By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Baylor head coach Scott Drew said Monday that teams like Sam Houston — returning conference champions with experience-laden rosters — “scare you.”
But it didn’t take long for No. 12 Baylor (2-1) to blast off in its home opener Tuesday night. The Bears blazed Sam Houston (1-2), 104-67, in front of a blackout crowd and an AI-generated video of Scott Drew hyping up a crowd at a music festival. Seven players scored in double figures, a first since 2013, as the home team set Foster Pavilion records in points, rebounds and assists.
“It shows that we share the sugar, like they said, and we have fun out there,” said freshman wing VJ Edgecombe, who stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. “We trust our teammates, that’s the main thing. [It] shows that we got chemistry and connectivity, for sure. So, shoutout my teammates for scoring the ball.”
Fifth-year guard Jeremy Roach opened up the offensive onslaught with a smooth alley-oop to junior center Josh Ojianwuna on a flare pick-and-roll 10 seconds into the game, then snagged a rebound on the other end after the Bears’ zone defense forced an awkward Bearkat jump shot. In the first five minutes of game time, Roach notched five points, two rebounds and an assist as Baylor breezed to a 17-8 lead.
Behind post screens from Ojianwuna and efficient ball movement on the perimeter, the Bears averaged 1.8 points per possession and shot 15-of-21 from the floor across their first 20 possessions. Both teams attempted various zone defenses, but the Bears managed to find gaps up the middle and on the baseline throughout the first half.
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Drew called more than a half-dozen different zone defenses, including a 2-2-1 and 1-3-1 in the half court and a 1-1-2-1 full-court press, alongside occasional man-to-man sets (primarily when fifth-year power forward Norchad Omier played small-ball center). The variation paid off: after frustrating Arkansas’ offense with zones during Saturday’s 72-67 win in Dallas, the Bears held the Bearkats to 40% from the field in the first half.
“We spent a lot of time going into Gonzaga working on our switching man, and after that we spent more time on our zone,” Drew said. “The blessing of that is, now we have two defenses we can play, and we can mix stuff up from there. I know we’re working on some other stuff too, and it’s good to have options, especially when people get on a roll. But if we can get stops, we’re really good in transition, so the key is getting stops.”
Sam Houston guard Lamar Wilkerson shone in the first half, dropping 17 points in 15 minutes on 5-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc. But the Bears led the offensive efficiency battle by a full 0.5 points per possession, which stacked up to a 54-37 halftime lead.
“When we got Norchad down there, or Josh — if you don’t help, he’s gonna score, if you do help, shoot, I’m waiting for the three,” said senior guard Jayden Nunn, who scored a team-high 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. “It’s just a blessing to play with bigs like that, just a threat in the post. I love it, it’s getting me wide-open shots.”
The Bears ran a lot more man-to-man defense in the second half, forcing 10 turnovers and holding Wilkerson to two second-half points. But it was Omier and Edgecombe who stole the second-half spotlight: Omier, for his eight points and three offensive rebounds, and Edgecombe for his thunderous one-handed putback dunk off an errant 3-pointer.
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“They trust me to go get it, and I tell them wherever they throw it, ‘I’mma go get it,’” Edgecombe said. “I don’t mind getting a little dunk every game to get the crowd going.”
Tuesday served as a benchmark night for a Baylor program that set Foster Pavilion records in points (104), rebounds (42) and assists (30) and tied the made 3-pointer mark (14). Seven Bears scored in double figures for the first time since 2013.
“This team, we’ve liked setting records, and after the first game we said, ‘No more of those records,’” Drew said, referring to the Bears’ 38-point opening-night loss to No. 6 Gonzaga, their worst since 2007. “Thirty assists, guys were really, really unselfish. We were a much better shooting team than our first two games’ statistics show. I don’t know if we shoot 44% all year, but we’re a 40% shooting team and we have a lot of good shooters.”
The Bears now sit at 2-1 following back-to-back wins over No. 16 Arkansas and Sam Houston. They’ll stick around Waco for their second home game of the season Sunday at 7 p.m. against Tarleton (0-3).
