No. 2/1 Baylor MBB Readies for Jimmy V Classic vs. No. 5/10 Illinois

[Kaye, David]

Baylor game notes attached.

BAYLOR (2-0) vs. ILLINOIS (3-0)
Dec. 2, 2020 • 9 p.m. CT
Indianapolis, Ind. • Bankers Life Fieldhouse (20,000)

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

5/10 ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI (3-0, 0-0)
Location: Champaign, Ill.
Head Coach: Brad Underwood (Kansas State, 1986)

TV: ESPN and ESPN App
Talent: Dan Shulman (pxp), Dick Vitale (analyst), Holly Rowe (reporter)

BAYLOR RADIO: Baylor-IMG College | ESPN Central Texas
Talent: Pat Nunley (pxp), David Kaye (analyst)
Satellite: Sirius/XM 84

NATIONAL RADIO: ESPN Radio
Talent: Marc Kestecher (pxp), Bob Valvano (analyst)
Satellite: Sirius/XM 80

LIVE STATS: baylorstats.com

STORY LINES
• No. 2/1 Baylor takes on No. 5/10 Illinois in the Jimmy V Classic Wednesday night in Indianapolis.
• This is the 6th top-5 matchup in Baylor program history, the first in non-conference play or at a neutral site.
• Baylor is No. 1 in the preseason coaches' poll and No. 2 in the AP Top 25 – both highest preseason rankings in program history. This is the 7th time Baylor has been ranked No. 1 nationally.
• Baylor joins Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only programs ranked No. 1 in 3 of the last 5 seasons.
• Baylor is facing Illinois for the 4th time and is 0-3 in the all-time series (1986, 1987, 2014).
• 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).
• 2020 Big 12 Coach of the Year Scott Drew will coach his first game of the season after missing two games due to COVID-19. Associate head coach Jerome Tang served as BU's acting head coach.
• 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 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 32 games since the start of the 2019-20 season.
• BU has led by at least 5 points in 32 consecutive games and built a double-digit lead in 26 of 32 games.
• 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.
• Baylor is playing its 244th 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 241 of 423 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 (344-213).
• BU has advanced to 8 consecutive postseasons, tied as the nation's 10th-longest active streak.
• BU was picked to win the Big 12 in the league's preseason coaches' poll for the first time.
• 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 Sochon for the 2021-22 season.
• Baylor has defeated 8 top-10 teams in the last 4+ seasons, including a 6-4 mark vs. top-10 teams in Waco.
• The Bears have now been ranked in every AP Top 25 spot except No. 8 during the 17-year Drew era.
• BU is 12-2 all-time as a No. 1-ranked team, including 10-1 over the last two seasons.

QUICK HITS
• 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 53-5 when leading at halftime over the last 4 seasons since 2017-18 (21-2 last season).
• Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (171-21).
• BU is 116-23 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (26-3 last season).
• Baylor is 219-97 over 9+ seasons, averaging 24 wins per season since 2011-12.
• Baylor's 219 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (264).
• Baylor is 310-144 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• BU returns 8 players with at least 30 games of DI experience, including a pair of sophomore transfers who will join 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 935 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).

SIXTH AND SEVENTH TOP-5 MATCHUPS IN PROGRAM HISTORY
• No. 2 Baylor will play consecutive top-5 matchups this week, taking on No. 5 Illinois and No. 1 Gonzaga.
• This will mark the 6th and 7th games in BU history matching two top-5 teams, the first in non-conference play.
• After this week, Baylor will have played 4 top-5 matchups in the 2020 calendar year, more than the 3 top-5 matchups in Baylor's Basketball's previous 114 years of competition (2012, 2017, 2017).
• Baylor's first win in a top-5 matchup came at No. 3 Kansas on Jan. 11, 2020, when No. 4 BU won 67-55.

SERIES HISTORY VS. ILLINOIS
• Baylor and Illinois will meet for the fourth time, and the Bears are seeking their first win in the series.
• BU last faced Illinois in the 2014 Las Vegas Invitational championship game, a 62-54 Illini win. Prior to that, the teams met in Champaign in 1986 (92-68 Illini win) and in the 1987 Maui Invitational (73-50 Illini win).
• Baylor is 4-0 against Brad Underwood-coached teams – 2-0 vs. Oklahoma State, 2-0 vs. SFA.

--

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

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