2nd ranked Baylor travels to TCU

The Baylor Bears hit the road Saturday afternoon up I-35 to take on rival TCU. Baylor (10-0) is ranked 2nd in the nation and is off to a strong start and will look to get win #11 and start a perfect 4-0 in Big 12 play with three road wins against TCU (9-3, 2-2). TCU is entering its 5th season under Jamie Dixon, who has seen 3-straight 20-win season streak end last year in a 16-16 step-back for the program.

This year, the Horned Frogs are off to a solid start with nice wins over Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Tulsa. Led by junior guard RJ Nembhard who averages 18.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game the Frogs are a Top-100 team likely on the outside looking in right now of the NCAA tournament. That would be the third straight season for TCU to miss the big tournament after Dixon took them to them there in 2018 for the first time since 1998.

Nembhard is second in the league in scoring per game, joined by two other double-digit scorers in freshman Mike Miles guard and junior center Kevin Samuel who nearly averages a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds per game.

SCOUTING REPORT

The Frogs have been an above average offensive and defensive team so far. They rank 74th in offensive efficiency and 91st in defensive efficiency according to KenPom. Nembhard and Miles are two high volume shooters, combining for 24.5 shots per game on average. Both of them are strong 3-point shooters making 36 of 92 shots from deep (39%). Samuel is one of the best rebounders in the Big 12 and can finish inside. Not a guy to finish away from the basket, Samuel is a terrific offensive rebounder and knows what to do with it when he gets his hands on a miss.

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Outside of those three, there are a lot of question marks. That is a strong trio for Coach Dixon to build around, but there just isn’t a ton here. They have no other player scoring more than 7-points per game or 5 rebounds per game outside of that trio. Guards PJ Fuller, Taryn Todd, and Francisco Farabello are capable 3-point shooters, but they combine for around 8 attempts per game. 10 players have started at least one game but the past few games have seen Dixon settle on a starting lineup of Miles, Fuller, Nembhard, Kevin Easley, and Samuel.

Areas of weakness include turnovers, both forcing and giving them up, as well as free throw shooting (64%). They are a strong shooting team overall with a 53.5% effective field goal rate. This is an incredibly young and inexperienced team as well, ranking 318th in Experience according to KenPom at just 1.18 years (Baylor is 140th at 1.87 years).

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

• BAYLOR (10-0, 3-0) at TCU (9-3, 2-2)
• Jan. 9, 2021 • 2 p.m. CT
• Fort Worth, Texas • Schollmaier Arena (8,500)
• WATCH: ESPN
• Talent: Dan Shulman (pxp), Fran Fraschilla (analyst)
• LISTEN: Baylor Sports Network | ESPN Central Texas
• Talent: John Morris (pxp) and Pat Nunley(analyst)

NOTES OF THE GAME

This is the 188th series meeting between the Bears and Frogs. Baylor leads the series 102-85 and are 41-43 in Fort Worth. As Big 12 rivals, Baylor is 13-4 against TCU including winning the first 11 meetings. They are 5-3 at TCU in Big 12 meetings, but TCU has won the last three in Fort Worth. The Bears lost at TCU by 10 in 2018, by 4 in 2019 and by 3 in 2020.

Baylor is looking to keep their spot in the smaller and smaller group of unbeatens. Just 6 teams who have played at least 3-games are still unbeaten, with Baylor and Michigan the only Power-Five conference teams to make that claim. A victory would be the Bears 5th time starting 4-0 in Big 12 play (1998, 2008, 2012, 2020). The Bears winning streak of 11-games is also the 6th longest in program history.

Baylor is 43-40 in Big 12 road games over the last 10 seasons, second-best behind Kansas (55-27). They are 9-2 in Big 12 road games over the last 2 seasons (rest of league is 35-63 in B12 road games).

BU leads the nation in 3FG% (.436) and scoring margin (+28.8), ranks 4th nationally in assists (20.0/gm), 4th in effective FG% (.597), 4th in offensive rebound pct. (.436), 5th in scoring (91.2), 8th in turnover margin (+6.8), 9th in steal pct. (13.2), 10th in A-T ratio (1.64) & 10th in 3-pointers made (10.9/gm).