Baylor
Morehead State
#3/4 WBB Faces Morehead State at Home Wednesday at Noon
12/11/2018 2:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Lady Bears and Eagles meet for first time ever in Baylor's first home game in nearly a month
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#3/4 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (7-0) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
#3/4 BAYLOR (7-0) VS. MOREHEAD STATE (7-2) December 12, 2018 • Noon CT Waco, Texas • Ferrell Center (10,284) LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast  WATCH: Fox Sports Southwest | Fox Sports GO AppTalent: John Morris (PBP), Jim Haller (Color) LISTEN: BaylorBears.com/1660 AM/92.3 FM Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Color) Baylor Social Media:    Channel Lineup: DISH: 416 DIRECTV: 676 UVERSE: SD: 753 HD: 1753 GRANDE: SD: 27 HD: 27 |
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MOREHEAD STATE EAGLES (7-2) Location: Morehead, Ky. Conference: Atlantic 10 Head Coach: Greg Todd (Eastern Kentucky, 1983) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
More than the noon tipoff times for the next two games, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey is worried about the challenge of another extended break for the Christmas holiday.
"The challenge is that it's Christmas time," said Mulkey, whose No. 3/4 Lady Bears (7-0) will have 15 days off after hosting Morehead State (7-2) at noon Wednesday at the Ferrell Center and playing No. 11 Stanford (6-1) at noon PST Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif. "There's always a challenge for me in scheduling. Coming back, it's conditioning. You can give them a workout schedule, but it's not like being in the gym with your coach and your teammates."
Wednesday's game against Morehead State is Baylor's first since beating then-No. 18 South Carolina, 94-69, in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge 10 days ago in Columbia, S.C., when Kalani Brown had 22 points and Chloe Jackson 19.
"We're playing very good," Mulkey said. "How do I gauge that? Not just from the South Carolina victory but by what we're doing every day in practice."
During the nine-day break for semester finals, Mulkey said the Lady Bears "worked on ourselves."
"We worked on executing in the half-court offense, because we have too many turnovers," she said. "Then, we worked one day on nothing but defense, transition defense, communicating on defense. I think a lot of the mistakes made defensively right now are because we're not a very vocal team. We're very quiet."
That's particularly true at the point guard position, where Jackson and Juicy Landrum have had to replace Alexis Morris after the sophomore was dismissed from the team. A grad transfer, Jackson was a shooting guard at LSU.
"You have to pull it out every day," Mulkey said. "I can't in one year all of a sudden make her very vocal. If I can do it just a little, it will help us. Juicy is another one who is very quiet. By nature, we have three kids on our team that will open their mouth and be vocal. We just need to spread that and get more."
Of a heralded recruiting class that was ranked No. 1 in the country, Mulkey said, "Some of those freshmen are game-ready at this level, some are not. That doesn't mean they aren't talented."
NaLyssa Smith has made the biggest impact among the five freshmen, averaging 12.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, but 6-3 center Queen Egbo is the one that's had the light switch come on during the last week of practice.
"You'll have a different one every week, every month," Mulkey said. "The light will come on, and they'll grasp it and run with it. This past week was Queen. I'll be curious to see how she plays the next two games."
Morehead State opened the season with six consecutive wins before an 87-57 loss at Kentucky. The Eagles, picked fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference coaches' preseason poll, bounced back with an 85-63 win at home over Evansville.
A returning all-conference pick, 5-8 senior guard Miranda Crockett is tops among four double-figure scorers, averaging 20.2 points per game. A trio of transfers – Allyah Jeune from Rutgers (19.6), Darianne Seward from Detroit (12.0) and McKenzie Calvert from Texas Tech (10.4) – also help Morehead State rank third nationally with 89.3 points per game.
Calvert, originally a Baylor commit out of Cibolo Steele High School, also made stops at USC and Kansas before playing in just five games last fall at Tech.
"We had the conversation in the locker room after practice today that finals will be over with here shortly, and now all you have to do is focus on basketball," Mulkey said. "We'll play the Stanford game, and then they'll go home for an extended period of time. Then, we'll come back and have two more non-conference games before conference starts."
An estimated 6,000 elementary and middle school students are expected to attend Wednesday's "I'm Going to College Day" game.
LADY BEARS SHINE AT SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE SEC/BIG 12 CHALLENGE
In front of a nationally-televised audience on ESPN2, the No. 4 Baylor Lady Bears flexed their muscles at No. 18/19 South Carolina jumping out to a commanding 40-13 lead in the second quarter and led by as many as 30 points in the second half. A balanced scoring effort led by Kalani Brown's 22 points and Chloe Jackson's 19 paced Baylor as the Lady Bears improved to 50-13 since the 2010-11 season vs. ranked opponents away from Waco. Under Kim Mulkey, Baylor is 149-70 vs. Top 25 teams since her arrival in 2000-01. With two storied coaches in Mulkey and South Carolina's Dawn Staley, the matchup marked the first for both programs. Baylor improved to 98-78 all-time vs. the SEC, and the game, which was a part of the SEC/Big 12 challenge helped the Big 12 split the challenge 5-5 for the second-straight season.
NICE TO MEET YOU: MOREHEAD STATE IN SHORT
Baylor hasn't faced many Atlantic 10 teams in its history with a 2-1 record vs. those schools, and Wednesday's matchup will mark the first between Morehead State and Baylor. Both teams rank in the top 5 nationally in scoring offense with the Eagles checking in at No. 3 (89.3 ppg) and the Lady Bears at No. 5 (86.9). The Eagles enter with a 7-2 record, and their only game vs. a Top 25 opponent came with a 30-point loss to Kentucky (87-57) Nov. 28. Senior guard Miranda Crockett leads the offensive charge for the Eagles averaging 20.0 points per game while shooting 60 percent from the floor. Greg Todd is in his fifth season as the head coach of Morehead State and the Eagles are 71-60 in his tenure.
JACKSON TO BE HONORED PRE-GAME FOR 1,000 CAREER POINTS; BROWN & COX MOVE UP LEADER BOARDS
Chloe Jackson reached 1,000 career points Nov. 23 vs. South Dakota State at the South Point Shootout in Las Vegas. Jackson will receive a commemorative ball for her achievement; she has five career points with NC State (2014-15), 944 with LSU (2016-18) and 82 through seven games with Baylor, entering Wednesday's contest with 1,031 points.
Kalani Brown cracked the Baylor top 10 in career points (1,717) and tied for third in career blocks (182) at South Carolina with 22 and two, respectively. In addition, Lauren Cox's two blocks at South Carolina gave her sole possession of fifth place all-time with 161. Brown is just four points and four rebounds away from tying for ninth in both cateogries.
POUND THE PAINT, CLEAN THE GLASS: LADY BEARS AMONG NATION'S BEST IN REBOUNDING, SCORING EFFICIENCY
In 10 categories other than win percentage – where Baylor is tied with a handful of teams with an undefeated record – the Lady Bears rank in the top 10 statistically. But, the Lady Bears are tops in the nation (as of Dec. 9) in field goal percentage (.559), defensive rebounds per game (35.0) and rebound margin (+18.9). The Lady Bears have two players in the nation's top 25 for field goal percentage with NaLyssa Smith (12th, .632) and Kalani Brown (17th, .617) with efficient starts to the season. Baylor's rebounding is a staple of the program, the Lady Bears have out-rebounded all seven opponents this season, Baylor won the rebounding battle in 34 of 35 contests last year, and in 76 of the last 79 contests, BU has had the upper hand on the boards.
LADY BEARS ON THE RUN
Baylor's 15-0 run at No. 18/19 South Carolina (12/2) beginning with the last seven points of the first quarter and the first eight of the second marked the eighth run of 10 or more unanswered on the season. The Lady Bears have also put together three runs of 20 or more points, and the only game in which BU hasn't had a run of 10 or more came in a 21-point win over Georgetown (11/24). In addition, Baylor is out-scoring opponents 104-28 on the fastbreak this season.
SHARING IS CARING: BAYLOR LEADS NATION IN ASSISTS PER GAME
Baylor's 24.3 assists per contest ranks No. 1 in the nation. In fact, out of Baylor's 224 made field goals this season, the Lady Bears have assisted on 159 marking 70.9 percent of the team's buckets coming on an assist from a teammate.
PROTECTING HOME FLOOR
The Lady Bears are riding a 25-game win streak at the Ferrell Center with their last loss coming Feb. 6, 2017 to Texas (85-79). In addition, Baylor has 42 consecutive wins over non-conference opponents at home with the last loss coming to UConn (66-55) Jan. 13, 2014. Baylor is 144-3 all-time vs. non-conference opponents at home under Mulkey and 298-22 overall since her arrival in 2000-01.
JACKSON, LANDRUM THRIVING AT POINT GUARD OUT OF POSITION
Head Coach Kim Mulkey said at the Big 12 Women's Basketball Tipoff Oct. 16 that she had never entered a season without knowing who her point guard would be. Despite that fact, Baylor has had no trouble distributing or sharing the ball through six games this season. Through Dec. 9, Baylor ranked tops in the nation in assists per game (24.3) and No. 4 in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.57).
Chloe Jackson and Juicy Landrum, true-two guards, are the Lady Bears' primary point guards this season and both have met the challenge thus far with success. Jackson ranks 20th in nation in assists per game (6.3) while Landrum ranks ninth in the country in assists-to-turnover ratio at 3.67:1. Landrum is second on the team with 33 assists (4.7 p/g), and DiDi Richards is averaging 4.0 assists per contest through seven games.
I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE, SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME: BROWN & COX EARN ANOTHER SPOT ON PROMINENT WATCH LIST
Kalani Brown and Lauren Cox garnered recognition from several voting entities for the upcoming season. The latest came Nov. 20 when the WBCA put both players on the Wade Trophy Watch List – Brown's second time to be a selection. The John Wooden Award selected both players to the Top 30 Watch List for its annual All-American team and Most Outstanding Player award.
The senior, Brown, and junior Cox have been tabbed by many as the best post combo in the nation, and the pair has combined for six preseason All-America honors with Brown taking home four and Cox a pair. Brown was a first-team selection by the Associated Press, Athlon, Street & Smith's and Lindy's Sports while Cox earned second-team nods from Athlon and Street & Smith's.
Both players were selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 team and Brown was selected to repeat as Big 12 Player of the Year. Brown is also on the WBCA's Lisa Leslie Award Watch List for the nation's top center while Cox is on the Katrina McCalin Award Watch List for top power forward.
ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END: BROWN'S CONSECUTIVE GAMES PLAYED, GAMES STARTED STREAK SNAPPED
After a mild sprained ankle after Baylor's game at Arizona State Nov. 11, Kalani Brown's streak of 113-straight games played and 64-straight games started came to an end as she missed BU's 94-49 win over Southern Nov. 15. Brown returned to action at the South Point Shootout as she averaged 11 points and eight boards. Brown's streak of 23-straight games with double-figure scoring came to an end when she scored nine vs. Georgetown (11/24).
BAYLOR SIGNS TOP-10 PROSPECT OLIVER AS LONE ADDITION TO 2019 SIGNING CLASS
A year after signing five players and accepting a graduate transfer, Jordyn Oliver gets all the Lady Bears' attention this season as the No. 10-ranked national prospect (Collegiate Girls Basketball Report) signed with Baylor. Oliver, a Prosper, Texas native is a 3-time TABC All-State selection, and was also ranked No. 11 by ESPN Hoopgurlz.
MULKEY'S MIDAS TOUCH: 1,100 WINS
Everything head coach Kim Mulkey touches doesn't necessarily turn to gold, but if it has to do with college basketball, nearly everything she touches results in a win. Baylor's win vs. Nicholls (Nov. 6) gave Mulkey 1,100 wins combined as a collegiate player (130, La. Tech), assistant coach (430, La. Tech) & head coach (540, Baylor). In those capacities, Mulkey's teams are a combined 1,100-192 for an astounding .851 winning percentage.
FIERCE FIVE: FISH EAGER TO MAKE MARK AFTER SELECTION AS NO. 1 RECRUITING CLASS
For the second time in program history, the Baylor women's basketball team signed the nation's top recruiting class and the "Fierce Five" freshmen are three games deep into 2018-19. Caitlin Bickle, Aquira DeCosta, Queen Egbo, Honesty Scott-Grayson and NaLyssa Smith all signed with the Lady Bears and all were ranked in the Top 30 overall by ESPN Hoopgurlz and boasted a five-star rating. Smith is shining brightest through the first seven games averaging 12.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest while picking up the Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Week award Nov 12.
LADY BEARS' NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE HAS FOUR FROM TOP 25
Baylor defeated No. 23 Arizona State 65-59 Nov. 11 in the first of four non-conference opponents ranked in the AP Top 25. Next, Baylor defeated No. 18/19 South Carolina Dec. 2 on their home floor 94-69. Later the Lady Bears will play at No. 11/11 Stanford Dec. 15, and plays host to No. 1/2 UConn Jan. 3 in Waco.
