THE BAYLOR CONNECTION

Somewhere, stashed away in Connie Powell Nichols' treasured keepsakes, is a picture of a young Caden Powell standing next to Scott Drew at a Baylor basketball camp.

It was a connection that eventually brought the 6-foot-10 Powell back to Waco for his senior year of college basketball after stops at Wyoming and Rice. But early on, the Midway High School product was more into video games, building with Legos and riding his bicycle.

"Growing up, I didn't really know what it took to play college basketball," said Powell, who has started the last 17 games for a 13^th-seeded Baylor team (16-15, 6-12) that will play 12^th-seeded Arizona State (16-15, 7-11) at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. "I didn't know that sports would be somewhat of a calling."

A top-25 recruit in the state of Texas, Powell earned all-region and District 11-6A Defensive MVP honors as a senior at Midway and was a McDonald's All-America nominee. After a sophomore season at Wyoming, when he started 31 of 32 games and averaged 5.4 points and 4.6 rebounds, Powell returned to Texas last year.

Following a junior season with the Rice Owls when he averaged 10.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks, Caden re-entered the transfer portal for a chance to "play somewhere where all my games are on TV and my family can watch."

"Baylor reached out, and it was something I really didn't expect," he said. "They were the first school to actually call me. I was working out, and I probably had 10 missed calls from Tweety Carter and multiple texts saying to call me when I can. That was how this opportunity came about."

The year at Rice proved to Powell that he "could play really anywhere and play against anybody."

"It was more so, I just had to go out and do it," he said. "Going from Wyoming to Rice really helped my confidence in that aspect."

That confidence and belief only grew on the team's trip this summer to the World University Games in Germany, where the Bears won the silver medal representing USA.

After making a trip to Greece following his freshman year at Wyoming, "I knew what was going to be demanded in terms of the time commitment and what we had to do during the summer, because it's obviously not going to be the traditional summer."

It was also a different summer because of a complete roster flip that saw the Bears add nine transfers and five freshmen.

"Me and JJ (White) were here before everybody else, and we worked out a lot together," Caden said. "And then, once everybody else got here, obviously just mixing as a team, getting our practices in, lifting, eating, recovery, doing all the stuff we need to do in order to prepare our bodies and prepare ourselves for Germany."

Expected to back up 6-11 High Point transfer Justin Bodo Bodo, Powell has had to play a much larger role with preseason injuries to Bodo Bodo and 6-8 freshman forward Maikcol Perez, who played for Italy and earned all-tournament honors in the 2024 U17 FIBA World Cup.

"Going into the season, I didn't really necessarily know what to expect, with injuries and the shorter rotation, how everything would work out," said Powell, who is averaging 6.8 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 65.2% from the field and recording 28 blocks. "Obviously, the best ability is availability. So, being ready, staying healthy. And whenever the opportunity came, just taking advantage of it and doing what I can do to help the team out."

Over the last nine games, he's averaged 8.2 points, scoring double figures in games against top-25 teams BYU and Houston.

"I think the reason Caden has been successful, first and foremost, is his care factor," Drew said. "The second thing is he does have a belief in himself. He knew he could play, he knew he could help us, he knew he could play in the Big 12 and be successful. (Against Houston), he made some really aggressive moves and did some great things."

At the end of the fall semester, the Bears added former NBA Draft pick James Nnaji, a 7-footer from Nigeria who had played the last three seasons overseas. While he hasn't made a significant impact on the court, averaging 1.6 points and 2.4 rebounds, Nnaji is "another body, and he's similar to a lot of the bigs that we go against every game, night in and night out."

"Obviously, we get our scouting reports and see all the stuff on paper," Caden said. "But you can't really replicate some of the things that James brings to our team on paper. Just to have him there for that and to help us as a team and provide us useful minutes and do what he does to help us win."

Although he's only been at Baylor for the last nine months, Caden said it's "highlighted and really emphasized my sense of purpose."

"Yes, we play basketball," he said, "but at the end of the day, that's not the ultimate goal, that's not who we are. Basketball doesn't define us as a person. So, doing what you can to better impact other's lives, but also impact our own lives."

When people talk about Caden's Baylor story, he wants them to say "I gave it my all, and I was two feet in, not straddling the line or two feet out. I just gave it my all in all, and day in and day out came in and treated every day like it was the same day and just an everyday guy."

A mechanical engineering major, Caden said he wants to play professional basketball for as long as he can before "working with microprocessors or creating microprocessors. But I still have a lot of time to figure that out."

"Hopefully, the next 15 years, he's playing pro basketball, he's working out in the summertime here and spending time telling people what Baylor basketball means to him," Drew said. "I definitely know he's going to finish his degree, because we know how important that is to him and his mom. But he will be someone that will be a part of the Baylor family for life."

THE BAYLOR CONNECTION

Players Mentioned

James Nnaji

Maikcol Perez

Caden Powell

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