No. 2/1 Baylor MBB Takes on No. 1/2 Gonzaga in Battle of No. 1 Teams

Fri Dec 4 15:12:49 CST 2020

Game Notes attached.

BAYLOR (3-0) vs. GONZAGA (3-0)
Dec. 5, 2020 • Noon CT
Indianapolis, Ind. • Bankers Life Fieldhouse (20,000)

LIVE STATS: baylorstats.com
WATCH: CBS
Talent: Tom McCarthy (pxp), Bill Raftery (analyst)

LISTEN: Baylor-IMG College | ESPN Central Texas
Talent: Pat Nunley (pxp), David Kaye (analyst)

2/1 BAYLOR BEARS (3-0, 0-0)
Location: Waco, Texas
Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993)

1/2 GONZAGA BULLDOGS (3-0, 0-0)
Location: Spokane, Wash.
Head Coach: Mark Few (Oregon, 1987)

STORY LINES
• No. 2/1 Baylor takes on No. 1/2 Gonzaga in just the 3rd all-time meeting of two No. 1-ranked teams.
• The only previous 1 vs. 1 games were Ohio State vs. Wisconsin (2007) and Kansas vs. Oklahoma (2016).
• BU is seeking its first win over a top-2 ranked team. BU is 0-18 all-time vs. top-2 teams (0-9 in Drew era).
• This is the seventh top-5 matchup in Baylor program history and the second in a 4-day span.
• Baylor joins Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only programs ranked No. 1 in 3 of the last 5 seasons.
• BU is facing Gonzaga for the 6th time and is 0-5 in the all-time series (1991, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2019).
• Baylor returned four All-Big 12 players from a 2019-20 team which went 26-4 and spent five weeks ranked No. 1 nationally. The Bears finished last season ranked No. 4 in the coaches poll (No. 5 in AP).
• Baylor opened with a 112-82 win over ULL on Saturday. BU's 112 points were its most since 2017.
• BU then beat Washington 86-52 on Sunday in Las Vegas, out-rebounding the Huskies 50-19.
• Baylor won 82-69 over No. 5 Illinois in Indianapolis, recording the 9th top-5 win in program history.
• Baylor is on a school-record streak of 13 straight weeks top-5 ranked (previously 6 straight in 2017).
• BU's streak of 22 consecutive AP polls ranked ties the 2nd-longest in program history (25 in 2016-17).
• Baylor's defense forced 15+ turnovers in 19 of 33 games since the start of the 2019-20 season.
• BU has led by at least 5 points in 33 consecutive games and built a double-digit lead in 27 of 33 games. The last game BU didn't take a 5+point lead was the 2019 NCAA Tournament 2nd round vs. No. 4 Gonzaga.
• Baylor is 7-1 against ranked teams since that loss to Gonzaga, including a 4-0 mark away from home.
• Among BU returners is Jared Butler, who is the first preseason AP All-American in program history.
• BU also welcomes back MaCio Teague, an all-conference pick in all 3 of his collegiate seasons.
• BU returns two players who were semifinalists for the 2020 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. Mark Vital was 1 of 4 finalists, while Davion Mitchell joined Vital among the 10 semifinalists.
• Vital scored a career-high 17 points in the last game vs. Gonzaga. He and Butler are the Bears' only starters remaining from that game, and Flo Thamba and Matthew Mayer played 3 minutes apiece.
• Baylor is playing its 245th game as a ranked team under Drew – BU was ranked in 2 of 2197 games over the program's 97 seasons prior to Drew. Since 2008-09, BU has been ranked in 242 of 424 games.
• BU has been top-10 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage a nation's-best 7 straight years.
• Baylor is 1 of 5 Power-5 programs to win 18+ games in each of the last 12 seasons since 2008, joining Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State.
• Baylor has won 20+ games in 11 of the last 13 years. The Bears reached the 20-win mark only 3 times in 101 seasons prior to 2008. BU is averaging 24 wins per season since 2008.
• Head coach Scott Drew is in his 18th season in Waco and is BU's all-time wins leader (345-213).
• Baylor is 9-9 against top-10 teams since 2016-17, including a 6-4 mark vs. top-10 teams in Waco.
• BU is 13-2 all-time as a No. 1-ranked team, including 11-1 over the last two seasons.
• Baylor signed the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history (No. 4) earlier this month. BU inked 5-star Kendall Brown, 4-star Langston Love and 4-star Jeremy Sochan for the 2021-22 season.

QUICK HITS
• Baylor is 54-5 when leading at halftime over the last 4 seasons since 2017-18 (21-2 in 2019-20, 3-0 this season).
• Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (172-21).
• BU is 117-23 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (26-3 last season).
• Baylor's 23-game winning streak last season was the longest ever by a Big 12 team (previously 22 by 1996-97 KU).
• BU's 13-game conference winning streak was the longest in school history (previously 11 in 1946 SWC).
• Baylor has won 20+ games in 11 of the last 13 seasons after recording only three 20-win seasons in the previous 100 years of Baylor Basketball (1946, 1948, 1988).
• Baylor is 220-97 over 9+ seasons, averaging 24 wins per season since 2011-12.
• Baylor's 220 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (265).
• Baylor is 311-144 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• BU returned 8 players with at least 30 games of DI experience, including a pair of sophomore transfers who joinec the rotation after sitting out last season – Adam Flagler and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua.
• Eight of Baylor's players either have used or are currently using a redshirt year. Four after transferring to BU – Flagler, Mitchell, Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Teague, and four as freshmen — Moffatt, Turner, Vital and Dainja.
• Nine of Baylor's 10 starting point guards under Drew have earned All-Big recognition (15 of last 16 seasons).
• Baylor is 1 of 14 teams nationally to appear in every postseason since 2012 (6 NCAAs, 2 NITs).
• Baylor has the nation's 10th-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 936 straight games — the last time Baylor failed to make a 3-pointer was more than 30 years ago, on Feb. 21, 1990 vs. Texas Tech (0-8).
• BU is 6-1 all-time in Big 12/SEC Challenges, the best record of any team in either league. Combined with a 3-1 mark in the Big 12/Pac-10 Series and 1-0 in the Big 12/Big East Battle, Baylor is 10-2 in conference challenges.
• Baylor has won 6 tournament titles under Drew (2007 Paradise Jam, 2011 Las Vegas Classic, 2013 NIT, 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2017 Hall of Fame Classic and 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational).

THIRD ALL-TIME MATCHUP OF NO. 1-RANKED TEAMS
• Saturday's game is only the third all-time matching No. 1 in the AP Top 25 against No. 1 in the coaches' poll.
• The only previous 1 vs. 1 meetings were when Ohio State (No. 1 coaches') beat Wisconsin (No. 1 AP) 48-47 in 2007 and when Kansas (No. 1 AP) defeated Oklahoma (No. 1 coaches') 109-106 in triple overtime in 2016.
• This is the 43rd time in AP poll history that the AP's No. 1 will meet No. 2. Top-ranked teams have a 22-20 edge in the previous meetings, but No. 2-ranked teams have a 1-point edge in point differential.

BAYLOR SEEKING FIRST WIN OVER NO. 1-RANKED TEAM
• Baylor is 0-8 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams, with the most recent matchup on March 11, 2016 vs. Kansas.
• The Bears' losses vs. No. 1 teams were in 1950 vs. Bradley (68-66), 1970 at UCLA (108-77), 1978 at Arkansas (82-56), 1983 vs. Houston (93-64), 1997 vs. Kansas (87-68), 2012 NCAA Elite Eight vs. Kentucky (82-70), 2016 vs. Oklahoma (82-72) and 2016 Big 12 Championship semifinals vs. Kansas (70-66).

SERIES HISTORY VS. GONZAGA
• Baylor and Gonzaga will meet for the sixth time, and the Bears are 0-5 in the previous meetings (0-4 in Drew era).
• Previous BU-GU matchups were 1991 in Fresno (87-57 GU), 2006 in Spokane (78-69 GU win), 2010 in Dallas (68-64 GU win), 2012 in Spokane (94-87 GU win) and 2019 in Salt Lake City (83-71 GU win).
• BU was successful in pursuing its first win vs. Illinois in the same building Wednesday, improving to 1-3 vs. the Illini.

--

David Kaye | Assistant AD for Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-709-5147

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