TV SCHEDULE: Tuesday, February 23rd at 5:00 PM PST on ESPN+
LOCATION: Ferrell Center Center in Waco, Texas
The Baylor Bears make their return to the hardwood after an almost three-week hiatus. Baylor presents an interesting dilemma for the Big 12 conference. They have yet to play all of their games and conference administrators are pushing for teams to complete their missed games before the Big 12 Tournament starts on March 11th.
The Bears’ last game was on February 2nd against the Texas Longhorns; a 14-point win. It will be interesting to see whether head coach Scott Drew has his team competing at the level they were at prior to this current hiatus.
On the other end, head coach Steve Prohm is looking for his teams’ first conference win this year. After winning five Big 12 games last year, the Cyclones have gone winless in 13 conference matchups. Even worse, the Cyclones have not won a game since December 20th against Jackson State. The Iowa State Cyclones faced Baylor on January 2nd and lost by 11 to the Bears.
One of the lone bright spots for the Cyclones is guard Rasir Bolton. A Penn State transfer, Bolton has shown progression in each of his two seasons in Iowa. He’s been rewarded with around five more minutes of playing time each game compared to his sophomore season. His shooting has improved from a 40.4% field goal success rate in 2019-20 to a 45% success rate in 2020-21.
Playing on a subpar team, Bolton has had to handle more of the load and he’s done so by distributing the ball better (averaging one more assist per game this year) and he is showing up in the paint by grabbing almost five rebounds per game.
The undefeated Baylor Bears, on the other hand, are nothing short of the antitheses of the Cyclones. Where the Cyclones struggle, just about every facet of the game, the Baylor Bears excel. As a team, they are the best three-point shooting team in the country with a 43.9% success rate on 24 three-point attempts per game. Their offense is ranked second in the country with 87 points per game and that includes an insane 50.7% field goal percentage.
In the Baylor Bears’ previous game against the Iowa State Cyclones, they shot terribly from three-point range (4 for 19) but made up for it by hitting over 61% of their two-point field goal attempts. It also helped them were playing the Cyclones, a team in which you can have an off game and still come out the victor.
In the game against the Bears, forward Flo Thamba stuck out despite playing only 13 minutes. Again, a very small sample size against a pedestrian team but Thamba ended the game with a 200 ORtg. Thamba pulled down four rebounds and hit all three of his shots to include four for five from the charity stripe. Thamba would be a starter on many teams but not this Baylor team.
Instead, he is a role player and he does it well in his 14 minutes per game. Despite being 6’10’’, the strength of his game is offense. Defensively, a lot remains to be seen. In three seasons at Baylor, his DRtg has dropped dramatically each year. In 2018-19, his freshman season, his DRtg was 101.3 followed by 90.2 in a COVID-shortened season and finally, this year, his DRtg sits at a pedestrian 89.7. Thamba is a name to continue watching into next year. If he can improve his defense and earn more playing time, he will be more than a bench player for the Baylor Bears.
PREDICTION: Baylor Bears 90, Iowa State Cyclones 75