By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
With four ranked opponents in the rearview mirror, No. 15 Baylor men’s basketball is set to continue its brutal non-conference slate Wednesday night at two-time defending national champion UConn.
“[We] definitely know we’re in for a tough challenge,” Baylor head coach Scott Drew said. “You got two out of the last three national champions playing, and you’re playing on their court. … You know how hard it is to win on the road anywhere, let alone a place like that.”
No. 15 Baylor (5-2) is catching No. 25 UConn at the right time. After heading into the Maui Invitational as a presumed Final Four contender, the Huskies (5-3) became just the fourth AP top-two team to lose three straight games in the AP poll era, all to unranked opponents.
“I’m not doing another 3-game MTE (multiple-team event) again,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said. “Moving forward, we will only play home-and-homes or single-game events … I don’t think I’ll ever do a 3-game MTE again. There’s zero chance I ever do that again.”
UConn dropped its first game to Memphis in overtime, 99-97, in a loss Hurley blamed on officiating. Another narrow loss to Colorado, 73-72, sent the Huskies to the bottom of the consolation bracket, where they were trounced by Dayton, 85-67. Back at home, they won a buy game against Maryland Eastern to get back in the win column ahead of Wednesday’s bout with Baylor.
“Those three games were all one-, two-possession games under five minutes,” Drew said. “They could’ve been 3-0 as easy as 0-3.”
Returning star Alex Karaban (15.9 points per game) paces the team in scoring, buttressed by sharpshooting guard Solo Ball (45.5% on 5.5 threes per game) and freshman forward Liam McNeeley (12.5 points per game), who played high school ball with Baylor’s Robert O. Wright III at Montverde Academy.
“They got a similar offensive system to BYU,” senior guard Jayden Nunn said. “We had a difficult time with that last year, so just seeing how we’re going to bounce back, just guarding those actions. They got a good team though, for sure.”
The Huskies rank top-5 nationally in 2-point field goal percentage (63.9%), assists (20.9) and blocks (7.4), but outside the top 100 in rebounds (38.4) and outside the top 200 in free-throw attempts (18.5). They’ve particularly been hit with bad luck beyond the arc; outside of Karaban and Ball, UConn is shooting sub-30% from three on 16.9 attempts per game.
“Just watching those games, those guys are battling,” redshirt junior guard Langston Love said. “It’s just gonna be cool to get that game up there. At the end of the day, they’re still back-to-back national champions, so you can’t take that game lightly. And they’re gonna be hungry, especially with that coach they got. So, they’re gonna be hungry.”
Baylor is continuing to work Love back from injury following a long injury rehab process. Wednesday, the veteran guard played more than 20 minutes in a game for just the second time since Feb. 6.
“It feels good, just trying to work every day to get the rhythm back,” Love said. “I think they said it was like 270 days or something like that, and it was unexpected 270 days. So, it’s just a blessing just to be able to step foot out there again.”
The Bears will look to win their third ranked matchup of the season at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be streamed live on FS1.
