Men’s basketball starts the season with a win

Junior forward Johnathan Motley pulls up a jumpshot during the Bears’ game against Texas on Feb. 1, at the Ferrell Center. Photo credit: Lariat File Photo

The Bears start their season 1-0 after a 76-61 win over Oral Roberts Friday night at the Ferrell Center.

Men’s basketball adds to their consecutive season opening streak, now having won 10 season openers.

New names and faces fill the roster as the Bears look to regroup and build with a new team. Junior point guard Manu Lecomte said believes he didn’t play his best, but still takes away the positives.

“I’m not too worried about it,” Lecomte said. “You know 10 assists, I’ll take that even over missed shots, so I’m good.”

Making his official debut, Lecomte finished the game with a total of 13 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals.

Tonight’s leading scorer was fellow guard senior Al Freeman who was just a few points ahead, Freeman had a total of 16 points and one assist.

Another Bear who made his Baylor debut was junior forward Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. Acuil shared his excitement with finally being healthy to play.

“It was a relief,” Acuil said. “I was excited, kind of nervous at the start, but after the first minute I was acclimated, and I was good. It felt great to play.”

Acuil racked up a total of 12 points in the game, along with one assist and four blocks.

Head coach Scott Drew said he feels his team’s biggest issue this year might be rebounding.

“Rebounding, that’s an area where we still need to do a much better job, because you didn’t to box out because Rico could take on two guys and still get the ball,” Drew said. “That was an area that I thought we definitely need to do better.”

The Bears will be back in action at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday as they play host to Oregon.