Cal Stands in the Way of No. 1 WBB's 11th-Straight Bid to NCAA Sweet 16 Monday



	^#1/1 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (32-1) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes	^#1/1 BAYLOR (32-1) vs. CALIFORNIA (20-12) March 25, 2019 • 8 p.m. Waco, Texas • Ferrell Center (10,284) LIVE STATS: Live Stats WATCH: Watch ESPN Talent: Pam Ward (PBP), Carolyn Peck (Color) LISTEN: BaylorBears.com/1660 AM/92.9 FM Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Color) Baylor Social Media: Channel Lineup: DISH: 140 DIRECTV: 206 UVERSE: 602 GRANDE: 24

	CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS (20-12) Location: Berkeley, Calif. Conference: Pac-12 Head Coach: Lindsey Gottlieb (Brown, 1999) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes

NCAA First & Second Round Central | Baylor Postseason Media Guide

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Having played against them two years ago at this same point and watching countless hours of game film, there was little about top-ranked Baylor (32-1) that surprised Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb in the Lady Bears' 95-38 dismantling of Abilene Christian.
            What was "eye-popping," though, was just the "waves and waves of players that don't get all the attention," she said. "They're just All-American after All-American coming off the bench at every spot. I think also just seeing them in person, the size and the length and how hard they play is impressive. They have an incredible team."
            For the third time in six years, Gottlieb's Golden Bears (20-12) will get a shot at the Lady Bears in a second-round matchup at the Ferrell Center, with aa Sweet 16 berth on the line in Monday's 8 p.m. game. A Final Four team in 2013, Cal lost 75-56 in Waco in 2014, then got crushed 86-46 two years ago.
            "It's not just one or two people," Gottlieb said of Baylor. "Obviously, there's a lot of attention around (Lauren) Cox and Kalani (Brown), but they can roll in players off the bench."
            It's that matchup in the middle that will draw the attention of WNBA coaches and fans alike. The 6-foot-7 Brown (15.8 ppg, 8.1 rebounds) and 6-4 Cal senior Kristine Anigwe (22.8 ppg, 16.5 rebounds) were both named second-team All-Americans by espnW and are expected to be first-round picks in next month's WNBA Draft.
            This could be one of the rare times, if ever, that Brown and Anigwe actually get a one-on-one matchup.
            "Maybe, I'm praying," said Brown, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's first-round blowout of ACU. "Not many people get to see two bigs go at it. I know Kristine probably doesn't see a lot of one-on-ones on her end, either, so she's probably begging (for) a one-on-one. Just to get loose and do moves you don't usually do and you can actually put the ball down more, I'm looking forward to a one-on-one."
             Two years, Anigwe put up the best numbers with 20 points and 11 rebounds, but she also had 11 of the Golden Bears' 24 turnovers. Brown played just 15 minutes, hitting 4-of-5 from the field and finishing with eight points, six rebounds and two steals.
            In Cal's 92-72 first-round win over North Carolina, Anigwe scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half and finished with a mind-blowing 22 rebounds. She is the only player in the NCAA, men's or women's, that has recorded a double-double in every game this season.
            "She's one of our main factors to focus on as far as boxing out and offensive rebounding," Brown said. "We're going to try and be physical. It's going to be physical, because Kristine is naturally physical. She always has been a physical kid, so I can't give anything. I have to come out with physicality, for sure."
            Brown and the 6-4 Cox are both looking forward to fewer double- and triple-team defenses against Cal, which also brings 6-4 junior CJ West off the bench.
            "They might still throw a double-team at us, but it's going to be three and four people coming and crowding around us, because they do have the size and they can bang around with us inside," said Cox, who is averaging 12.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. "When you have smaller, guard-like posts on you, they're just all up under you, you can't really move much, and they're just trying to be physical with you."
            Brown simply calls the smaller post players "annoying."
            "We like playing people our height or taller. because in a way they challenge us more than shorter people do," Brown said. "You're getting challenged by someone who can do the same things you can."
            Anigwe says she just likes playing basketball, "so I enjoy playing if they're bigger than more or if they're the same size as me or they're smaller than me. It doesn't really matter."
            Although Cal saw similar size and physicality in three games against Stanford, "no one is Baylor's front court," Gottlieb said. "There's just nobody in the country like them."
            Still, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey is expecting a "Sweet 16 atmosphere" against a Cal team that has "outstanding post play."
            "They have outstanding guards, they are a team that has upperclassmen. They just match up well with us. I think it's going to be just a battle," Mulkey said.
            One of those guards is a familiar face. Recee Caldwell (10.0 ppg, 4.6 assists) is a grad transfer from Texas Tech who played her freshman season at UCLA after originally committing to Baylor.
            "I'm pretty familiar with Baylor, just being in the Big 12 for three years and being committed to them in the eighth grade or whatever grade I was in," said Caldwell, who struggled in three losses against Baylor, averaging just seven points and hitting 1-of-16 from 3-point range. "I know a lot of the players, I know how they play. I still remember scouting report stuff from Texas Tech. Having a sense of familiarity in who you pay is really nice, but at the end of the day it's basketball."
            Senior guard Asha Thomas (10.6 ppg, 3.8 assists) says Caldwell brings "her overall leadership, being vocal, seeing the floor, her IQ is very high for us and she see things two and three steps ahead than maybe I do sometimes. But, she's definitely a big part of who we are right now."
            Baylor counters with a grad transfer at point guard as well in Chloe Jackson, who is averaging 11.2 points and 5.5 assists after two years at LSU. She won her first NCAA Tournament game on Saturday after first-round exits the previous two seasons at LSU.
            "It definitely took some weight off my shoulders getting past the first round," Jackson said. "Every win is a good win, especially in the tournament, because you don't want to take anyone lightly. This game is going to be just as good as a Sweet 16 game."
            The winner of Monday's game advances to the Sweet 16 in Greensboro, N.C., for a region semifinal matchup against fourth-seeded South Carolina (23-9), which got by fifth-seeded Florida State, 72-64.
            Baylor played the Gamecocks back on Dec. 2 in Columbia, S.C., rolling to a 94-69 win behind a 22-point, nine-rebound effort from Brown. Of the eight teams that have already earned Sweet 16 berths, the Lady Bears also posted wins over Arizona State (65-59) and UConn (68-57).


LADY BEARS WIN IN DOMINANT FASHION OVER ACU TO MOVE ON TO ROUND OF 32
   Baylor dismantled ACU Saturday night, setting the tone with a 20-0 start to the ball game and coasting to a 95-38 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Ferrell Center. Baylor's 61 rebounds and nine 3-point field goals set and tied a program best, respectively for the NCAA Tournament in victory. Kalani Brown's 17 points and 11 rebounds led the way for Baylor, and the senior, Brown, moved to fourth all-time on the BU career list for rebounds (1,084), fifth in career double-doubles (38) and fifth all-time in free throws made (433) in the win. Four other players finished in double figures with Lauren Cox, Juicy Landrum and NaLyssa Smith scoring 14 apiece and Aquira DeCosta added 11.
   Landrum and DeCosta hit three 3-pointers apiece and also helped Baylor set a program best for 3-point field goal percentage in the NCAA Tournament at a .692 clip on 9-of-13 shooting. Baylor will face Cal in the second round for the third time since 2014.

FERRELL CENTER A DANGEROUS PLACE FOR BU OPPONENTS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
   Baylor's win over Abilene Christian marked the 15^th-straight win at the Ferrell Center for the Lady Bears in NCAA competition. BU is 16-1 all-time at home in the NCAA Tournament and hasn't lost in such a contest since March 17, 2002 vs. Drake (76-72) – Cal is victim to two of those losses with second round losses to BU in 2014 and 2017.
   In addition, Baylor holds a 38-game win streak overall at the Ferrell Center, a 48-game home win streak over non-conference opponents at home, and head coach Kim Mulkey's teams are 148-3 all-time vs. non-conference opponents at home.

BAYLOR LADY BEARS TAKE HOME BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS NO. 19 AND NO. 20
   Kim Mulkey arrived as head coach of the Lady Bears in 2000-01, and in her 19 seasons she has claim to 20 Big 12 Championships. The Lady Bears ran the table for the fourth time in school history with an 18-0 record to claim their 10^th regular season championship and rolled through the Big 12 Championship tournament in Oklahoma City March 9-11 to capture their 10^th tournament title.

BROWN PICKS UP 9^TH ALL-AMERICA HONOR AS THE CENTER IS A 2^ND TEAM CHOICE FROM ESPNW
   Kalani Brown entered the 2018-19 season with eight different all-America honors to her credit; two from her sophomore season and six last year. The first of likely more this season came March 14 when Brown was named to ESPNW.com exclusive list on the second team.

LADY BEARS RACK UP BIG 12 POSTSEASON HONORS
   Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey was named Big 12 Coach of the Year for the seventh time, Lauren Cox earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors for the second-straight season and Kalani Brown along with Cox were named All-Big 12 First Team members, the league announced Wednesday. In addition, Baylor landed guards Chloe Jackson and Juicy Landrum on the All-Big 12 Second Team while setting a record by landing three players from the same school on the Big 12 All-Defensive Team with DiDi Richards joining Cox and Brown. Brown's nod to the first team was her third, while Cox earned first-team honors for the second time.

LADY BEARS ARE NO. 1 FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2013, BUT BAYLOR HASN'T GONE ANYWHERE
     Much was made when Baylor returned as No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 Jan. 28. However, Baylor has ranked in the top 10 in the AP poll for 91 consecutive weeks with high-rankings of two with the lowest being 13 since the 2013-14 season prior to regaining the top spot. Those 91-straight weeks mark the third-longest active streak in the nation next to UConn and Notre Dame. In fact, Baylor holds the second-longest active streak of ranking in the AP Top 25 at 298 weeks.

BROWN AND COX UP FOR SEVERAL NATIONAL AWARDS, MULKEY A FINALIST FOR NAISMITH COACH OF THE YEAR
   Feb. 14 Lauren Cox was named a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame's Katrina McClain Award, honoring the nation's top power forward for the second-straight year, while Brown was named a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award, honoring the nation's top center for the second-consecutive season Feb. 15.
   In addition, both players were named semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award (Cox a finalist), and the post duo was each considered for the Wade Trophy as late-season watch list members. Brown made the national ballot for the John Wooden Award along with 15 other top NCAA women's players.
   March 4, Brown was among 10 semifinalists to be considered for the Citizen Naismith Trophy honoring women's basketball's top college player.

MULKEY NAMED TO NAISMITH WOMEN'S COACH OF THE YEAR LATE-SEASON WATCH LIST
    March 22 the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced the four finalists for the 2019 Werner Ladder Naismith Women's Coach of the Year Award, and Baylor's Kim Mulkey was named along with Iowa's Lisa Bluder, NC State's Wes Moore and Mississippi State's Vic Schaefer.
   Entering into the NCAA Tournament, Mulkey has a career record of 570-99, good for an .852 winning percentage.
   This season, the Lady Bears are 8-1 vs. the AP Top 25, including a win over No. 1 UConn Jan. 3 in Waco. Mulkey helped the team to a regular season and tournament championship in the Big 12, and the Lady Bears have the nation's longest active winning streak at 23 games.

INTERIOR DEFENSE DOMINANT
   While some may look at the fact that Baylor has surrendered 242 3-point field goals this season (most by a Big 12 school) as a negative, take into account that only 722 of 1,783 points given up by Baylor this season have come on two-point field goals. That' s just 361 two-pointers in 33 games, which averages 10.9 2-point field goals per game or 21.8 points per game given up inside the 3-point arc this season.

POUND THE PAINT, CLEAN THE GLASS, D-UP: LADY BEARS AMONG NATION'S BEST IN REBOUNDING, SCORING EFFICIENCY, DEFENSE
   In 14 statistical categories, the Lady Bears rank in the top 10 nationally. But, the Lady Bears (thru games March 20) rank tops in the nation in defensive rebounds per game (33.0), rebound margin (+16.8) and field goal percentage defense (.312) while ranking fourth in field goal percentage (.500). Kalani Brown ranks seventh in the nation in field goal percentage at a .623 clip. In addition to the nation's best defensive field goal percentage, the Lady Bears rank tops in the nation in blocked shots per game (7.1), led by Lauren Cox's 2.53 per contest. Baylor's rebounding is a staple of the program, and the Lady Bears have out-rebounded its opponents in 31 of 32 games this season, Baylor won the rebounding battle in 34 of 35 contests last year, and in 100 of the last 104 contests, BU has had the upper hand on the boards. Baylor outscores its opponents in the paint by an average of 45.6 to 15.6 through 32 games this season.

LADY BEARS ON THE RUN
   Baylor has 32 runs this season of at least 10 unanswered points including at least one in 12 of the 18 Big 12 regular-season contests. In 21 of 33 games this season, the Lady Bears have had at least one such run, and Baylor has also put together six runs of 20 or more points. In addition, Baylor is dominating opponents in transition, out-scoring opponents 349-77 on the fast break this season.

SHARING IS CARING: BAYLOR LEADS NATION IN ASSISTS PER GAME
   Baylor's 22.6 assists per contest ranks best in the nation (thru March 20) while the Lady Bears rank second in assists-to-turnover ratio at 1.73:1. Chloe Jackson's 5.47 assists per contest (ranks 27th nationally) and 2.32:1 assists-to-turnover ratio (ranks 31^st nationally) lead Baylor. DiDi Richards is averaging 4.0 assists per contest while ranking 21st nationally in assists-to-turnover ratio at 2.61:1 and post Lauren Cox ranks 24th in that category at 2.53:1. Juicy Landrum also ranks fifth in the Big 12 in assists-to-turnover ratio while third on the team at 3.9 assists per contest. As a team Baylor's ball distribution has been the hallmark of the offense in 2018-19. In fact, out of Baylor's 1,026 made field goals this season, the Lady Bears have assisted on 723 marking 70.4 percent of the team's buckets coming on an assist from a teammate.

50 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: BAYLOR NEARLY UNBEATABLE WHEN HITTING HALF ITS SHOTS
   In just one occurrence since Kim Mulkey's arrival at Baylor in the 2000-01 season have the Lady Bears lost a game when shooting 50 percent or better. Baylor's record under Mulkey when shooting 50 percent or better is 215-1, and the Lady Bears are 36-0 when shooting 60 percent or better. The lone loss came in the 2017 NCAA Tournament when Baylor fell to Mississippi State in the Elite 8, 94-85 on March 26 despite shooting 53.3 percent from the floor.

ABOUT BAYLOR'S HISTORIC WIN OVER NO. 1 UCONN
   Two elite programs met in Waco Jan. 3, and for the first time in school history (previously 0-14) the Baylor Lady Bears knocked off a No. 1-ranked team with UConn falling 68-57 at a sold-out Ferrell Center on ESPN. Not only did Baylor win the game, the Lady Bears put an end to a long line of streaks set by the Huskies, who are the standard for women's basketball with 11 NCAA Championships. Baylor's victory ended a streak of 126 consecutive regular season games for the Huskies and a streak of 55 consecutive regular season road wins. UConn had won 209 straight games in regulation; it's last loss in regulation also came to No. 1 Baylor Dec. 18, 2011.
   The Lady Bears' 11-point win was the largest margin of victory for a team vs. UConn since Feb. 27, 2012 when UConn fell to Notre Dame 72-59. In addition, Baylor's defense held UConn to just a 29.4 shooting percentage, its lowest in any game the past 20 seasons.
   Baylor became the third Big 12 school to ever defeat a No. 1 team joining Texas Tech who accomplished the feat twice and Texas, and just the second time that a Big 12 team has beaten a No. 1 in a non-conference matchup.
   BU's big win kept an overall home win streak at the Ferrell Center alive at 28 games while extending its non-conference home win streak to 47 games.

BROWN PICKS UP ESPNW NATIONAL HONOR AFTER LEADING BAYLOR TO WIN OVER NO. 1 UCONN
   Kalani Brown didn't shy away from the spotlight when the lights came on Jan. 3 vs. No. 1 UConn. In front of a sold-out crowd at the Ferrell Center and nationally televised on ESPN, the senior post put up 22 points and a season-high 17 rebounds. She was 11-for-17 from the floor in 36 minutes of play. Her games that week also included performances vs. UTRGV and at Texas Tech, but ESPNW.com singled out her performance against the No. 1 Huskies and tabbed her National Player of the Week on Jan. 7.

Cal Stands in the Way of No. 1 WBB's 11th-Straight Bid to NCAA Sweet 16 Monday

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Cal Stands in the Way of No. 1 WBB's 11th-Straight Bid to NCAA Sweet 16 Monday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kalani Brown

Lauren Cox

Aquira DeCosta

Chloe Jackson

Juicy Landrum

DiDi Richards

NaLyssa Smith

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