By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Editor
Baylor men’s basketball under head coach Scott Drew has been highlighted by its history of sharpshooters. When the Bears reached the pinnacle of the sport in 2021, their nation-leading 41.3% 3-point percentage played a major role in winning the national championship.
Junior guard and Liberty transfer Brett Decker Jr. adds another fold to that tradition. That is exactly what drew Decker to Baylor.
“They’ve definitely shown me a couple, Brady Heslip, Adam Flagler, those kinds of guys,” Decker said. ” They’ve shown me how I can fit into offense, too.”
What excited Decker wasn’t only that he’d play for the same program as elite shooters but that he could continue to grow as one, too.
“They’ve shown me how they develop players,” Decker said. “It’s made me excited just to see that I can come to a program and get even better.”
He shot 47% from deep to lead Conference USA and averaged 16.9 points per game as a Flame.
Decker joins a deep guard core with the Mingo brothers and junior Isaac Williams. Head coach Scott Drew said he is encouraged by this year’s group compared to last season’s, that shot 33.9% on 3-pointers and 47.6% overall.
“Our ability to create at the point guard positions a lot greater than it was last year,” Drew said. “Just depth-wise, numbers-wise. So usually, college basketball is a guard’s game, and we’re back to having a lot of bigger guards.”
The offense has come together throughout the offseason. Baylor has brought in six newcomers for the upcoming season, trying to fill the gaps left by Tounde Yessoufou and Cameron Carr, who both led the team in scoring.
“The offseason’s been good, getting used to everybody’s play styles before the season,” Decker said. “Seeing how everybody plays and what spots they like … We’re all coming together real good before the season.”
The group has fostered a strong connection over the offseason. Decker said the guards have meshed well despite most of them transferring in the past few months.
“[It’s] just playing on the court a lot, doing things off the court, going out to eat or go hang out at somebody’s house,” Decker said. “[It’s] just getting to know each other very good. Not isolating ourselves, doing stuff together all the time.”
Part of the group’s chemistry is its collective competitiveness. They got to show off their prowess against some former Bears, including VJ Edgecombe and Keyonte George in the team’s annual Vet Scrimmage.
“It was fun to see the guys that came through here and how they came back,” Decker said. “It’s still a family. It was great to play against NBA guys.”
