| 8/8 BAYLOR BEARS (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
8/8 BAYLOR (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. 6/7 GONZAGA (0-0, 0-0 WCC) Nov. 4, 2024 • 10:30 p.m. CT Spokane, Wash. • Veterans Memorial Arena (12,000) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast Baylor Social Media: |
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6/7 GONZAGA BULLDOGS (0-0, 0-0 WCC) Location: Spokane, Wash. Conference/Affiliation: WCC Head Coach: Mark Few (Oregon, 1987) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
WACO, Texas – Only half-jokingly, Baylor coach Scott Drew asks, “What was Coach thinking scheduling that?”
The 22nd-year Baylor head coach was referring to a season-opening schedule that has the eighth-ranked Bears playing No. 6 Gonzaga at 10:30 p.m. CT Monday in Spokane, Washington, followed by a neutral-site matchup against 16th-ranked Arkansas five days later at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
“(Gonzaga coach Mark) Few and I both talked about, it’s great for the game to have matchups like that following Monday Night Football, to get people talking about college basketball,” said Drew, who has only one returning starter from a 24-11 team that lost to Clemson in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year.
“The good thing with the NCAA is there are no losers when you play games like this, because it doesn’t hurt you on your NET rating if you do lose. And it’s only something that can help you with a positive win if you’re the team that wins. So, great opportunity for us to see just where we’re at as a team.”
While Baylor had four players off last year’s team on opening-day NBA rosters and brought in nine new players, Gonzaga returned six of its top seven scorers, 81% of its scoring and 71% of the rebounding from last year’s 27-8 team that made its ninth-consecutive Sweet 16 appearance.
The Bulldogs added transfers Khalif Battle (Arkansas) and Michael Ajayi (Pepperdine) to a veteran cast led by point guard Ryan Nembhard (12.6 ppg, 6.9 rebounds) and 6-9 center Graham Ike (16.5 ppg, 7.4 rebounds).
“If you want to look at the challenges, it’s easy to find from a team that returns seven of their top eight,” Drew said. “Especially early in the year, that’s a huge disadvantage over teams that have a lot of newer players, where you’re still trying to develop chemistry and what each player is best at, what offense, defense to run, when. And at the same time, this is a team that last year lost to Purdue and was playing their best basketball at the end of the year.”
Junior guard Jayden Nunn, who transferred from VCU a year ago, is the Bears’ lone returning starter and averaged 10.7 points while shooting 45.0% from 3-point range. Also back are 6-10 junior forward Josh Ojianwuna (5.0 ppg, 3.4 rebounds) and 6-5 redshirt junior guard Langston Love, a Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year candidate who averaged 11.0 points per game before missing 11 of the last 13 games because of an ankle injury.
Replacing 71% of its scoring, Baylor reloaded with the additions of transfers Jeremy Roach from Duke, Norchad Omier from Miami and Jalen Celestine from California, along with freshmen VJ Edgecombe, Rob Wright III and Jason Asemota.
“I think our identity is to play fast, defend. I think defending is the biggest part,” said Roach, the Big 12 Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year after averaging a career-high 13.6 points per game last year at Duke. “I feel like everybody’s capable of just guarding 1 through 5. I think the identity of being a defensive team would be huge. If you’re in the Big 12, you’ve got to get stops.”
With Roach and Omier both making it to Final Fours and “our returning guys that have played in big games,” Drew said, “at least the new guys can listen to them, because if you’re not ready in that first road game, it can be tough, as we saw last year at Michigan State (88-64 loss).”
Monday’s matchup, of course, is a rematch of the 2021 national championship game that Baylor won in dominant fashion, 86-70.
“What a great way to start the season. What a great way to see what your team needs to work on and give your team an opportunity to have a chance of a quality win and be a part of the best game on opening night,” Drew said. “And it’s great national television, people will be watching – more on the West Coast than the East Coast. But they’ll be watching after Monday Night Football, and it’s a great way to kick off the season.”
Monday’s game will be broadcast by ESPN2, with Roxy Bernstein and Jay Williams calling the action.
Story lines
• No. 8 Baylor heads to Spokane to take on No. 6 Gonzaga in the season opener at Veterans Memorial Arena in a 10:30 p.m. CT tip on ESPN2.
• This top-10 battle features two of the four programs that have been ranked in the top-10 every year for the last six years.
• This dynamic duo also joins Kansas and Duke as two of the four teams to be ranked No. 1 in four of the last eight seasons.
• Last season, the Bears joined the Zags, Houston and Kansas as one of four teams to win at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the last five tournaments.
• Gonzaga is just the second ranked opponent Baylor has faced in a season opener, and the first since opening the season at No. 15 BYU in the 1979-80 season.
• Falling to BYU that night, BU is seeking it’s first ever win over a ranked opponent in a season opener
• The 10:30 p.m. CT tip is Baylor’s latest scheduled tip since an 11 p.m. CT tilt against Memphis on Nov. 27, 2014 as a part of the Las Vegas Invitational.
• Baylor is 19-2 in season openers under Scott Drew, with its last loss in a lid-lifter coming in 2018.
• This is the fifth time in the Drew Era the Bears are opening the season away from home, boasting a 3-1 mark in the previous four games, including last year’s opener, an 88-82 win over Auburn.
• The Bears are the only team in the country to be a No. 3 seed or higher in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments.
• The Bears are the only team in the country with a top-19 pick in each of the last four NBA Draft, and one of just two programs with a top-20 pick in fourth-straight drafts (Duke).
• Baylor welcomes nine new faces to the 2024-25 squad, aiming to replace four of their five starters off of last year’s team, including a pair of first-round draft picks in Ja’Kobe Walter and Yves Missi
• Potential top-5 NBA Draft pick VJ Edgecombe, and his star-studded classmates Jason Asemota and Rob Wright, should pick up the slack for some of those departures.
• Additionally the Bears brought in experienced transfers Jalen Celestine (California), Norchad Omier (Arkansas State and Miami) and Jeremy Roach (Duke) to help replace 71.4% of the scoring, 68.3% of the rebounding and 78.8% of the assists.
• Roach and Omier bring Final Four experience, as Roach helped his Duke team to the 2022 Final Four, while Omier led Miami to it’s first-ever Final Four in 2023.
• Edgecombe is Baylor’s fourth-straight Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year. The Bears and Kansas Jayhawks are the only teams in league history to have the preseason conference freshman of the year in four consecutive seasons.
• If Edgecombe claims the postseason Freshman of the Year Honor, BU would become the first team in conference history to have the preseason and postseason Freshman of the Year in three-straight seasons.
• Roach was named the Big 12 Conference’s co-Newcomer of the Year in addition to being voted to the Preseason All-Big 12 second team with Omier.
• Picked Fourth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll, the Bears are the only team in the Big 12 with 11+ conference wins in a Power-5 conference in five-straight seasons.
