Over the past week, the Baylor Bears got the opportunity to represent the United States in the annual FISU University Games world tournament. Only American-born players could participate, so five players on the 2025-26 roster weren’t eligible to play, including Oregon State transfer forward Michael Rataj, along with Tounder Yessoufou, the incoming five-star wing.
The Bears won their first five games of the tournament and were up by as much as 27 points in the second half of the Gold Medal matchup against Brazil. Unfortunately, Baylor lost the lead completely and eventually fell 94-88 in overtime, earning just a silver medal in the event.
Highlights from today's semifinal win over Lithuania 📺#SicEm | #CultureofJOY pic.twitter.com/dCERY4y8f3
— Baylor Men’s Basketball (@BaylorMBB) July 25, 2025
Yes, this is a highly anticipated preseason event for Baylor, and there’s not much to learn about how good they’ll be for the 2025-26 college basketball campaign. Still, there were some notable takeaways from the event, based on the six games, both positive and negative.
1. Obi Agbim the MVP
Among the notable newcomers to the roster was Obi Agbim, who averaged 17.6 ppg and 3.4 apg at Wyoming. He showed that he’s set to be the lead guard for the Bears when the games matter, leading them with 20.5 ppg during the tournament, including 30 points and 11 rebounds in the Gold Medal loss. Agbim led them in assists as well, showing he’s capable of being the lead guard for his new team.
2. Biggest surprise and disappointment
The team’s second-leading scorer was Cameron Carr, who produced 17.3 ppg and also contributed on the boards. He left Tennessee midway through last season after averaging under 5.0 ppg and quietly committed to Baylor before the portal got fully going. The 6’5 guard/wing showed that he’s a rotation player to watch, and he’ll certainly have a larger role compared to what Carr had at Tennessee.
The player who struggled the most was JJ White, who averaged around 8.0 ppg and shot under 40% from the field. The double-digit scorer from Omaha is also expected to have a large role but he was never able to get his offense going. We’ll see if the past week was an indication that Carr will get more of a role than White will.
3. Missed opportunity for frontcourt players to get a better look
Baylor was definitely smaller than they will be for the regular season, having to play without both Rataj and High Point transfer, Justin Bodo Bodo. Rice transfer Caden Powell and former Yale forward Samson Aletan got most of the minutes at the five-spot, but against competition that’s inferior to the Big 12, both failed to produce much on either end. Neither will get a lot of minutes next season, but this was a chance for either transfer to claim a spot in the rotation, and it’s hard to envision that happening now.