Scott Drew shares what Keyonte George has meant to Baylor

Keyonte George had a lot of hype to live up to the moment he arrived at Baylor. He was the highest-rated recruit in the history of the program and just the Bear’s fifth-ever McDonald’s All-American. However, now that his freshman season, and potentially, his college career, is over, it’s safe to say he lived up to what was an already very high bar.

Scott Drew applauded the impact George made this year in Waco following their Round of 32 loss to Creighton. He said the growth he displayed was as substantial as it was because of the teammates he had at his disposal and his willingness to learn. On top of that, he said his personality only made things better for himself and his teammates this season.

“I think he’s really grown,” Drew said. “When you come in as a freshman, you grow a lot off the court as well as on the court. And having LJ (Cryer), Adam (Flagler), and great big brothers for him has really helped him. And Key is a fun teammate. The guys all really like him and he wanted to learn from them.”

“I really credit his growth, all around on and off the court, because of the teammates he had. And his willingness to grow,” said Drew.

George ended his freshman season with an average of 15.3 points per game in just over 28 minutes a game. That put him second on the team in scoring just 0.3 points behind Flagler at 15.6. Even so, nothing about George’s game was exactly gun-shy. He led the team in overall field goal attempts, three-point attempts, and free throw attempts this season. He was efficient enough to be effective with that many looks too with marks of 37.6% from the field, 33.8% from three, and 79.3% from the charity stripe.

George also made an impact in other ways with 4.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.1 steals in his 33 games. All that helped him earn Big 12 Freshman of the Year and a spot on the All-Big 12 Second Team.

Plenty of weight and pressure was on George from the moment he arrived in Drew’s program. He showed up, though, showed out, and even exceeded expectations in some ways en route to the success he had this season at Baylor. Now, after all that, he has put himself in a solid position to make a very big choice for himself when it comes to his basketball future in the NBA Draft.