vs.

Baylor (2-0) vs. Florida Gulf Coast (1-1) Nov. 18, 2016 | 7:05 p.m. CT Waco, Texas | Ferrell Center (10,284) WATCH: FCS-Central and Fox Sports Go LISTEN: ESPN Central Texas and TuneIn App

Watch | | Listen Online | Tickets Baylor Notes | FGCU Notes

MEDIA INFORMATION Date Friday, Nov. 18 | 7:05 p.m. CT Location Waco, Texas; Ferrell Center (10,284) Tickets Purchase Tickets Online TV FCS-Central and Fox Sports Go TV Talent John Morris (pxp), Jim Haller (color) Stream Radio TuneIn App BU Radio ESPN Central Texas BU Talent Pat Nunley (pxp), Nick Joos (color) Stats Game Notes Baylor | Florida Gulf Coast Social Media @BaylorMBB BAYLOR BEARS Record 2-0 Ranking nr (AP), nr (Coaches) Head Coach Scott Drew Career: 272-183 (15th season) BU Record: 252-172 (14th season) FLORIDA GULF COAST EAGLES Record 1-1 Ranking nr (AP), nr (Coaches) Head Coach Joe Dooley Career: 123-91 (8th season) FGCU Record: 66-39 (4th season)

STORYLINES
- Baylor faces Florida Gulf Coast to open the 6th-annual Battle 4 Atlantis on Friday at the Ferrell Center.
- Friday is the first meeting between the teams -- BU is 5-0 all-time against Atlantic Sun Conference teams.
- BU is coming off a 17-point win against No. 4 Oregon -- the seventh top-5 win in program history.
- Baylor is 22-11 in regular-season tournaments during the Drew era, including 9-3 since 2013-14.
- The Bears have won 36 consecutive non-conference home games dating back to Dec. 12, 2012. BU averages a 21.3 point margin of victory during the streak and has eight wins over high-major teams.
- Baylor has knocked off 13 ranked teams in the last two-plus seasons (13-14 vs. ranked opponents).
- BU is 32-54 against ranked teams since 2007-08 after going 0-27 in Drew's first four rebuilding seasons.
- BU did not receive any preseason poll votes for the first time since 2009-10.
- Baylor hasn't received votes in two straight AP polls for the first time since Jan. 27-March 3, 2014.
- Baylor returned six letterwinners from last season's 22-12 NCAA Tournament team.
- Baylor's starting lineup has an average age of 21.9 years old and all five are at least 21 years old.
- All five players in Baylor's starting lineup are in their fourth years of college basketball.
- BU is 24-4 since the start of last season when it takes the lead at any point in the 2nd half of a game.
- Baylor is one of 13 teams to be nationally ranked in each of the last nine seasons entering 2016-17.
- The Bears are coming off a school-record third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
- Head coach Scott Drew is in his 14th season at Baylor and is the school's all-time wins leader (252).
- Six Baylor players have been selected in the last five NBA Drafts, sixth-most nationally.
- Baylor's 127 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (149).
- Drew (45) is the youngest of 12 coaches to take his current program to three Sweet 16s since 2010.
- All 12 of Baylor's losses last season were against NCAA Tournament teams -- Iowa State and National Championship game participants North Carolina and Villanova are the only other teams to make that claim.
- Drew has won 22+ games in five straight seasons and won 20+ games in eight of the last nine years.
- BU was picked 5th in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll, behind Kansas, WVU, Texas and Iowa State.
- Drew is 218-103 since 2007-08, the first year he had a full allotment of scholarships.
- Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (102-13).
- Point guard Manu Lecomte was named Big 12 co-Newcomer of the Week on Monday. Lecomte was picked by the league's coaches as the preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
- Six of BU's seven starting point guards during the Drew era have earned All-Big 12 recognition.
- Johnathan Motley was named to the five-player Preseason All-Big 12 team. BU has had seven players selected to the team in the last seven seasons.
- Motley is on preseason watch lists for the Naismith Award, Karl Malone Award and Lute Olson Award.
- Baylor has had a nation-leading four players selected in the NBA Draft since 2010 who weren't ranked in the ESPN100 out of high school -- Quincy Acy, Ekpe Udoh, Pierre Jackson and Taurean Prince.
- Baylor has the Big 12's 2nd-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 802 straight games.

EXPERIENCED DESPITE ONLY ONE SENIOR
- Baylor may have only one senior on this year's roster, but eight of nine rotation players are at least 20 years old.
- All five players in Baylor's projected starting lineup are in their fourth or fifth years of college. Manu Lecomte (21), Johnathan Motley (21) and Al Freeman (22) are fourth-year juniors, Ishmail Wainright (22) is a fourth-year senior and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. (22) is a fifth-year junior.
- The Bears also have sophomore guards King McClure (20) and Jake Lindsey (20) and junior forward Terry Maston (21), who have all played in 36 consecutive games.

THIRTY-SIX STRAIGHT NON-CONFERENCE HOME WINS
- Baylor has won 36 consecutive non-conference home games dating back to Dec. 12, 2012.
- Included in that streak are eight wins over high-major teams -- No. 4 Oregon, No. 16 Vanderbilt, BYU, Arizona State, Providence, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Georgia, along with a pair of wins over Stephen F. Austin.
- Baylor's average margin of victory during the 36-game streak is 21.3 points per game.
- BU has won by double-digits in 30 of its last 36 non-conference home games, including 22 of the last 24 games.

SUCCESS IN TOURNAMENTS
- Baylor is 22-11 in regular-season tournaments during the Scott Drew era.
- The Bears are 9-3 in regular-season tournaments since 2013-14, going 3-1 in each of the last three years.
- Baylor has won two regular-season tournament titles under Drew -- the 2012 Las Vegas Classic and the 2008 Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

ANOTHER TOP-5 WIN
- Baylor knocked off No. 4 Oregon, 66-49, on Nov. 15. The Bears became the first team to hold Oregon below 50 points since Feb. 21, 2013 -- a streak of 119 games.
- The win was Baylor's 4th in its last 11 games against AP Top 5 teams. Prior to that stretch, BU was 3-34 all-time against top-5 ranked opponents. The Bears are now 4-17 against top-5 teams in the Drew era.
- BU was led by Manu Lecomte with 18 points and 7 assists, while Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. had 8 points, 14 rebounds and 7 blocks. Lual-Acuil's 7 blocks tied the 10th-most in a game in program history.
- Johnathan Motley made his season debut and had 17 points and 7 boards in 28 minutes.

TRIO OF REDSHIRTS IMPRESSIVE IN BAYLOR DEBUTS
- Manu Lecomte, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. and Wendell Mitchell all made their BU debuts Friday after redshirting last year.
- Lecomte earned Big 12 co-Newcomer of the Week after a double-double with 13 points, 11 assists, 0 turnovers and 3 steals in 35 minutes. He accounted for 53% of Baylor's scoring (40 of 76) through his own points and assists.
- Lual-Acuil had 12 points and team-highs of 9 rebounds and 4 blocks in 33 minutes.
- Mitchell came off the bench and scored 9 points on just 4 shot attempts in 14 minutes.

DREW ERA HIGHLIGHTS
- Drew is coaching his 425th game at Baylor (252-172). His .593 winning percentage is best in BU history among coaches with 60+ games, and his teams have a .679 winning percentage (218-103) since 2007-08.
- BU has graduated 92 percent of its scholarship seniors since Drew took over in 2003 (24 of 26).
- In Drew's first 13 seasons, 25 players have gone on to professional careers.

SERIES HISTORY
- Friday is the first series meeting between Baylor and Florida Gulf Coast.
- Baylor is 5-0 all-time against current Atlantic Sun Conference teams -- 3-0 vs. Jacksonville, 1-0 vs. Lipscomb and 1-0 vs. USC Upstate.

FIRST-TIME OPPONENTS
- Baylor is 34-11 against first-time opponents in the Scott Drew era.
- Since 2007-08, Baylor is 28-7 against first-time opponents, including eight postseason games.
- FGCU is the only first-time opponent on Baylor's 2016-17 schedule, though the Bears could play Michigan State or Louisville for the first time at Battle 4 Atlantis.

MOTLEY AND LECOMTE EARN PRESEASON HONORS
- Johnathan Motley was named to the five-player Preseason All-Big 12 team, and Manu Lecomte was selected as the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, as voted on by the league's head coaches.
- Lecomte is the second Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year in program history, joining Terry Black (1999-00).
- Motley is BU's seventh Preseason All-Big 12 honoree in the last seven seasons, joining Rico Gathers (2016), Isaiah Austin (2015), Cory Jefferson (2015), Pierre Jackson (2013), Perry Jones III (2012) and LaceDarius Dunn (2011).
- Motley is also on preseason watch lists for the Naismith Trophy, Karl Malone Award and Lute Olson Award.

UNRANKED IN CONSECUTIVE POLLS
- For the first time since 2009-10, Baylor did not receive any votes in either the AP or coaches preseason polls. The Bears went to the Elite Eight that season.
- Baylor also didn't receive any votes in the first regular-season AP poll. This marks the first time that the Bears have been unranked in consecutive AP polls since going six straight polls from Jan. 27-March 3, 2014. BU finished that season in the Sweet 16 and ranked No. 23 with a 26-12 record in the final AP poll.
- Baylor had been ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 in five of the last six seasons prior to this year. The Bears were No. 16 in 2010-11, No. 12 in 2011-12, No. 19 in 2012-13, No. 25 in 2013-14 and No. 22 in 2015-16. The lone unranked year in that span was 2014-15, but the Bears received votes in both preseason polls.

PICKED FIFTH IN BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL
- Baylor was picked to finish fifth in the 2017 Big 12 Conference Preseason Poll in a vote by the league's head coaches in October. It's the sixth time in the last seven seasons BUà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € has been picked in the top half of the league.
- In the last 10 seasons, BU has been picked 9th in 2007-08 (NCAA Tournament), 3rd in 2008-09 (NIT runner-up), 10th in 2009-10 (Elite Eight), 4th in 2010-11, 3rd in 2011-12 (Elite Eight), 2nd in 2012-13 (NITà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € champions), 3rd in 2013-14 (Sweet 16), t-6th in 2014-15 (NCAAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Tournament), 5th in 2015-16 (NCAA Tournament) and 5th (2016-17).

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT -- FROM UNRANKED TO NBA DRAFT PICKS
- Baylor has had a nation-leading four players selected in the NBAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Draft since 2010 who weren't ranked in the ESPN100 out of high school.
- The only other schools with three such players were Colorado,à ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Marquette, Missouri, New Mexico and Connecticut.
- Baylor developed Quincyà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Acy, Ekpe Udoh, Pierre Jackson and Taurean Prince into NBAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Draft picks after joining the program as unranked recruits.

POINT GUARDS THRIVE IN DREW'S SYSTEM
- Six of Baylor's seven starting point guards during the Scott Drew era have earned All-Big 12 recognition.
- Lester Medford (2016), Kenny Chery (2014, 2015), Pierre Jackson (2012, 2013), Tweety Carter (2010), Curtis Jerrells (2007, 2008, 2009) and Aaron Bruce (2005, 2006, 2007) have been named All-Big 12.

TWENTY-FIVE PRO PLAYERS IN DREW ERA
- In Scott Drew's first 13 years at Baylor, 25 of his players went on to professional careers.
- All three scholarship seniors from last year's team are now playing professionally.
- Taurean Prince was selected 12th overall in the NBA Draft, becoming the 2nd lottery pick in program history.
- Rico Gathers decided to pursue a pro football career and was selected in the NFL Draft's 6th round.
- Lester Medford recently began his professional career playing in Hungary. graduating 92 percent of seniors
- Since Scott Drew took over the Baylor Basketball program in 2003, 24 of 26 scholarship players who have exhausted their collegiate eligibility have graduated from Baylor.
- Players recruited by Drew who have graduated at Baylor: Tim Bush, Patrick Fields, Aaron Bruce, Mamadou Diene, Delbert Simpson, Curtis Jerrells, Henry Dugat, Kevin Rogers, Tweety Carter, Josh Lomers, Ekpe Udoh, Fred Ellis, Quincy Acy, Anthony Jones, J'mison Morgan, A.J. Walton, Cory Jefferson, Brady Heslip, Gary Franklin, Kenny Chery, Royce O'Neale, Lester Medford, Rico Gathers and Taurean Prince.

ALL-TIME WINS LEADER
- Scott Drew holds Baylor's school record with 252 career wins as head coach.
- Drew's .594 winning percentage is the best ever by a Baylor coach with 60+ games at the helm. ranked in nine straight seasons
- Baylor is one of 13 teams to be nationally ranked in each of the last nine seasons entering 2016-17.
- BUà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € cracked a string of 38 consecutive unranked seasons when it was tabbed No. 25 in 2007-08.
- The Bears reached as high as No. 19 in 2008-09, No. 19 in 2009-10, No. 9 in 2010-11, No. 3 in 2011-12, No. 16 in 2012-13, No. 7 in 2013-14, No. 14 in 2014-15 and No. 13 in 2015-16.

THREE CONSECUTIVE NCAA TOURNAMENT APPEARANCES
- Baylor is on a school-record streak of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Prior to earning at-large bids in each of the last three seasons, the Bears had never been to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.
- The Bears are one of nine teams nationally to earn a top-six seed in each of the last three NCAA Tournaments, joining Arizona, Duke, Iowa State, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Villanova and Virginia.
- Baylor was a No. 6 seed in 2014, a No. 3 seed in 2015 and a No. 5 seed last season.

CONSISTENTLY AMONG NATION'S BEST OFFENSES
- Baylor's offense has consistently ranked among the nation's best over the last nine seasons under Scott Drew.
- The Bears have finished eight of the past nine seasons among the top 20 nationally in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, joining Duke as the only programs to make that claim.
- BU finished No. 13 in 2015-16, No. 18 in 2014-15, No. 9 in 2013-14, No. 14 in 2012-13, No. 8 in 2011-12, No. 102 in 2010-11, No. 3 in 2009-10, No. 11 in 2008-09 and No. 11 in 2007-08.

SIX NBA DRAFT PICKS IN LAST FIVE SEASONS
- Baylor's six NBAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Draft picks over the last five years are the nation's sixth most, trailing only Kentucky, Duke, Syracuse, Kansas and North Carolina and tied with Arizona, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State and UCLA.
- A program-record three Baylor players were selected in the 2012 NBAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Draft -- Perryà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Jones III (28th pick; Oklahoma City Thunder), Quincyà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Acy (37th pick; Toronto Raptors) and Quincy Miller (38th pick; Denver Nuggets). Pierre Jackson (42nd pick, Philadelphia 76ers; traded to New Orleans Pelicans) was chosen in the 2013 draft, Coryà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Jefferson (60th pick; San Antonio Spurs; traded toà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Brooklynà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Nets) was selected in 2014 and Taurean Prince (12th pick; Utah Jazz; traded to Atlanta Hawks) was chosen in 2016.

SECOND-MOST WINS AMONG BIG 12 TEAMS SINCE 2011-12
- Baylor has averaged 25 wins per season over the last 5 years -- 2nd-most in the Big 12 in that span. Baylor's 127-56 record since 2011-12 trails only Kansas (149-38) among Big 12 teams (thru 11/16/16).
- Iowa State (125-52) is 3rd, Oklahoma (113-57) is 4th, Kansas State (103-65) is 5th, Texas (102-70) and West Virginia (102-68) are tied for 6th, Oklahoma State (93-74) is 8th, TCU (70-94) is 9th and Texas Tech (67-93) is 10th.

THIRTEEN WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS IN LAST TWO-PLUS SEASONS
- Baylor has gone 13-14 against ranked teams since the start of the 2014-15 season.
- BU had a school record seven wins over ranked teams in 2014-15.
- Five wins over ranked teams last season tied the second-most in program history (5 in 2013-14).
- Baylor knocked off No. 4 Oregon in its second game this season, the seventh top-five win in program history.
- Last season, Baylor had wins over No. 16 Vanderbilt, at No. 13 Iowa State, vs. No. 13 Iowa State, at No. 24 Texas and vs. No. 23 Texas.
- BU is 32-54 against ranked teams since 2007-08 after going 0-27 in Drew's first four rebuilding seasons.
- Baylor has won multiple games vs. APà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Top 25 teams in each of the last nine seasons entering 2016-17, including three straight seasons with at least five wins over ranked teams.

FIVE STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASONS
- Baylor has won 20+ games in a school-record five consecutive seasons and in eight of the last nine years. The Bears had just three 20-win seasons in the program's first 101 years (1907-2007).
- Baylor has topped 22 wins in each of the past 5 seasons and is averaging 25.0 wins per season in that span.

DREW AMONG NATION'S ELITE
- Head coachà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Scott Drew is the youngest of 12 coaches nationally to take his current program to three Sweet 16 appearances since 2010. Drew (45) is joined by Xavier's Chris Mack (46), Arizona's Sean Miller (47), Ohioà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € State's Thad Matta (49), Indiana's Tomà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Crean (50), Kansas' Bill Self (53), Kentucky's John Calipari (57), Michigan State's Tom Izzo (61), Louisville's Rickà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Pitino (63), North Carolina's Roy Williams (66), Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (69) and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (71).
- Baylor is one of 15 teams to make three Sweet 16 appearances since 2010.

HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS
- Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12. The Bears are 102-13 when leading at the break in that stretch (18-2 in 2015-16, 21-7 in 2014-15, 18-2 in 2013-14, 17-1 in 2012-13 and 26-1 in 2011-12).
- BU has won 37% of games in which its been tied or trailing at the half since 2011-12, going 25-43 in those.
- BU has led at halftime in 115 of 183 games over the last six seasons. With wins in 102 of those 115 games, and victories in 25 of 68 games it has trailed or been tied at the half, Baylor is 127-56 since 2011-12.

NO BAD LOSSES
- All of Baylor's losses last season were against NCAA Tournament teams. The only other teams to make that claim were Iowa State, North Carolina and Villanova.
- Baylor and Villanova were the nation's only teams to not suffer any losses against teams outside the RPI top 50.

NATION'S BEST IN FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL LAST YEAR ...
- Baylor led the nation with an .800 winning percentage across football, men's basketball and women's basketball during the 2015-16 season.
- BU went 68-17 in those sports -- football 10 wins, men's basketball 22 wins and women's basketball 36 wins.
- BU joined Michigan State and Oklahoma as the nation's only programs to finish the season ranked in all three sports.

... AND NATION'S BEST OVER LAST FIVE YEARS
- Baylor had the nation's most combined wins across football and men's and women's basketball over the five-year period from 2011-12 through 2015-16.
- The Bears went 350-84 in that span, giving Baylor 83 more wins than any other Big 12 team, and nine more than the next closest team nationally, Notre Dame at 341-87.

UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS
- Baylor has enjoyed unprecedented success over the last 10 seasons under 14th-year head coach Scott Drew.
- Since the start of the 2007-08 season, Baylor is 218-103 (24 wins per season) and has made eight postseason appearancesà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € (NCAA -- 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016; NITà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € -- 2009, 2013) and posted eight 20-win seasons.
- Prior to 2007-08, Baylor won only 135 games in the first 11 seasons of the Big 12 era (12.3 wins per season).
- Baylor has made 15 postseason appearances (eight under Drew) and won 20+ games just 11 times (eight under Drew) in the program's first 110 seasons.

NATION'S SIXTH-BEST POSTSEASON RECORD
- Baylor's 17-6 postseason record over the past eight seasons is the nation's sixth-best among teams with at least three NCAAà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Tournament berths since 2009.
- The only teams with better postseason winning percentages than Baylor's .739 are Connecticut (.783), Kentucky (.781), North Carolina (.781), Duke (.778), Louisville (.750)
- The Bears' 17 postseason wins in that span are eighth-most, trailing only Kentucky (25), North Carolina (25), Duke (21), Michiganà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € State (20), Kansas (18), Connecticut (18) and Louisville (18).
- Baylor went 4-1 and advanced to the 2009 NIT Championship game, 3-1 on their way to NCAA Tournament Elite Eight berths in 2010 and 2012, 5-0 to claim the 2013 NIT title and 2-1 on its way to the 2014 Sweet 16.

BAYLOR BASKETBALL ON THE RADIO
- Baylor basketball is aired live via the Baylor-IMG College Radio Network on ESPNà ¢Ã¢' ¬Ã‹ € Central Texas and flagship station 1660AM ESPN Radio (KRZI) in Waco and worldwide on Sirius XM Radio.
- Games are broadcast by the "Voice of the Bears" John Morris and former Baylor basketball standout Pat Nunley.
- Morris is in his 29th year doing Baylor broadcasts, while Nunley is in his 34th season as color analyst.
- All of Baylor's games can be heard live on the Internet at www.BaylorBears.com and via the TuneIn App.

UP NEXT
- Baylor heads to Paradise Island, Bahamas, for the sixth-annual Battle 4 Atlantis.
- BU places VCU in the first bracketed game at 1:30 p.m. CT Wednesday on ESPN2. If the Bears win that game they will be on ESPN or ESPN2 for the final two games. With a loss to VCU, Baylor will play on AXS TV.
- The Bears' second game in the Bahamas will be against either Michigan State or St. John's and will tip at either 11 a.m. or 6 p.m. BU will face either Louisville, Wichita State, LSU or Old Dominion in Friday's third game in as many days.

"Dunk City" is coming to Waco.

Florida Gulf Coast (1-1), which made a splash four years ago when the Eagles became the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, will face the Baylor Bears (2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday at the Ferrell Center.

"This is a team that's used to winning and is very well-coached," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Coach (Joe) Dooley was at Kansas for a number of years as an assistant, so they're familiar with some of the things we like to do on the offensive and defensive end. . . . When you watch film on Florida Gulf Coast, it's easy to get their attention. Players know players, and right away they can see they're very talented."

The challenge for the Bears is putting Tuesday's 66-49 upset of fourth-ranked Oregon behind them. That was Baylor's fourth win over a top-five team in the Drew era and its 36th consecutive non-conference home win.

"Human nature, coming off a big win, you have to make sure you're ready and focused for the next game," Drew said. "Coaches are always going to tell 18- to 22-year-olds what they need to do. When they believe it, it means a little more. The good thing is Ish (Wainright) is our lone senior and he's done a good job conveying to the team the importance of the next game and every game."

The 6-5 Wainright, who is averaging 7.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists, says, "It's not hard to put the (Oregon) game behind, because you've got to think about it as on to the next one."

In the last one, 7-foot junior center Jo Lual-Acuil had a monster game with eight points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks as the Bears dominated the boards (41-30) while holding the visiting Ducks to just 32.8 percent shooting from the field and 14.3 percent from 3-point range.

"When you have someone blocking shots and erasing mistakes, it allows other people to gamble more," Drew said. "That's the beauty of having a rim protector."

More than just his pure defensive presence in the middle, Lual-Acuil is a great communicator on the defensive end.

"Jo is always pointing and telling us where we need to be," sophomore guard Jake Lindsey said. "Sometimes, when you play the wing, there are guys behind you and you've got to know where they are. So, we rely on him. It's not just the length and athleticism, it's the awareness and timing that's a big factor that helps us."

Baylor also welcomed back its other rim protector, 6-10 junior forward Johnathan Motley. He served a one-game suspension for last Friday's season-opening win over Oral Roberts and is also coming back from an ankle injury, but he had 17 points, seven boards and one block in 28 minutes in the win over Oregon.

Drew said Motley had no swelling or excessive soreness in the ankle after the game.

"It will be a gradual process, but there was no setback," he said. "The good thing is he played a lot more minutes and played a lot better than we expected him to, based on his limited mobility up until the day of the game."

Like Oregon, who was missing preseason All-American Dillon Brooks, Florida Gulf Coast will be without one of its top players. Marc-Eddy Norelia, a 6-8 senior forward and returning all-conference player who averaged 17.1 points and 9.3 rebounds, has missed the Eagles' first two games after suffering a broken left (shooting) hand last month in practice.

With Norelia leading the way, Florida Gulf Coast led the nation in two-point shooting percentage last season. But this year, the Eagles have relied more on their perimeter shooting, hitting a cool 40 percent (16-of-40) from outside the arc.

In Wednesday's matchup of mid-major powers, guards Zach Johnson and Brandon Goodwin scored 24 points apiece and combined to hit 5-of-11 from 3-point range as the Eagles overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to defeat UT-Arlington, 85-72.

Goodwin (19.0) and Johnson (15.0) are averaging double-figure points, while preseason A-Sun Defensive Player of the Year Demetris Morant is averaging 6.5 points and 8.5 boards.

"We know they're more than capable inside," Drew said. "And with their emerging outside game, it makes it tougher to guard a team that does both."

Friday's game is one of the designated mainland games for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. The Bears play VCU at 1:30 p.m. CST next Wednesday in the Bahamas in a tournament that also includes No. 12 Louisville and 13th-ranked Michigan State.