Know Your Foe: Baylor
Credit: 1,000 Logos
By Tucker Harlin
#11 Tennessee (5-0) concludes its time in the Baha Mar Hoops Championship against #13 Baylor (4-1) Friday evening. Tip-off should be in the vicinity of 9:30 p.m. ET and the game airs on CBS Sports Network.
The Vols are favored by 4.5 ahead of their meeting with the Bears.
The Bears are led longtime head coach Scott Drew. In 22 years on the job, Drew has led Baylor to 12 NCAA tournaments, five combined Sweet 16 and Elite Eight appearances, and one national title.
Baylor is well tested in the young 2024-25 season. They opened the season by taking a 101-63 beating from Gonzaga in Spokane but bounced back later that week with a 72-67 victory against John Calipari and Arkansas in Dallas.
The Vols will have less rest than the Bears going into Friday’s contest, but the Bears expended more energy than they would’ve like in a 99-98, double overtime victory against #22 St. John’s Thursday.
The finish on Thursday is one that cemented this game into Feast Week history. The Red Storm led by as many as 18 points in the first half, but the Bears clawed their way back into the fight.
The last nine seconds of the second overtime was a microcosm for the game. Baylor trailed 98-93 and it hit two threes in the closing seconds, the last of which was set up by a St. John’s miss from the free throw line.
JEREMY ROACH ARE YOU KIDDING 😱
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 22, 2024
BAYLOR WINS AT THE HORN 🚨
(via @CBSSportsCBB)pic.twitter.com/5oWFcrr1yO
Point guard Jeremy Roach was the man to send Baylor across the finish line. Roach played a combined four seasons under Mike Krzyzewski and Jon Scheyer at Duke, which included a 65-52 loss to the Vols in the round of 32 in the 2023 NCAA tournament.
Roach isn’t the only impact transfer from ACC country Scott Drew acquired in the offseason.
Forward Norchad Omier, a key cog in Jim Larrañaga’s 2023 Final Four team at Miami, joined the Bears this offseason. A terrific rebounder, Omier finished with a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds in the win over the Johnnies.
Norchad Omier is a grown man 💪#SicEm | #CultureofJOY pic.twitter.com/3LbgqajWio
— Baylor Men’s Basketball (@BaylorMBB) November 22, 2024
The two returnees for the Bears in the starting lineup are big man Josh Ojianwuna and guard Jayden Nunn. Ojianwuna wasn’t a heavy contributor for Baylor Thursday, but Nunn was one of six players to break into double figures.
The Bears boast a pair of stud freshmen in V.J. Edgecombe and Robert Wright III.
Edgecombe is projecting as a pick in the 2025 NBA draft. This is a homecoming for Edgecombe as he is one of several notable college basketball players from The Bahamas, but his opening act wasn’t stellar last night.
Oh my word. @vj_edgecombe has the BEST family. Maybe 30 of them are here? His aunts celebrating and chanting “Bay-lor” as they walk through the halls. Telling us about the conch fritters they are going to fix him for breakfast. lol #SicEm pic.twitter.com/eXWjERAMCo
— Sarah Rogers (@SarahRogersBU) November 22, 2024
Wright is a four star point guard out of the Washington, D.C. area. Unlike Edgecombe, Wright doesn’t start, but he punished St. John’s with a 4/5 night from the three-point line.
The other two names to keep an eye on are guards Jordan Celestine and Langston Love off the bench.
Celestine comes to Waco after four seasons at Cal. Between Baylor’s wins against St. John’s and Tarleton State, Celestine is a combined 8/12 from deep.
Love is in his third season at Baylor, but Thursday was the first action he’s seen in a game all season. Injuries have limited his appearances of late, so it’s hard to tell how big of a role he’ll play against the Vols.
