fort Hood. Baylor basketball has developed a neat relationship with Fort Hood in recent years and I know Coach Drew is pretty pumped about getting to play an actual game there. This game is not available to the general public as tickets were only made available to soldiers and their families but the game will be televised on Fox Sports SW. It should be a unique atmosphere for our players and a great chance to give back to those who serve our country. I’d expect that Drew will give everybody on the roster a chance to play a little bit as I would not anticipate this being much of a game for very long.

#16 Baylor @ #24 Texas A&M
Reed Arena (College Station, TX)
Dec. 19, 8:00 PM CT
ESPNU

And then there’s this game. The Battle of the Brazos is renewed on the hardwood for the 207th time as the Bears travel to College Station to take on the #24 Aggies, Baylor's third and final ranked opponent in this non-conference slate. This is a return game from the one played in Waco a year ago when Baylor curbstomped A&M 77-63 in a game that was much more lopsided than the score would indicate. This game was notable as Baylor held the Aggies without a single offensive rebound and just simply dominated the game in the paint. On the whole, Baylor has won six consecutive games against A&M dating back to when the Aggies were still a part of the Big 12. But this is appears to be a much stronger A&M team than the one that the Bears saw a year ago. The Aggies are 8-2 on the season with wins over Gonzaga, Texas and Kansas State with their only losses coming away from home to Syracuse and Arizona State. A&M is led by seniors Danuel House, Jalen Jones, Alex Caruso and Anthony Collins that mesh with a talented crop of freshmen that Billy Kennedy has brought in this season. House is the Aggies’ most consistent scorer but I think the key to this game will be shutting down the hot and cold play of Jones, who had 25 in their win over K-State on Saturday. I’m interested to see how well Baylor handles the road atmosphere as well, as the Bears seemed to be really out of sorts for much of the game when they lost up at Oregon a month ago. This will be Baylor’s first road game since and I would expect that the senior leaders will step up and play more to their potential than they did that night. I’m also curious to see what contributions Baylor can get from Al Freeman, who was quiet in the game against Vanderbilt last weekend. With the step up in competition in a hostile environment, can he continue his hot start in 2015-16? I would expect that this will be a highly entertaining game that could very well come right down to the last play as this game has done so many times over the years.

BASKETBALL PODCAST!1!!

PSA: Peter, Matt and yours truly will be recording a hoops heavy podcast tonight so be on the lookout for that later this week. And for those of you who buy into the whole basketball podcast curse nonsense, we're recording before Hardin-Simmons so I think we'll be fine.

Big 12 Update

Standings

Notable Results

#7 Oklahoma 78 #9 Villanova 55
#10 Virginia 70 #14 West Virginia 54
Washington 92 TCU 67
#4 Iowa State 83 Iowa 82
#7 Oklahoma 96 Oral Roberts 73
Texas 84 #3 North Carolina 82
Texas A&M 78 Kansas State 68
#2 Kansas 82 Oregon State 67
Oklahoma State 62 Minnesota 60

AP Top 25

Ken Pom

This shows all Baylor opponents for the 2015-16 season