No. 24 Louisville rising, Baylor falling ahead of nonconference tilt
No. 24 Louisville and Baylor will step outside of their conferences for the last time in the regular season when they meet Saturday on a neutral court in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Cardinals (18-6) and the Bears (13-11) will be playing for more than just pride in what shapes up to be a Quad 1 game. Louisville, 5-6 in Quad 1 games, has won four straight overall and six of the past seven to shore up its status as a near-certain NCAA Tournament team.
However, Baylor with its 3-9 Quad 1 record, may not even be considered a bubble team. The Bears are on a two-game skid and have lost six of their past eight.
A high-scoring affair may be in the cards as Louisville is 12th among Division I schools in adjusted offensive efficiency at 125.2 points per 100 possessions while Baylor is 23rd (122.4).
In Louisville's 118-77 rout of North Carolina State on Monday, Mikel Brown Jr. put up 45 points to tie the single-game school record and break the Atlantic Coast Conference mark for most points in a game by a freshman.
The epic night came after Brown struggled somewhat, especially from the 3-point arc, since returning from a back injury that cost him eight games this season. He shot 27.3% (9 of 33) from the arc in his first five games after the injury. On Monday, he tied a school record with 10 treys, reaching that figure on 16 attempts (62.5%).
However, Brown (17.3 ppg) is far from the only scoring threat on coach Pat Kelsey's team. Louisville features seven players who average seven or more points per game. Leading scorer Ryan Conwell (18.9 ppg) added 31 in the Monday win.
While the Cardinals have been on a roll, Kelsey told reporters after the NC State game that the team will keep an even keel just as it did after Duke beat the Cardinals 83-52 on Jan. 26.
"They didn't listen to the thump, thump, thump. The noise, the rat poison," the coach said. "And we're not going to do it after winning a big game tonight by a lot."
After a 10-2 start, the Bears are just 3-9, all against their Big 12 colleagues. However, they have remained close against some of the conference's top teams. On Tuesday, No. 22 BYU visited Waco, Texas, and left with a 99-94 victory.
Depth has been an issue as coach Scott Drew has relied on seven players who average 23.1 or more minutes per game. It's been an even bigger issue since Dan Skillings Jr. (10.2 ppg) has missed the past three games because of a knee injury.
Baylor's starters all logged at least 29 minutes in the loss to BYU, with Tounde Yessoufou (18.5 ppg) playing the entire 40 minutes as he scored a career-high 37. Cameron Carr (19.8 ppg) went 35 minutes while scoring 24.
Carr, Yessoufou and Obi Agbim played all 40 minutes on Feb. 7 in a 72-69 loss to then-No. 7 Iowa State.
Those minutes come at a cost, according to Drew.
"I think most coaches will tell you, when you're tired, you're going to give it up somewhere," said Drew, whom Louisville pursued for its head-coaching vacancy two years ago before hiring Kelsey. "Might be shot selection. Might be defense."