WACO, TX (AP) — BAYLOR LADY BEARS ARE THE OUTRIGHT BIG 12 REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS AFTER WIN AT NO. 20 ISU
Chloe Jackson and Juicy Landrum led a big first-half effort that gave Baylor a 16-point lead at half, the Lady Bears withstood a fourth-quarter comeback from No. 20/21 Iowa State and outlasted the Cyclones for a 70-63 win Saturday afternoon. The victory ensured that Baylor won't share the Big 12 regular season championship, one that they clinched at least a share of Wednesday with an 80-40 victory. The regular-season title is Baylor's ninth-straight and 10th overall giving head coach Kim Mulkey 19 combined Big 12 titles between regular season and tournament championships in her 19th season. Jackson scored 12 of her 18 points in the first half while Landrum finished with 16 and Kalani Brown added 14 points. Lauren Cox had nine points and led Baylor in both rebounds (14) and assists (7).
BROWN ACHIEVES 2,000 CAREER POINTS & 1,000 CAREER REBOUNDS MILESTONES IN SAME GAME
Senior Kalani Brown entered Wednesday's game with Kansas at 11 points shy of 2,000 career points and two rebounds short of 1,000. Brown grabbed No. 1,000 on a missed KU free throw in the first quarter and scored seven points in the fourth quarter to reach exactly 11 for the game and 2,000 for her career – she added 14 at ISU to bring her total to 2,014. Her rebound total is up to 1,019 after grabbing seven at ISU.
Brown became the seventh player to reach 2,000 points, and the seventh player to reach 1,000 rebounds in BU history, but is just the sixth to reach both milestones joining a distinguished class that includes Suzie Snider-Eppers, Brittney Griner, Sophia Young, Nina Davis and Maggie Davis-Stinnett.
BAYLOR LOOKS TO IMPROVE ON THREE IMPRESSIVE WIN STREAKS MONDAY
A Baylor win vs. Texas Monday would mark the 39th-straight win over a Big 12 opponent in the regular season for the Lady Bears. The only streak longer in Big 12 history was when the Lady Bears won 44-straight from 2011-14. Baylor will also gun for its 36th-straight win at the Ferrell Center and will also look to extend the nation's longest active overall win streak at 18 games.
LADY BEARS ARE NO. 1 FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2013, BUT BAYLOR HASN'T GONE ANYWHERE
Much was made when Baylor returned as No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 Jan. 28. However, Baylor has ranked in the top 10 in the AP poll for 88 consecutive weeks with high-rankings of two with the lowest being 13 since the 2013-14 season prior to regaining the top spot. Those 88-straight weeks mark the third-longest active streak in the nation next to UConn and Notre Dame. In fact, Baylor holds the second-longest active streak of ranking in the AP Top 25 at 295 weeks.
COX & BROWN EACH NAMED FINALISTS FOR NATIONAL POSITION AWARDS; SEMIFINALIST FOR NATIONAL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Feb. 14 Lauren Cox was named a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame's Katrina McClain Award, honoring the nation's top power forward for the second-straight year, while Brown was named a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award, honoring the nation's top center for the second-consecutive season Feb. 15.
In addition, both players were named semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award, and the post duo is still up for consideration for the Wade Trophy and the John Wooden Award.
TEXAS IN SHORT
Since Texas' loss to Baylor in Austin Feb. 4, the Longhorns picked up wins at Kansas at Oklahoma State and vs. Texas Tech at home Saturday. However, Kansas State upset Texas in Austin with a 69-60 win. With both Iowa State (to Baylor) and West Virginia (to Oklahoma) losing Saturday, Texas is back in second place in the Big 12 standings with an 11-4 record while the other two schools have five losses. A loss to Baylor Monday would put the three teams back in a three-way tie for second, or the Longhorns could put distance between themselves for second in the league. Sug Sutton leads the team with 12.4 points per contest and four active Longhorns average in double figures. Former Baylor assistant Karen Aston is the head coach at Texas in her seventh season.
INTERIOR DEFENSE DOMINANT
While some may look at the fact that Baylor has surrendered 204 3-point field goals this season (most by a Big 12 school) as a negative, take into account that only 558 of 1,439 points given up by Baylor this season have come on two-point field goals. That' s just 279 two-pointers in 26 games, which averages 10.7 2-point field goals per game or 21.4 points per game given up inside the 3-point arc this season.
DEFENSE BEGINS WITH DIDI
DiDi Richards, a sophomore guard/forward is consistently asked to guard the top perimeter player on Baylor's opposing team. For example, she held Katie Lou Samuelson of UConn to 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting Jan. 3, and she held OSU's Vivian Gray to a dozen on 5-of-16 from the floor Jan. 30. Both those players rank in the top 50 nationally in points per game. Richards' numbers aren't flashy, but respectable, she's averaging 1.3 steals per game for the year and 1.5 in Big 12 play, but she's anchoring the defensive unit that is leading the nation for the third-straight year in field goal percentage defense.
BALANCED EFFORT LEADING BAYLOR IN 2018-19
Despite having the No. 1 team in the country and in the Big 12, Baylor has taken home just one weekly Big 12 Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week award. Juicy Landrum and NaLyssa Smith earned those honors, respectively, sharing with another Big 12 player in each case. This result is partly due to the offensive balance that the Lady Bears have shown all season. Four players average in double figures for Baylor led by All-Americans Kalani Brown (15.6 ppg) and Lauren Cox's (12.2 ppg). The duo's numbers are down from a season ago, mostly due to the fact that freshmen posts Smith (8.9 ppg) and Queen Egbo (5.6 ppg) are able to spell the starters off the bench with offensive production. And, also guards Chloe Jackson and Juicy Landrum are each sharing the scoring load at 11.3 and 11.2 points per contest, respectively.
POUND THE PAINT, CLEAN THE GLASS, D-UP: LADY BEARS AMONG NATION'S BEST IN REBOUNDING, SCORING EFFICIENCY, DEFENSE
In 12 statistical categories, the Lady Bears rank in the top 10 nationally. But, the Lady Bears (thru games Feb. 23) rank tops in the nation in defensive rebounds per game (33.0), rebound margin (+17.0) and field goal percentage defense (.314) while ranking fourth in field goal percentage (.511). Kalani Brown ranks sixth in the nation in field goal percentage at a .637 clip. In addition to the nation's best defensive field goal percentage, the Lady Bears rank tops in the nation in blocked shots per game (7.0), led by Lauren Cox's 2.42 per contest. Baylor's rebounding is a staple of the program, and the Lady Bears have out-rebounded its opponents in all 26 games this season, Baylor won the rebounding battle in 34 of 35 contests last year, and in 95 of the last 98 contests, BU has had the upper hand on the boards.
LADY BEARS ON THE RUN
Baylor has 25 runs this season of at least 10 unanswered points including at least one in 10 of the first 15 Big 12 contests. In 17 of 26 games this season, the Lady Bears have had at least one such run, and Baylor has also put together five runs of 20 or more points. In addition, Baylor is dominating opponents in transition, out-scoring opponents 296-71 on the fast break this season.
SHARING IS CARING: BAYLOR LEADS NATION IN ASSISTS PER GAME
Baylor's 23.4 assists per contest ranks best in the nation while the Lady Bears rank second in assists-to-turnover ratio at 1.76:1. Chloe Jackson's 6.0 assists per contest (ranks 13th nationally) and 2.54:1 assists-to-turnover ratio (ranks 22nd nationally) lead Baylor. DiDi Richards is averaging 4.0 assists per contest while ranking 16th nationally in assists-to-turnover ratio at 2.76:1 and post Lauren Cox ranks 19th in that category at 2.67:1. Juicy Landrum also ranks fifth in the Big 12 in assists-to-turnover ratio while third on the team at 4.0 assists per contest. As a team Baylor's ball distribution has been the hallmark of the offense in 2018-19. In fact out of Baylor's 844 made field goals this season, the Lady Bears have assisted on 608 marking 72.0 percent of the team's buckets coming on an assist from a teammate.
50 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: BAYLOR NEARLY UNBEATABLE WHEN HITTING HALF ITS SHOTS
In just one occurrence since Kim Mulkey's arrival at Baylor in the 2000-01 season have the Lady Bears lost a game when shooting 50 percent or better. Baylor's record under Mulkey when shooting 50 percent or better is 214-1, and the Lady Bears are 36-0 when shooting 60 percent or better. The lone loss came in the 2017 NCAA Tournament when Baylor fell to Mississippi State in the Elite 8, 94-85 on March 26 despite shooting 53.3 percent from the floor.
ABOUT BAYLOR'S HISTORIC WIN OVER NO. 1 UCONN
Two elite programs met in Waco Jan. 3, and for the first time in school history (previously 0-14) the Baylor Lady Bears knocked off a No. 1-ranked team with UConn falling 68-57 at a sold-out Ferrell Center on ESPN. Not only did Baylor win the game, the Lady Bears put an end to a long line of streaks set by the Huskies, who are the standard for women's basketball with 11 NCAA Championships. Baylor's victory ended a streak of 126 consecutive regular season games for the Huskies and a streak of 55 consecutive regular season road wins. UConn had won 209 straight games in regulation; it's last loss in regulation also came to No. 1 Baylor Dec. 18, 2011.
The Lady Bears' 11-point win was the largest margin of victory for a team vs. UConn since Feb. 27, 2012 when UConn fell to Notre Dame 72-59. In addition, Baylor's defense held UConn to just a 29.4 shooting percentage, its lowest in any game the past 20 seasons.
Baylor became the third Big 12 school to ever defeat a No. 1 team joining Texas Tech who accomplished the feat twice and Texas, and just the second time that a Big 12 team has beaten a No. 1 in a non-conference matchup.
BU's big win kept an overall home win streak at the Ferrell Center alive at 28 games while extending its non-conference home win streak to 47 games.
BROWN PICKS UP ESPNW NATIONAL HONOR AFTER LEADING BAYLOR TO WIN OVER NO. 1 UCONN
Kalani Brown didn't shy away from the spotlight when the lights came on Jan. 3 vs. No. 1 UConn. In front of a sold-out crowd at the Ferrell Center and nationally televised on ESPN, the senior post put up 22 points and a season-high 17 rebounds. She was 11-for-17 from the floor in 36 minutes of play. Her games that week also included performances vs. UTRGV and at Texas Tech, but ESPNW.com singled out her performance against the No. 1 Huskies and tabbed her National Player of the Week on Jan. 7.
BAYLOR SIGNS TOP-10 PROSPECT OLIVER AS LONE ADDITION TO 2019 SIGNING CLASS
A year after signing five players and accepting a graduate transfer, Jordyn Oliver gets all the Lady Bears' attention this season as the No. 10-ranked national prospect (Collegiate Girls Basketball Report) signed with Baylor. Oliver, a Prosper, Texas native is a 3-time TABC All-State selection, and was also ranked No. 11 by ESPN Hoopgurlz.
Jan. 24, Oliver was named a McDonald's All-American and will participate in the McDonald's All-American Games in March.
MULKEY'S MIDAS TOUCH: 1,100 WINS
Everything head coach Kim Mulkey touches doesn't necessarily turn to gold, but if it has to do with college basketball, nearly everything she touches results in a win. Baylor's win vs. Nicholls (Nov. 6) gave Mulkey 1,100 wins combined as a collegiate player (130, La. Tech), assistant coach (430, La. Tech) & head coach (540, Baylor). In those capacities, Mulkey's teams are a combined 1,100-192 for an astounding .851 winning percentage.
