Baylor's Fourth Final Four Kicks Off Tonight vs. Oregon

Friday, April 5

Tampa, Fla.

6:00 PM CT

Baylor

Oregon

Baylor's Fourth Final Four Kicks Off Tonight vs. Oregon

4/5/2019 7:43:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Lady Bears look to advance to third title game in 15 years



	^#1/1 BAYLOR LADY BEARS (35-1) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Kim Mulkey (La. Tech, 1984) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes	^#1/1 BAYLOR (35-1) vs. ^#7/7OREGON (33-4) April 5, 2019 • 6 p.m. (CT) Tampa, Fla. • Amalie Arena (20,500) LIVE STATS: Live Stats WATCH: Watch ESPN Talent: Adam Amin (PBP), Rebecca Lobo (Color), Cara Lawson (Color), Holly Rowe (Sideline) LISTEN: BaylorBears.com/1660 AM/92.9 FM Talent: Bruce Gietzen (PBP), Maggie Davis-Stinnett (Color) Baylor Social Media: Channel Lineup: DISH: 143 DIRECTV: 209 UVERSE: 606/1606 GRANDE: 34

	^7/7 OREGON DUCKS (33-4) Location: Eugene, Ore. Conference: Pac 12 Head Coach: Kelly Graves (New Mexico, 1988) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes

Baylor Postseason Media Guide

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            TAMPA, Fla. – Different opponent, different venue, bigger stage.
But, for the second time in as many games, the top-ranked Baylor Lady Bears (35-1) will face a national player of the year.
            After taking care of Megan Gustafson and the Iowa Hawkeyes, 85-53, four days ago, the Lady Bears will try to slow down Wade Trophy winner Sabrina Ionescu and the seventh-ranked Oregon Ducks (33-4) at 6 p.m. CDT Friday in the national semifinals at Amalie Arena.
            "She certainly is not the only great player on that team, but it starts and stops with her," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said of the 5-11 junior guard, who is averaging 19.9 points, 8.2 assists and 7.5 rebounds going into the Final Four. Ionescu was also named the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year.
            "What a talent. What a joy to watch, if you're not having to play against her. The thing that I love more than her talent is I love the way she competes. She's got that oomph in her. She makes everybody around her better. She's just a special, special talent."
            While Oregon is in its first Final Four in program history, Baylor made it for the fourth time overall and first since going 40-0 in winning it all in 2012. The Lady Bears won their first national championship in 2005, with their previous titles coming seven years apart. And here we are seven years later . . .
            "I haven't (thought about that)," Mulkey said, "but if you say so, I believe you. I don't give much thought to it, but yeah, that is kind of unique, isn't it?"
            Mulkey has continued to "feed the beast" she created with that first national title in '05, making it to the Sweet 16 for the 11^thconsecutive year and getting back into the Final Four after a six-year drought.
            "I don't look at it like, 'Oh my gosh, it's been seven years!''' she said. "Baylor is still in an elite program, we're in our fourth Final Four. Coaches coach a lifetime and never make it. I just don't tend to put a timeframe on it. I just want to always be one of the teams talked about that has a chance to be there every year. I think we always have been that type of program. . . . I'm happy for Kalani Brown and Chloe Jackson, your seniors, but I'm also happy for Baylor University."
            Baylor's #TTT hashtag has changed from Together to Tampa to Take the Title.
            "She's just trying to keep us focused," said 6-4 junior forward Lauren Cox, who is averaging 12.9 points, 8.3 rebound and 2.5 blocks. "(Mulkey) said we can't be content with just getting here. We have to stay focused and make it all the way."
            Including four as a player and three as an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech, this is Mulkey's 11^thFinal Four. Oregon coach Kelly Graves made it for the first time in his fifth season at Oregon and 22^ndas a Division I head coach.
            "I think professionally, obviously, this is something every coach wants a chance to do," said Graves, whose teams were knocked out in the Elite Eight each of the previous two years. "I was really emotional when I saw (Virginia men's coach) Tony Bennett, all the things that he said, because he's been working so hard his whole life to get there. It's a special time. . . . I actually had a chance to spend a little bit of time with (UConn coach Geno Auriemma) last night. He kind of welcomed me to that club. That really meant something."
            Friday's game will be a matchup of drastically contrasting styles.
            Oregon has been compared to the Golden State Warriors, averaging nearly 10 made 3-pointers per game and launching 869 shots from outside the arc this season. Four of the Ducks' five starters have knocked down at least 60 3-pointers, led by 6-2 sophomore Erin Boley with 104. They lead the nation in 3-point shooting percentage (41.9) and rank third in scoring offense with 85.4 points per game.
            "This team just gets it," Graves said. "They know how to play pick-and-roll basketball, they know how to spread the floor, they love the 3-point shot. It does help that we have a hammer inside like (6-4 junior forward Ruthy Hebard) that we can go to if we need it. I don't know if (Golden State's DeMarcus Cousins) has quite gotten to that level yet. He's still looking up to Ruthy, I think."
            Baylor doesn't have any problems scoring, either, averaging 81.9 points per game to rank seventh nationally. The glaring difference is the Lady Bears have attempted fewer 3-pointers (304) than Oregon has made (362).
            Described as more of an old-school or traditional offense, Baylor relies heavily on the low-post combination of Cox and 6-7 senior All-American Kalani Brown (15.5 ppg, 8.1 rebounds). But, guards Chloe Jackson and Juicy Landrum are averaging 11.4 and 11.3 points, respectively, and 6-1 sophomore DiDi Richards pumped in 41 points in the two games at the Greensboro Regional.
            "You play to your personnel," Mulkey said. "I'm 6-7 and 6-4 inside. I'm not going to tell Kalani to go outside and start shooting 3's. You change, you adapt to whatever your personnel is doing. I have two freshman posts that are more athletic. You don't see us run the same stuff when they go in the game. I guess you can call me old, you can call me old-fashioned. I'm good with all of it. I just play to win."
            While Baylor has to contend with the slick ball-handling, shooting and driving skills of Ionescu, Hebard and 6-4 sophomore Satou Sabally will be matched against Brown and Cox.
             In the Portland Region final, Mississippi State's 6-7 center Teaira McCowan was 6-of-10 from the floor and finished with 19 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks, but Ionescu scored 31 points in the Ducks' 88-84 win.
        Graves said it will take "40 minutes of extreme effort, focus and concentration" by Hebard to contend against Brown.
            "She's got her work cut out for her, whether she's guarding Cox or Brown or whomever inside," Graves said. "They're tremendous players, All-Americans. She's just going to have to suck it up and do it like she's been doing. I thought she did a terrific job on Teaira McCowan last week. (Cal's) Kristine Anigwe is in our league, and she's had to guard her, too. She'll hopefully get some help from the rest of the team. In the end, she's going to have to sit down there on that block and try to keep them as far away from the basket as possible."
            Notre Dame (34-3) faces UConn (35-2) in the other national semifinal at approximately 8:30 p.m. CDT Friday, with Sunday's championship game set for 5 p.m. CDT. Adam Amin, Rebecca Lobo, Kara Lawson and Holly Rowe will call the action and the games will be televised on ESPN2.

NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES

• Baylor is 48-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, all coming under head coach Kim Mulkey
• Mulkey has guided the Lady Bears to 18 NCAA Tournament appearances and 16-straight
• Baylor is the No. 1 overall seed, and it marks the sixth time in program history that Baylor is a No. 1 seed
• Baylor advanced to its fourth Final Four with a win over Iowa Monday in the Elite 8 joining the 2004-05, 2009-10 and 2011-12 teams. Baylor won the title in both 2005 and 2012.
• Baylor's win percentage in the NCAA Tournament at 76.2 (48-15) is third-best all-time next to UConn (86.4, 121-19) and
Tennessee (81.2, 125-29)
• Baylor's string of 16-straight NCAA Tournament appearances ranks sixth-best among active streaks in the NCAA
• Baylor's 48 wins in the NCAA Tournament is tied for 8th most all-time.
• Baylor won its fourth Elite 8 game Monday in nine appearances.
• Baylor won its 9th Sweet 16 game Saturday in 14 appearances.
• Baylor is the third team to win each of its games by 25+ points en route to the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994, joining the 2010 and 2013 UConn teams (both won national titles).
• Baylor's 32-point victory over Iowa was the program's largest spread in its four Elite 8 wins.
• Baylor's 54 rebounds vs. South Carolina was most by a BU program in the Sweet 16 or beyond.
• Baylor's 26-point lead at half was the largest lead at half in any BU game in the Sweet 16 or beyond.
• Baylor set program bests for rebounds (61), 3-point field goal percentage (69.2, 9-13), offensive rebounds (24) and tied a mark for team 3-pointers made with nine in Saturday's win over Abilene Christian in the first round.
• Baylor's 102 points vs. California in the Round of 32 was the most by a BU team in the NCAA Second Round or beyond, and the second-most all-time in an NCAA Tournament game for the Lady Bears.
• Three of four of Baylor's point totals in the NCAA Tournament (102, 95, 93) rank in the top 6 of Baylor's best scores in the postseason
Baylor's 12 steals vs. Iowa were fourth best by a BU team in the NCAA postseason and DiDi Richards' six steals were second-best among BU performances in the postseason.
• Baylor's 26.7 rebounding margin through four games in the tournament ranks tops all-time among BU's postseasons
• Kalani Brown's 14.7 points and Cox's 13.8 points per game rank 5th and 7th, respectively among BU players in the NCAA Tournament
• Brown's 220 points rank fifth all-time on the BU career list in the NCAA Tournament
• Brown has 124 career rebounds in the tournament, second all-time among BU players in the NCAA Tournament next to Brittney Griner's 170 (2009-13)
• Brown is Baylor's NCAA Tournament all-time leader in offensive boards with 46.
• Brown and Cox rank second and third, respectively all-time in career blocked shots in the NCAA Tournament with 41 & 23.
• Lauren Cox has 152 career points in the NCAA Tournament ranking sixth among BU players all-time in the NCAA Tournament
• Cox's 89 rebounds rank seventh all-time on the BU career list in the NCAA Tournament
• DiDi Richards' .614 career field goal percentage in the tournament ranks best among BU players all-time with at least 25 field goals made.
• Richards' 2.3 steals per game ranks third all-time among BU players in the NCAA Tournament and she's tied for 6th all-time with 16.

LADY BEARS RETURN TO FINAL FOUR FOR 4^TH TIME IN PROGRAM HISTORY
   Baylor beat No. 15/18 South Carolina Saturday by 25 points in the NCAA Sweet 16 before throttling No. 8/8 Iowa in the Elite 7 by a 32-point margin en route to the program's fourth berth in the NCAA Final Four. The Lady Bears will make their first appearance since a perfect 40-0 season in 2011-12 ended in a national title. Baylor is just the third team to win each of its games by 25+ points en route to the Final Four since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994, joining the 2010 and 2013 UConn teams (both won national titles).

BAYLOR IN THE FINAL FOUR
   Baylor's two national crowns came in 2005 and 2012 while falling in the semifinals in 2010 to UConn. Baylor is 4-1 all-time in Final Four games.

MULKEY NAMED AP, USBWA & WBCA NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR
   Kim Mulkey earned her sixth, seventh and eighth career National Coach of the Year Awards with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and the Associated Press each honoring her for the second time in her career while the USBWA gave her the honor for the third time.
   Mulkey has the Lady Bears on the nation's longest winning streak at 27 games and at 35-1 in 2018-19, she continues to blaze one of the most dominant trails in women's college basketball since the 2010-11 season. Baylor's .933 winning percentage (310-23) in that span is second only to UConn. Mulkey coached the Lady Bears to their 10th regular season and 10th Big 12 Tournament championship this season.
   Baylor is 10-1 thus far vs. the AP Top 25 in 2018-19, including a key win over No. 1 UConn Jan. 3. Mulkey and the Lady Bears took over the No. 1 ranking in the AP poll Jan. 28 and have remained there since. The USBWA also tabbed Mulkey as Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2012, the Associated Press recognized Mulkey as Coach of the Year in 2012 as did the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
   Mulkey is also one of the four finalists for the 2019 Werner Ladder Naismith Women's Coach of the Year Award named March 22 along with Iowa's Lisa Bluder, NC State's Wes Moore and Mississippi State's Vic Schaefer.

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 10th regular season championship and rolled through the Big 12 Championship tournament in Oklahoma City March 9-11 to capture their 10th tournament title.

BROWN & COX RACKING IN ALL-AMERICA NODS
   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. She's added four this season with the WBCA honoring her for the second-straight year as an All-American while espnW.com, the Associated Press and the USBWA all giving her second-team recognition. Lauren Cox was a third-team selection as well for the AP and USBWA giving her four career all-America selections.

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.

INTERIOR DEFENSE DOMINANT
   While some may look at the fact that Baylor has surrendered 251 3-point field goals this season (most by a Big 12 school) as a negative, take into account that only 822 of 1,967 points given up by Baylor this season have come on two-point field goals. That' s just 411 two-pointers in 36 games, which averages 11.4 2-point field goals per game or 22.8 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 16 statistical categories, the Lady Bears rank in the top 10 nationally. But, the Lady Bears (thru games April 1) rank tops in the nation in defensive rebounds per game (33.0), rebound margin (+17.9) and field goal percentage defense (.314) while ranking fourth in field goal percentage (.503). Kalani Brown ranks 10th in the nation in field goal percentage at a .609 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 (7.2), led by Lauren Cox's 2.54 per contest. Baylor's rebounding is a staple of the program, and the Lady Bears have out-rebounded its opponents in 35 of 36 games this season, Baylor won the rebounding battle in 34 of 35 contests last year, and in 103 of the last 107 contests, BU has had the upper hand on the boards. Baylor outscores its opponents in the paint by an average of 46.1 to 16.4 through 36 games this season.

LADY BEARS ON THE RUN
Baylor has 36 runs this season of at least 10 unanswered points including at least one in 12 of the 18 Big 12 regular-season contests. In 23 of 36 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 393-98 on the fast break this season.

SHARING IS CARING: BAYLOR LEADS NATION IN ASSISTS PER GAME
Baylor's 22.5 assists per contest ranks best in the nation (thru April 2) while the Lady Bears rank second in assists-to-turnover ratio at 1.73:1. Chloe Jackson's 5.4 assists per contest (ranks 29th nationally) and 2.40:1 assists-to-turnover ratio (ranks 27th nationally) lead Baylor. DiDi Richards is averaging 4.1 assists per contest while ranking 25th nationally in assists-to-turnover ratio at 2.45:1 and post Lauren Cox ranks 22nd in that category at 2.56:1. Juicy Landrum also ranks fourth 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 1,173 made field goals this season, the Lady Bears have assisted on 811 marking 69.1 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 218-1, 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. CONTINUED
   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.