Baylor vs. Texas: 2020-21 college basketball game preview, TV schedule

A pair of ranked Big 12 programs face off in Baylor and Texas this weekend. Can the Longhorns get the upset?

TV Schedule: Sunday, December, 13, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN

Arena: Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

The highest-ranked matchup of the weekend features two experienced teams that excel in different ways.

For Baylor, they are coming off of a 32-point win over Southland Champion, Stephen F. Austin. Five different Bears scored in double figures and forced a program high, 35 turnovers on the Lumberjacks.

The Bears have been reliant on their backcourt and that’s where the majority of the scoring comes from. The biggest surprise to this Baylor team has been the insertion of Presbyterian transfer Adam Flagler. In his lone year in the Big South, he averaged 15.9 points per game on nearly 39 percent shooting from beyond the arc. His numbers through the first four games have been eerily similar to that campaign with better efficiency from the field (48 percent from 3P%).

A lot of the buzz for the Bears comes from the trio of Davion Mitchell, Macio Teague, and Jared Butler. However, there is not much of a drop off with Baylor’s bench. Johnathon Tchamwa Tchatchoua has had to fill the void that Freddie Gillespie. Through four games, he has played at a high level, averaging 10 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Matthew Mayer is averaging 7.8 points on 57 percent from beyond the arc. Even freshman guard LJ Cryer has had seen some action, averaging 7.7 points on the young season.  Add Flagler to that group and Baylor makes up one of the best benches in the country.

For Texas, this is expected to be Shaka Smart’s best team since joining the Longhorns back in 2015. The roster is flooded with top 100 players with 11 of them and all five in the starting lineup. The Longhorns are led by Courtney Ramey and Matt Coleman in the backcourt. They average 29 points combined and the two leading scorers on the season.

The biggest off-season acquisition was getting top 10 ranked Greg Brown from Oak Hill Academy. Although not the most efficient, Brown has been serviceable so far. He averages 9.8 points and six rebounds per game.

However, he has been below average from the field, shooting the ball at just a 37 percent stroke from the field. The prototypical forward in Smart’s program is dominant on offense and an elite shot blocker. Brown has not done either yet but has plenty of time to develop more of that.

One of the most beloved players in the program has been G Andrew Jones. In early 2018, Jones was diagnosed with leukemia. Ever since he has made a return to the court and continues to be an impact on the court.

He continues to have some sort of presence on the floor with 9.2 points and 3.6 rebounds on the season.

For Texas, the key is to find the stroke from beyond the arc. Baylor made it a rough night for Ayo Dosunmu as he shot just 6-19 from the field. Mitchell is the best perimeter defender and the Bears are built to force turnovers on opponents and making guards uncomfortable about shooting. The Horns have not been fantastic from beyond the arc, shooting just 33 percent as a team.

The gentlemen in burnt orange also foul quite a bit ranking, 27th in the nation with 22 per game. That number has to be trimmed, in order for Texas to pull off the upset.

Although the Bears have been fantastic this season and have been tested, they haven’t faced a team like Texas yet. The blend of experience and talent together makes the Longhorns a legit threat to win the Big 12. The key to a victory is to steal possessions. Not only with turnovers, but with second-chance points with offensive rebounds.

One of the Bears’ strengths is offensive rebounds as they have nearly 15 per game. However, the Bears are dreadful at defensive rebounding and Texas is good at both. The Bears lost the rebounding battle against SFA and had just 28. Although 35 takeaways could be attributed to that, the Bears will need to improve in that category.

The Longhorns have the frontcourt advantage when it comes to experience and talent with the duo of Kai Jones and Brown. However, the duo of Tchamwa and Mark Vital will outhustle many in the country and could do the very same come Sunday.

Most of the off-season talk in the Big 12 surrounded the Baylor-Kansas debate. Both teams delivered two instant classics and were the consensus top 2 in the conference. Through the first two weeks, Texas could make an argument for being at the top of the Big 12. With a win over the undefeated Bears, Texas would be in the thick of the race.

Offensively, Baylor has too many weapons to go on a massive drought and rebound the ball better than on Tuesday. Baylor goes for a run in the second half that extends the game and keep the Bears atop the Big 12 rankings and inch closer to Gonzaga for the #1 spot in the AP.

Prediction: #2 Baylor 74, #14 Texas 63