Baylor trainer Scott Drew had a easy message after his No. 8 Bears opened the season Monday with a 101-63 loss at No. 6 Gonzaga.
“For the Baylor lovers that stayed up, I promise you, we can get well,” Drew stated. “We can come up with a greater effort than this.”
Baylor (0-1) will get an opportunity to evoke its doable after the late-night loss in Spokane, Wash., with any other stiff check because it takes on No. 16 Arkansas (1-0) in a neutral-site matchup Saturday in Dallas.
The Razorbacks started the John Calipari technology with a 76-60 victory over Lipscomb on Wednesday. In spite of the outcome, Calipari noticed various room for development.
“We now have were given numerous paintings to do,” he stated. “We now have were given to move this weekend to Baylor, they were given beat, so you already know what we are strolling into. (Our workforce) has to have per week of apply the place they are doing free ball drills, fee drills. It will be a roughhouse of aggressive groups going after each and every different. We’d like that at the moment.”
Baylor struggled in numerous spaces within the opener. Gonzaga jumped out to a 49-30 lead within the first part and saved its foot at the fuel the remainder of the way in which. The Bears had been outrebounded 45-32, made simply 3 of 21 3-point makes an attempt and gave up 48 issues within the paint.
It was once a forgettable begin to the season, even if Baylor was once anticipated to be a work-in-progress with only one returning starter.
“They truly exploited our switching (on protection),” Drew stated. “After which offensively, we did a truly deficient process this night. … 11 assists, 12 turnovers and simplest 8 second-chance issues, that isn’t Baylor basketball.”
Arkansas, in the meantime, is taking part in a brand new logo of basketball below Calipari. Lipscomb made it fascinating, pulling to inside of 4 at one level in the second one part, however Arkansas prevailed. Freshman guard Boogie Fland led the workforce with 17 issues, and Florida Atlantic switch guard Johnell Davis had 15.
Calipari spoke of what he’d like to look from his workforce going ahead.
“You have to play like you don’t have anything to lose,” he stated. “You have to play the similar approach (as our warring parties) and that implies being competitive, going on the rim.”
Saturday’s recreation includes a pair of nationwide championship-winning coaches. Drew was once some of the best applicants to interchange Calipari at Kentucky final offseason however opted to stick with Baylor.
Calipari stated he by no means talked with Drew concerning the Kentucky place, including: “Scott has completed implausible paintings at Baylor and most definitely were given at ease there.”
The 2 have squared off a couple of instances through the years, maximum particularly within the 2012 NCAA Event. Calipari led Kentucky to the nationwide championship that 12 months, punching its Ultimate 4 price tag by way of beating Baylor, 82-70, within the Elite 8.
For the systems, it is a throwback to the outdated Southwest Convention days. This would be the 146th collection assembly, however simply the 5th since Arkansas left the Southwest Convention in 1991. Baylor received the final assembly, 67-64, as a part of the Large 12/SEC Problem on Jan. 28, 2023 in Waco, Texas.
–Box Degree Media
