Baylor
Michigan
No. 5 WBB Readies for Nationally Televised Contest vs. No. 13 Michigan at Mohegan Sun
12/17/2021 9:31:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Bears take on Wolverines as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame's Women's Showcase
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5/5 BAYLOR BEARS (9-1) Location: Waco,Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Nicki Collen (Marquette, 1998) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
BAYLOR (9-1) vs. MICHIGAN (10-1) December 19, 2021 • 12 p.m. CT Uncasville, Conn. • Mohegan Sun Arena LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN Talent: Eric Frede (pxp), Rebecca Lobo (analyst), Andraya Carter (reporter) LISTEN: ESPN 1660AM, 92.3FM, BaylorBears.com Talent: Derek Smith (pxp), Sophia Young-Malcolm (Analyst) Baylor Social Media:    |
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13/11 MICHIGAN WOLVERINES (10-1) Location: Ann Arbor, Mich. Conference/Affiliation: Big Ten Head Coach: Kim Barnes Arico (Monclair State, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes (PDF) |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Nine months after Michigan took second-seeded Baylor to overtime in a Sweet 16 matchup in San Antonio, the two ranked teams will square off at noon CT Sunday in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women's Showcase at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.
And while the game features two of last year's four Wade Trophy finalists – Baylor's NaLyssa Smith and the Wolverines' Naz Hillmon – the rest of the casts have changed dramatically.
Nicki Collen has replaced Kim Mulkey as the Bears' head coach and returns only one other starter from a 28-3 team that survived last year's overtime thriller, 78-75. Two players off that Baylor team are in the WNBA, while two others transferred out.
"I think overall, this game will be very different than last year's game," said 6-1 senior forward Caitlin Bickle, "just because they knew every single one of our plays last year. One of our past coaches (Toyelle Wilson) was on their staff. It's almost like you're playing yourself in practice, like me going up against (Smith). I know exactly what she's going to do."
Michigan coach Kim Barnes-Arico won't have that advantage this time. Wilson is now the head coach at SMU, and this is a much different Baylor team now under Collen. The guard trio of DiDi Richards, Dijonai Carrington and Moon Ursin played all but one minute of that game.
"Certainly, they ran some similar actions that they did from a year ago," Collen said of Michigan (10-1), which opened Big Ten play with wins over Wisconsin and Minnesota.
"But, we're scouting them based on, what did they do against Minnesota? What did they do against Wisconsin? What did they do against Mississippi State? Because Mississippi State has comparable guards to us in terms of small but super-athletic and straight-line drivers that can get to the rim."
Especially with the WNBA Draft Lottery taking place between the Baylor-Michigan and Louisville-UConn games, it's easy to look at Sunday's game between the fifth-ranked Bears (9-1) and No. 13 Wolverines as just a showcase for two of the four players that could be taken by lottery teams in the 2022 WNBA Draft.
Smith, averaging 20.2 points and a national-best 13.2 rebounds, is expected to go either first or second, while the 6-2 Hillmon (20.7 ppg, 8.5 rebounds) could go to any of the four lottery teams – the Indiana Fever, Atlanta Dream, Washington Mystics or Dallas Wings.
"I think Lys is excited (about the Draft Lottery), so she can start promoting what time that she plans on going to," said Collen, who was part of the WNBA Draft Lottery the last years as Atlanta's head coach. "I think that's the biggest thing is who ends up with (the No. 1 pick). Having sat in that room, it's quite anticlimactic."
Before the Draft Lottery, though, Baylor and Michigan will play for the third time in five years. The Bears bounced the Wolverines from the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and 2021.
"I've played against Naz multiple times," said Smith, who scored a game-high 24 points on 11-of-11 shooting from the floor in last year's matchup. "We played on USA (Basketball) twice together, we played against each other last year. She brings a lot to the table. She's a tough player to guard, she can pound it in the post. We know we've got to focus on defense. If we stop her, that's a key part to their offense."
Guard Leigha Brown pumped in a team-high 23 points in last year's game and is averaging 13.3 points and 2.0 assists per game this year. Emily Kiser, a 6-3 senior forward, is averaging 10.5 points and 8.1 rebounds, giving the Wolverines three consistent double-figure scorers.
Senior point guard Amy Dilk suffered a knee injury in Michigan's season opener and hasn't played since.
"They've been a little bit point guard-by-committee," Collen said. "We're going to have to be good on Leigha Brown, we're going to have to be good on Hillmon. We just can't let people get away from us."
Baylor's had a couple injury issues as well, but 6-3 senior center Queen Egbo (9.8 ppg, 7.9 rebounds) is 100%, Collen said, after rolling her ankle in the third quarter of a 94-40 win over Alcorn State 10 days ago.
"It's probably a situation where if we didn't have this break, she probably could have done an around-the-clock icing and compression and played in a game a day or two days later," Collen said of Egbo. "You just don't want to do that when you have the time to rest someone and give them a little time off and fully heal."
Junior guard Jaden Owens, who's been "in and out of a (protective) boot" with a foot injury, has played less than a minute combined in the three games since Baylor returned from the Cancun Challenge.
"We just have to be careful with Jaden," Collen said, "because we don't want this to be something that she's dealing with all season long. We would love her to be 100% healthy and get 100% of Jaden rather than 70% all season long."
Sunday's game will be broadcast by ESPN, with Eric Frede, Rebecca Lobo and Andraya Carter calling the action.
GOING FOR THREE UP, THREE DOWN
• Every time Baylor Women's Basketball has faced off against Michigan (BU is 2-0), it's been in the NCAA Tournament. The Bears handled the Wolverines in the 2018 NCAA Second Round before last year's instant classic that saw the Bears prevail in overtime, 78-75, in the Sweet 16.
• NaLyssa Smith went a perfect 11-for-11 from the floor for a game-high 24 points in BU's win.
• Sunday marks the third game in the series between these two teams but every game will be nationally televised as this weekend's game will be on ESPN as the opening contest of the Basketball Hall of Fame's Women's Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena.
FUTURE LOTTERY PICK
• It's no surprise that NaLyssa Smith will be a lottery pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft this spring. The only question is whether the 6-4 forward will go first or second.
• While Smith's play speaks for itself in her quest to be the first overall pick (and second Bear to do so) - she's one of three WBB players in the country averaging 20+ points and 10+ boards per game - but the draft order could help clear up the mystery.
• Between Baylor's game vs. Michigan and UConn's contest vs. Louisville - all part of the HOF Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena - ESPN will air the WNBA Draft Lottery as the top four picks will be decided among Indiana, Atlanta, Washington and Dallas.
• Of Baylor's 21 WNBA Draft picks, nine of them have gone in the first round. Four have been the first four: Brittney Griner (1st, 2013), Odyssey Sims (2nd, 2014), Lauren Cox (3rd, 2020), Sophia Young (4th, 2006).
WALKING DOUBLE-DOUBLE
• NaLyssa Smith leads the country with nine double-doubles on the season. Keep in mind, the Bears have only played 10 games. The senior has recorded nine-straight double-doubles.
• During this streak, Smith has five games with a minimum of 15 rebounds. She leads the country in rebounds per game (13.2).
• Smith is currently ninth in Baylor history with 33 career double-doubles. She's two away from tying for seventh alongside Lauren Cox (2016-20) and LaNita Luckey (1988-92).
LET IT FLY
• The calendar hadn't even flipped to December yet before the Bears tied for second in program history with 13 3-pointers made in their blowout win over Morehead State (11/30).
• Baylor's program record for triples made came on Dec. 18, 2019 against Arkansas State when Juicy Landrum caught fire and set an NCAA record with 14 triples. Besides that record-setting performance, BU hadn't drained more than a dozen shots from deep since 2011.
• BU's record for 3-point attempts in a season came in 2013-14 when the Bears attempted 596 3s.
• From that season to 2020-21, Baylor made 10 or more 3-pointers in a game only five times across a total of 281 games (1.78 percent).
• This season alone - in Nicki Collen's new offensive system - the Bears are letting it fly from the perimeter. Twice in 10 games BU has sank double-digit triples.
• Prior to this season, ony 14 Bears had made six or more 3s in a game. Two of them had done it multiple times (Makenzie Robertson, 2012, 2014) and Jennifer King (1990, 1991, 1993).
• Sarah Andrews and Ja'Mee Asberry have already joined the club this season. Andrews went 6-for-8 against Morehead State from deep and Asberry fired off 6-of-8 against Alcorn State.
CLUB 17K
• Jordan Lewis surpassed the 1,700 career-points mark last week in Baylor's win over Alcorn State. The sixth-year graduate transfer left Alabama as the Crimson Tide's fifth all-time leader in assists (510) and ninth all-time leader with 1,581 points.
• Lewis is No. 16 among active players for most points scored in her career with 1,701.
• She's third among active players with 556 career assists.
