No. 8 Texas faces tall task at No. 9 Baylor

The No. 8 ranked Texas Longhorns travel to Waco for a Saturday showdown with the No. 9 Baylor Bears with the Big 12 title very much in play.

[Get Inside Texas Plus until the start of the 2023 season for $29.99!]

The Longhorns (22-6, 11-4) are coming off a 72-54 win against No. 19 Iowa State Tuesday. The Bears (20-8, 9-6) return home after dropping a pair of road games to Kansas and Kansas State.

Both teams need to win this game when looking at NCAA Tournament seeding possibilities, with the Bears feeling a little more pressure needing to beat Texas to continue to work towards a No. 2 seed.

Texas won the first meeting January 30 in Austin 76-71.

The Longhorns are 15-5 under interim head coach Rodney Terry, including 7-2 in the last nine Big 12 contests.

How to watch the game

Texas and Baylor tipoff at 1 p.m. central on ESPN with Dave O’Brien (play by play), Dick Vitale (analyst) and Kris Budden (reporter) calling the action.

The game will be played at the Ferrell Center (10,437) – Waco, Texas

The Longhorns lead the series 164-96. Texas won the last meeting 76-71 January 30, 2023 in Austin.

[Sign up NOW for the Inside Texas newsletter for Texas Longhorns daily updates and breaking news in your inbox!]

Big 12 race​

No. 5 Kansas Jayhawks (23-5, 11-4)
Remaining schedule: West Virginia, Texas Tech, at Texas

No. 6 Texas Longhorns (22-6, 11-4)
Remaining schedule: at Baylor, at TCU, Kansas

No. 12 Kansas State Wildcats (21-7, 9-6)
Remaining schedule: at Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, at West Virginia

No. 9 Baylor Bears (20-7, 9-6)
Remaining schedule: Texas, at Oklahoma State, Iowa State

No. 19 Iowa State Cyclones (17-10, 8-7)
Remaining schedule: Oklahoma, West Virginia, at Baylor

No. 22 TCU Horned Frogs (18-10, 7-8)
Remaining schedule: at Texas Tech, Texas, at Oklahoma

Oklahoma State Cowboys (16-12, 7-8)
Remaining schedule: Kansas State, Baylor, at Texas Tech

Texas Tech Red Raiders (16-12, 5-10)
Remaining schedule: TCU, at Kansas, Oklahoma State

West Virginia Mountaineers (16-12, 5-10)
Remaining schedule: at Kansas, at Iowa State, Kansas State

Oklahoma Sooners (13-15, 3-12)
Remaining schedule: at Iowa State, at Kansas State, TCU

[Sign up NOW for the Inside Texas newsletter for Texas Longhorns daily updates and breaking news in your inbox!]

The Rodney Terry File

Rodney Terry enters Tuesday with a career record of 178-161. He has been a head coach at the Division I level for ten year prior to joining Chris Beard’s staff in Austin.

Terry built the Fresno State program up in his time in California. The Bulldogs won 20 or more games in four of Terry’s last five seasons. That included three times in post season play. Terry has a 0-1 record in the NCAA Tournament.

The Scott Drew File

Scott Drew is in his 20th season as head coach of Baylor. He has a 419-230 record in Waco, including 176-161 in Big 12 play. Drew coached one season at Valpariso prior to be hired by the Bears. He posted a 20-11 record that season.

Drew sports an NCAA Tournament record of 17-9 in 10 career appearances. Baylor won the National Championship in 2021, and have advanced to three Elite Eight’s and five Sweet 16’s.

Baylor Bears starters

G Adam Flagler, 6-3, senior (15.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists)

G L.J. Cryer, 6-1, junior (14.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists)

G Keyonte George, 6-4, freshman (16.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists)

F Jalen Bridges, 6-7, junior (9.5 points, 5.8 rebounds)

PF Flo Thamba, 6-10, senior (5.0 points, 4.7 rebounds)

Key reserves

Key reserves for the Bears are 6-8 senior Jonathan Tchamwa-Tchatchoua (6.8 points, 6.0 rebounds), 6-2 senior Dale Bonner (3.8 points, 2.8 assists), Langston Love (6.6 points, 2.3 rebounds), 6-8 junior Caleb Lohner (4.0 points, 4.4 rebounds), and 6-10 freshman Josh Ojianwuna (4.8 points, 3.8 rebounds).

Texas starters

PG Tyrese Hunter, 6-1, sophomore (9.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists)

CG Marcus Carr, 6-2, super senior (17.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists)

F Timmy Allen, 6-6, super senior (10.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists)

F Dillon Mitchell, 6-8, freshman (5.3 points, 4.4 rebounds)

PF Dylan Disu, 6-9, senior (6.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.4 blocks)

The reserves 

SG Sir’Jabari Rice, 6-4, super senior (12.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists)

PF Christian Bishop, 6-7, super senior (6.5 points, 3.5 rebounds)

CG Arterio Morris, 6-3, freshman (5.1 points, 1.6 rebounds)

F Brock Cunningham, 6-6, senior (5.1 points, 3.3 rebounds) 

PF Alex Anamekwe, 6-5.5, freshman (2.0 points, 0.8 rebounds)

SG Gavin Perryman, 6-1, redshirt freshman