No. 1 Baylor (27-6) vs. No. 8 North Carolina (25-9)
Time/Day/Location: 11:10 a.m./Saturday/Dickies Arena, Fort Worth
TV/Radio: CBS/ESPN Central Texas
All-time series: First meeting
By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
FORT WORTH – When any team reaches the second round of the NCAA tournament, the mood changes.
The excitement flips to urgency. The reality of being able to reach the second weekend is realistic. The demand to be at your best couldn’t be greater.
No. 1 Baylor understood this in 2021 when it marched its way toward a national championship. But that was then. This is now.
The Bears face a dangerous No. 8 North Carolina team that has won seven of its last eight and 13 of its last 16 in Saturday’s East Region Round of 32 matchup at Dickies Arena.
The winner advances to the Sweet 16 next week to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. It will get the winner of Saturday’s evening game between No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Saint Mary’s.
This is the first-ever meeting between Baylor and North Carolina. The Bears are trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the sixth time in seven appearances in this round.
“They definitely look like a couple teams in the sense of their size,’’ Baylor guard Adam Flagler said. “It will definitely be something that we will new to. But at the end of the day, our confidence really preps us for anybody in the country. So we just going to pride ourselves on focusing on our defensive principles and going out there and execute.”
Baylor has been able to manage through the last month of the season basically playing with seven players. With the losses of Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua (knee) and LJ Cryer (foot), Baylor coach Scott Drew has turned to a bench that’s been limited to freshman Jeremy Sochan and Division II transfer guard Dale Bonner.
There really aren’t a lot of choices after that.
“I think experience, no matter what profession you're in, you write a great story, you have that to build on for the future, to write another one,’’ Drew said. “And I think with coaches, there's things that work and things that don't work. Each team, it's different. But that experience is, like, a cheat sheet, a cheat code hopefully to help you navigate those waters.
“I think more importantly, the players having that experience. Because players listen to players more than they do than coaches, believe it or not. When a senior tells them, this is what we got to do or lock in, and that, to a freshman, means a lot more than to a coach saying it.”
In some respects, these teams mirror each other. They have the same assists-to-turnover ratio (1.3). They own a decisive rebounding average over their opponents (North Carolina +7.9, Baylor +5.2).
“There's a number of fantastic players there,’’ North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. “It's not about individuals for Baylor. They're great because they have a collection of great players. They're a terrific team.
And so -- and they're used to winning. They have a culture of winning. They're addicted to success. And that's why they're defending national champions and that's why they're a No. 1 seed. It'll be a challenge for us. But we feel like that we have put ourselves in a position to step up to that challenge and to be able to compete and enjoy being in that stage and competing, as well."
Baylor 3 Keys to Victory
>Win the boards – Baylor definitely has a size disadvantage against the Tar Heels. But as Drew has said in the past, it’s going to have to be a collection of everybody crashing the glass.
>Control Barcot – UNC big Armando big Armando Barcot is averaging a double double (16.5 ppg, 12.4 rpg) and can be a really tough defend especially when he’s on the offensive end where he averages nearly four per game. Baylor cannot allow him to become a presence on second chance opportunities.
>Coming in 3s – The Bears have two established scorers between Adam Flagler and James Akinjo. Each averages 13.3 points. But when you get to this point of the tournament, a team with plans to go deep must have a third scorer. Is that going to be Matthew Mayer? Kendall Brown? Sochan? Whoever it is, Baylor can’t be choosy.
Probable Starting Lineup
North Carolina
F – Armando Bacot (16.5 ppg, 12.4 rpg)
F – Brady Manek (14.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg)
G – RJ Davis (13.0 ppg, 3.7 apg)
G – Caleb Love (15.6 ppg, 3.7 apg)
G – Leaky Black (5.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
Baylor
G – Adam Flagler (13.3 ppg, 39.3 3pt)
G – James Akinjo (13.3 ppg, 5.8 apg)
G/F – Kendall Brown (9.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg)
F – Matthew Mayer (9.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg)
F – Flo Thamba (8.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
Time/Day/Location: 11:10 a.m./Saturday/Dickies Arena, Fort Worth
TV/Radio: CBS/ESPN Central Texas
All-time series: First meeting
By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
FORT WORTH – When any team reaches the second round of the NCAA tournament, the mood changes.
The excitement flips to urgency. The reality of being able to reach the second weekend is realistic. The demand to be at your best couldn’t be greater.
No. 1 Baylor understood this in 2021 when it marched its way toward a national championship. But that was then. This is now.
The Bears face a dangerous No. 8 North Carolina team that has won seven of its last eight and 13 of its last 16 in Saturday’s East Region Round of 32 matchup at Dickies Arena.
The winner advances to the Sweet 16 next week to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. It will get the winner of Saturday’s evening game between No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 Saint Mary’s.
This is the first-ever meeting between Baylor and North Carolina. The Bears are trying to reach the Sweet 16 for the sixth time in seven appearances in this round.
“They definitely look like a couple teams in the sense of their size,’’ Baylor guard Adam Flagler said. “It will definitely be something that we will new to. But at the end of the day, our confidence really preps us for anybody in the country. So we just going to pride ourselves on focusing on our defensive principles and going out there and execute.”
Baylor has been able to manage through the last month of the season basically playing with seven players. With the losses of Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua (knee) and LJ Cryer (foot), Baylor coach Scott Drew has turned to a bench that’s been limited to freshman Jeremy Sochan and Division II transfer guard Dale Bonner.
There really aren’t a lot of choices after that.
“I think experience, no matter what profession you're in, you write a great story, you have that to build on for the future, to write another one,’’ Drew said. “And I think with coaches, there's things that work and things that don't work. Each team, it's different. But that experience is, like, a cheat sheet, a cheat code hopefully to help you navigate those waters.
“I think more importantly, the players having that experience. Because players listen to players more than they do than coaches, believe it or not. When a senior tells them, this is what we got to do or lock in, and that, to a freshman, means a lot more than to a coach saying it.”
In some respects, these teams mirror each other. They have the same assists-to-turnover ratio (1.3). They own a decisive rebounding average over their opponents (North Carolina +7.9, Baylor +5.2).
“There's a number of fantastic players there,’’ North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said. “It's not about individuals for Baylor. They're great because they have a collection of great players. They're a terrific team.
And so -- and they're used to winning. They have a culture of winning. They're addicted to success. And that's why they're defending national champions and that's why they're a No. 1 seed. It'll be a challenge for us. But we feel like that we have put ourselves in a position to step up to that challenge and to be able to compete and enjoy being in that stage and competing, as well."
Baylor 3 Keys to Victory
>Win the boards – Baylor definitely has a size disadvantage against the Tar Heels. But as Drew has said in the past, it’s going to have to be a collection of everybody crashing the glass.
>Control Barcot – UNC big Armando big Armando Barcot is averaging a double double (16.5 ppg, 12.4 rpg) and can be a really tough defend especially when he’s on the offensive end where he averages nearly four per game. Baylor cannot allow him to become a presence on second chance opportunities.
>Coming in 3s – The Bears have two established scorers between Adam Flagler and James Akinjo. Each averages 13.3 points. But when you get to this point of the tournament, a team with plans to go deep must have a third scorer. Is that going to be Matthew Mayer? Kendall Brown? Sochan? Whoever it is, Baylor can’t be choosy.
Probable Starting Lineup
North Carolina
F – Armando Bacot (16.5 ppg, 12.4 rpg)
F – Brady Manek (14.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg)
G – RJ Davis (13.0 ppg, 3.7 apg)
G – Caleb Love (15.6 ppg, 3.7 apg)
G – Leaky Black (5.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
Baylor
G – Adam Flagler (13.3 ppg, 39.3 3pt)
G – James Akinjo (13.3 ppg, 5.8 apg)
G/F – Kendall Brown (9.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg)
F – Matthew Mayer (9.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg)
F – Flo Thamba (8.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg)
