By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
Michael Rataj hit 1,000 career points Friday night as Baylor raced past Tarleton State at Foster Pavilion, 94-81.
The Bears blitzed the Texans all night, shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc and totaling 18 combined steals and blocks. Redshirt sophomore Cameron Carr (27 points) led the Bears in scoring for the third straight game as Rataj (6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals) cast a wide net on the stat sheet.
“Excited for him, that thousand’s a big deal,” head coach Scott Drew said. “He’s somebody that got better later in his sophomore, junior, senior year, which — credit to him. Today he did a good job, because we had a couple guys under the weather, and he really battled well and handled the ball for us and handled some of the pressure.”
Five-star freshman Tounde Yessoufou made an immediate impact defensively, manhandling the ball for a steal on the opening possession and skying in for a block two minutes later. Yessoufou finished with a career-high four steals and a block. The Bears racked up 10 steals and eight blocks on the night, both season-highs.
Redshirt sophomore Cameron Carr again excelled, drilling his first four shots — including two 3-pointers — to score 10 points in under seven minutes. Carr finished 10-for-13 from the field and 3-for-6 from three.
“Honestly, I’ve got to really give thanks to the guys around me,” Carr said. “I feel like they trust in me a lot, and I feel like I’ve said this a million times, they have the utmost confidence in me, and I have the utmost confidence in them. They just keep believing in me to make shots, and I’m not going to let them down in that area.”
Carr demurred compliments about his performance, pointing out several areas where he needed to improve.
“There’s lots of areas we can be better,” Carr said. “I feel like I was holding the ball too much, I wasn’t moving it around and I feel like I kind of took away from other guys that had an opportunity to score, and I have to do better in that area.”
Baylor rocked the Texans in transition, blocking back-to-back dunk attempts in the open court. The first came courtesy of fifth-year guard Obi Agbim, who brought an emphatic rejection; the second was gentler, as Carr flicked the ball out of Dior Johnson’s outstretched arms.
“We’ve seen [Agbim] do some crazy things in practice,” senior wing Dan Skillings Jr. said. “He doesn’t want to bring them out in games; he wants to just lay it up, I don’t get it.”
Nope ❌
BU 32, TSU 26 | 8:48 1H #SicEm | #CultureofJOY pic.twitter.com/51HC2sZlxh
— Baylor Men’s Basketball (@BaylorMBB) November 15, 2025
Johnson led the Texans with a career-high 42 points on 17-of-24 shooting. The UCF transfer carried the Tarleton State offense; the rest of the team shot 40% from the field.
“Obviously, we’ll have to make sure that this week we have our backup, backup, backup plan for when a guy gets going, because you can’t let anybody go for 42 and shoot 17-for-24,” Drew said. “And that’s not one guy … we should have done a much better job in the gaps, so that’s on everybody.”
Baylor led 55-42 after a high-flying first half saw both teams shoot over 56% from the field. Carr, Agbim and Skillings all scored in double figures before the break.
Tarleton State kept the score within shouting distance, once going on an 11-0 run, but couldn’t make enough shots to fully close the gap. Down nine with five minutes to go, the Texans missed three shots — rebounding each miss — and lost a turnover on a single trip down the court.
The Texans led the offensive rebound battle 18-9, but it wasn’t enough to make up for missed shots. The visiting team came back to earth after shooting 56.7% in the first half; outside of Johnson, the Texans shot 5-for-17 (0-for-5 from three) in the final 20 minutes.
The win moves Baylor to 3-0 on the season before an extended hiatus. Next, the Bears will travel to Las Vegas for the Players Era Festival, beginning against Creighton at 1 p.m. on Nov. 24 at Michelob ULTRA Arena. The game will be broadcast on truTV.
