Baylor basketball has pulled a miraculous turnaround after looking dead in the water only a few short weeks ago.
The Bears are now winners of four straight with only four games left to go in the season.
Browsing: Men’s Basketball
After seemingly being on pace to fall out of even the National Invitational Tournament conversation, let alone the NCAA Tournament, Baylor basketball has raced back into the postseason picture after a four-game Big 12 Conference winning streak.
When Rico Gathers steps on a basketball court, everyone takes notice. Even on the biggest stage of college basketball, the sophomore is physically a man-among-boys at 6-foot-8 and 270 pounds.
“Every football coach in the area wanted me to come and play football for them back in high school,” Gathers said. “It was actually a big controversy in my area. When I chose a school that didn’t have football at all, people were like dang, what are you going to do if things don’t work out?”
From the time basketball coach Scott Drew first arrived on campus, Baylor’s basketball program has increased exponentially. Since his arrival, Baylor won its first tournament game since 1950, has reached the NCAA Tournament three times and made two Elite Eight appearances.
For the second game in a row at the Ferrell Center, the Bears won in a comeback effort in overtime. This time, it came against Oklahoma State, beating the Cowboys 70-64 on Monday at the Ferrell Center.
By Shehan Jeyarajah Sports Writer Senior guard Brady Heslip could not hit the broad side of a barn for 39…
Baylor came into Wednesday night’s matchup with TCU in desperate need of a win. The Bears had lost two in a row and eight of their last nine in conference play after their hot start to the season. Baylor (15-9, 3-8) finally was able to finish the job in a 91-58 win against TCU (9-14, 0-11) at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum in Fort Worth
Baylor came into Wednesday night’s matchup with TCU in desperate need of a win. The Bears had lost two in a row and eight of their last nine in conference play after their hot start to the season. Baylor (15-9, 3-8) finally was able to finish the job in a 91-58 win against TCU (9-14, 0-11) at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum in Fort Worth.
Baylor basketball is in a free-fall. After a dominant 12-1 nonconference slate and top seven ranking to open the season, the Bears have dropped eight of their 10 Big 12 games.
This is how the entire season has felt for Baylor, isn’t it?
Baylor had all the opportunity in the world. They brought the lead down to three with 12:56 left in the game. They had three free throws to bring it to three again, all of which they missed. But at the end of the day, the Bears (14-8, 2-7) could not capitalize on their chances in a 69-52 loss to No. 8 Kansas (17-5, 8-1) at home.
We knew that the Big 12 had a chance to be improved, but no one thought it would be this good. Out of the 32 college basketball conferences in Division I, the Big 12 has the number one conference RPI thanks to impressive wins in nonconference play against the likes of Duke, Kentucky, Colorado and Michigan among others.
Fans knew there was something different about Isaiah Austin’s eyes. You could see it when he played. It was hard to place exactly what, but it was obvious. On Jan. 18, Austin made everything clear in a feature that aired on ESPN’s College Gameday.
Isaiah Austin, former five-star prospect, All-Big 12 and future NBA player, is blind in his right eye.
Baylor looked like one of the best teams in the nation a few weeks ago. Baylor’s only loss coming into conference play was against Syracuse, a team now ranked No. 2 in the nation. Baylor is falling right out of the conversation for the NCAA Tournament and that was accentuated Tuesday night in Waco.
By Shehan Jeyarajah Sports Writer Baylor basketball (13-7, 1-6) fell to the West Virginia Mountaineers (12-9, 4-4) by a score…
By Shehan Jeyarajah Sports Writer Baylor is sliding after its fourth straight loss in Big 12 play after a 74-60…
By Shehan Jeyarajah Sports Writer For three straight games, Baylor has faced a must-win situation against a hot team. For…
By Shehan Jeyarajah Sports Writer In the past, Baylor basketball has been a team that has relied on one or…
Baylor started its 2013-14 campaign as one of the best teams in college basketball. Despite playing a difficult non-conference schedule that included four teams that were ranked at some point in non-conference play, Baylor emerged with a sturdy record of 12-1, including a convincing win over No. 3 Kentucky. Baylor’s only loss was to Syracuse, who is now the No. 2 team in the nation.
A year ago, junior forward Royce O’Neale was starting for the University of Denver. Everything changed when O’Neale learned about the illness of a family member back in his hometown of Killeen.
By Shehan Jeyarajah Sports Writer No. 24 Baylor (13-5, 1-4) fought hard in the first half, but fell to No.…
Playing in front of a blacked-out home crowd, Baylor found themselves down by seven with merely 29.8 seconds left. Two threes from sophomore center Isaiah Austin later and somehow, Baylor had a chance to win this game with 9.1 seconds left, down by only two points.
Baylor had lost only one game to a team in the state of Texas since the beginning of the 2011-12 basketball season. That dominance would came to an end after No. 12 Baylor (13-3, 1-2) lost on Wednesday night to the unranked Texas Tech Red Raiders (9-8, 1-3) in Lubbock by a score of 82-72.
Since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, Baylor has been the most dominant basketball power in the state of Texas. In that span, the Bears have posted a record of 19-1 against teams from the state of Texas. No. 12 Baylor (13-2, 1-1) will put it all on the line as they travel to Lubbock to play in-state conference rival Texas Tech (8-8, 0-3) on Wednesday night.
On Friday night, we were reminded why we watch college basketball. No. 3 Kentucky came into Arlington with three superstar Texas freshmen who Baylor had failed to entice in the last recruiting cycle. No matter. By the time the day was done, Baylor proved to be the better team for the second season in a row.
Baylor came out strong early with a 16-7 lead behind two early dunks from Cory Jefferson. Kentucky would fight their way back to 29-29 behind four three-pointers combined between Aaron Harrison and James Young. Kentucky’s run would coast them to a 38-35 halftime lead.
Baylor men’s basketball has gotten off to a hot start this season. The Bears have won seven of eight, with their only loss against now No. 4 Syracuse in the Maui Invitational championship game.
With the momentum, No. 20 Baylor (7-1) will look to upset No. 3 Kentucky (7-1) today at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The game will be the third of the season for Baylor against a team that has been ranked in the top 25.
On April 28, center Isaiah Austin surprised Baylor fans by deciding to return for his sophomore season. Ever since being recruited as a consensus five-star prospect, it was assumed that Austin would leave after his freshman season.
Coming off his freshman season, the Basketball Times named Austin a Freshman All-American. The league’s media also named him All-Big 12 Second Team center. Austin averaged 13.0 points per game, 8.3 rebounds per game and 1.7 blocks per game on 45.9 percent from the field.
For the first time in over 20 years, No. 20 Baylor basketball was invited to take part in the Maui Invitational Tournament, one of the biggest preseason tournaments in the nation. Baylor fought their way to wins over Chaminade and Dayton before falling to No. 8 Syracuse in the title game.
The Bears opened the tournament against Division II Hawaiian college Chaminade. The Silverswords came out with a strong fight in the first half behind senior guard Christophe Varidel. The Swiss guard hit seven three-pointers in the first half to pull Chaminade within 45-45 at the half. Varidel finished with 42 points for the game, one off of the tournament record of 43.
The Bears earned a 69-64 victory Wednesday at the Ferrell Center to move to 4-0 on the season, despite letting a double-digit lead disappear when Charleston Southern cut the lead to 67-64 in the waning minute of the game.
Baylor sophomore center Isaiah Austin set the tone early with a massive block on the first play of the game for Baylor. The Bears scored the first eight points of the contest, including two jumpers from senior power forward Cory Jefferson.
No. 20 Baylor basketball defeated Charleston Southern 69-64 on Wednesday night at the Ferrell Center.
Senior power forward Cory Jefferson led with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks on the night for Baylor.
Sophomore center Isaiah Austin had 16 points, eight rebounds and six blocks. Senior guard Sheldon Strickland led CSU with 14 points on 4-for-5 from three in the loss.
Baylor men’s basketball has started off the 2013-14 season with three straight wins in non-conference play. The men will look to make it four straight against Charleston Southern (2-2) in the first-ever meeting between these two opponents. The Bears will host Charleston Southern at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Ferrell Center.
Senior guard Brady Heslip leads Baylor with 16.3 points per game on 51.9 percent from the field and 52.4 percent from the three-point line. Junior point guard Kenny Chery is averaging 14.3 points per game and 3.7 assists per game on 57.7 percent from the field.
