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Arizona Vs Baylor 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 2/17/25 8PM ESPN
The #13 Arizona Wildcats (17-8, 11-3 Big 12) head to Texas to take on the Baylor Bears (16-9, 8-6 Big 12) for a conference battle on Monday night in this Arizona vs. Baylor prediction. These teams met back in January with Arizona winning by 11 at home. The Wildcats just lost at home against #6 Houston 62-58, failing to cover as 2.5-point underdogs. Baylor is fresh off an overtime win over West Virginia, winning 74-71 at home, but missing the cover as 9.5-point favorites. Tipoff is set for 10:00 EST and can be found on ESPN.
The Arizona Wildcats are one of the top teams in the Big 12, but recently took a stumble as they lost their last two games coming into this matchup. They lost a surprising home game against Kansas State, then missed a big chance at home against #6 Houston where they lost by four. The Wildcats are now tied for second in the Big 12 with Texas Tech, two games behind Houston who sits at the top. In the Houston game, they led by five at half, but failed to maintain the lead despite getting 17 points from Caleb Love in the loss.
Love is the leader of the team and reigning All-American in his second year with the Wildcats. The 6'4 senior guard started his career with North Carolina, but now is averaging 15.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 3.4 APG for the Wildcats. He is also their top outside shooter with 59 made threes on 30.1% shooting from deep. Jaden Bradley starts in the backcourt with Love and averages 11.6 PPG. The 6'3 junior guard also adds 3.8 APG and 3.5 RPG, but struggled against Houston as he shot just 1-6 and finished with only four points. KJ Lewis is their sixth man, the 6'4 sophomore guard is averaging 10.6 PPG and 4.8 RPG as a strong guard leading the second unit. Their top frontcourt player is Trey Townsend, the 6'6 senior forward is contributing 8.8 PPG and 4.0 RPG this season.
Arizona is currently ranked 12th overall according to KenPom. They are 23rd in offensive efficiency and 12th in defensive efficiency. They play relatively fast, ranking 43rd out of 364 teams in pace of play. Arizona is currently projected to be a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament according to Bracketology.
The Baylor Bears are tied for fifth in the Big 12 with an 8-6 league record, paired up with BYU and Kansas. The Big 12 has been a competitive conference this season, as they are projected to get eight teams into the NCAA Tournament. Baylor hopes to improve their positioning, because if they can finish alone in fifth place in the conference it would all but guarantee them a spot in the NCAA Tournament. In their last game, Baylor was led by Norchad Omier with 17 points and ten rebounds in the win over West Virginia.
Omier is their athletic 6'7, 240-pound senior forward. He has only been on campus for one season as he came over from Miami, but is leading the team with 15.7 PPG and 10.2 RPG. Omier has scored 16 or more in each of his last five games, getting double-doubles in four of those five outings. VJ Edgecombe is their star freshman wing, the 6'5 freshman is likely to hear his name called early by the commissioner in the upcoming NBA Draft and is putting up a strong stat line this season with 14.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG and 3.3 APG. He can finish above the rim, but also has 37 made threes on 36.6% shooting from the outside. Their third scorer is Robert Wright III, a 6'1 freshman guard who adds 12.8 PPG and a team-high 4.6 APG. Jeremy Roach had a successful career at Duke, but he came over to Baylor to finish his career and is getting 10.8 PPG as a 6'2 senior guard.
Baylor is currently ranked 29th overall according to KenPom. They are 12th in offensive efficiency and 65th in defensive efficiency. They play much slower than the Wildcats, ranking 297th in pace of play. Baylor is currently projected to be a 9-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Baylor is favored at 1.5 points and the Over/Under is 152.5 points
Let's talk about the Wildcats Vs Bears
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Hopefully Tom will instruct Delly and Trey to basically never gamble for blocks or steals - Ever. Players that have a difficult time simply staying in front of their matchup need to focus entirely on staying in front. That's it. Nothing else. Keep your hands up & your feet down. Get a hand in their face if they shoot and seal them off in case the rebound comes straight back. They will inevitably get scored on, but the percentages will be far lower than the typical blow by to the rim. Leave the defensive playmaking to the athletes and ball hawks in your group. That's a Win.
Arizona trying to snap the losing streak.
The last time Arizona basketball lost 3 games in a row was the 2019-20 season when they lost to #14 Oregon, at USC then at UCLA.
https://x.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1891614475599380784?t=xAmGaOl0WE3vQir4Ns7WZw&s=19
https://x.com/ArizonaMBB/status/1891667999951597958?t=z3TzOVlpZOWB7GstH_SGPw&s=19
Pretty well played game. Right before Tip Off there was a ton of money that poured into Baylor and they all got rinsed out. There was a rumor/sentiment that we were going to play a tired game and possibly have some minute restrictions which turned out to be somewhat true with Tommy playing more Tony Del Taco and Trey Townsend.
I sort of feel bad for Townsend. He was a beast at Oakland. He really picked the wrong team, wrong system overall.
Tommy did a good job coaching the team, until he didn't.
Another "up big and cruising" only to see us up 4 or 5pts with a few minutes to go where we have to "turn it back on".
We got it done today and I am happy to see we didn't let the pressure get to us.
Lol
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