No. 18 Baylor Aim to End 3-Game Losing Streak When They Meet UCF

No. 18 Baylor will attempt to snap a three-game losing streak and get back on track for a run at the Big 12 Conference title when it faces UCF on Wednesday night in a key league clash in Orlando, Fla.

The Bears (14-5, 3-3 Big 12) head south after a 105-102 triple-overtime loss at home to TCU on Saturday. Yves Missi led Baylor with a career-high 25 points, while RayJ Dennis added 24 points and 10 assists, Ja’Kobe Walter tallied 15 points and Langston Love racked up 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The loss, combined with previous defeats over the past two weeks at Kansas State and at Texas by a combined six points, has dropped Baylor from 15th in the latest AP poll. The Bears have lost their past three outings by a total of nine points.

The Bears have gone to overtime three times in their first six Big 12 games, with all six games decided by single digits.Baylor led by as many as 10 points seven minutes into the second half on Saturday before TCU climbed all the way back to send the game into overtime.

After the Bears fell behind in the first extra period, Walter sank a 3-pointer with two seconds left to force a second overtime. A jumper by Dennis in the final minute of the third overtime gave Baylor a short-lived lead that it could not carry to the end.”

We just didn’t close it out,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “So many close plays that lead to winning or losing. I know it takes a spark to start a fire, and we’re at that point where we need to get a win and get some confidence back.”

How tough is the Big 12 Conference? Eight of the league’s 14 teams are ranked in the latest AP poll. And despite the fact that UCF is not among the ranked, it has already shown that it can play with the Big 12’s best.

The Knights (12-7, 3-4) return home after a 68-57 loss at Cincinnati on Saturday. UCF has alternated between wins and losses over its first seven conference outings, beating then-No. 3 Kansas at home and Texas on the road earlier this month.

On Saturday, the Knights led by a dozen points at halftime before allowing Cincinnati to shoot 63.6 percent from the floor in the second half while being outscored 41-18. Marchelus Avery and Jaylin Sellers led UCF with 19 points apiece, but the Knights fell short of delivering coach Johnny Dawkins his 300th win.”

Our guys fought hard and they gave us good energy,” Dawkins said afterward. “We played a really good (first) half of basketball offensively and defensively, and the second half was the exact opposite. Our offense hurt our defense, the ball got stagnant, didn’t move from sideline to sideline like we normally do on our attack, and that led to some bad defensive possessions for us.”

The battle with Baylor will be the fifth game for UCF against a ranked opponent this season.

  1. College Sports News

    WCC to Add Grand Canyon and Seattle in 2025

    WCC adding Seattle U and Grand Canyon University

    WCC adding Seattle U and Grand Canyon University

    Seattle and Grand Canyon will be leaving the Western Athletic Conference and moving to the West Coast Conference starting July 2025.

    The nine current members of the conference are private universities with a religious affiliation. Seattle is a Jesuit institution, while Grand Canyon, situated in Phoenix, is a Christian college.

    Grand Canyon’s basketball achievements were a significant factor in attracting WCC commissioner Stu Jackson. The team has participated in the last two NCAA Tournaments and three of the previous four under the leadership of coach Bryce Drew.

    As the 12th-seeded Antelopes defeated fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s before losing to Alabama in the tournament this season.

    Saint Mary’s is currently a member of the West Coast Conference.

    The WCC, while also integrating Oregon State and Washington State this autumn (excluding football), will expand from 11 to 13 members by the 2025-26 season.

    The future beyond 2026 looks uncertain, with Oregon State and Washington State appearing unlikely to continue with the WCC.

    The former Pac-12 schools are under a two-year contract, expiring on June 30, 2026. Sources from CBS Sports suggest that the odds of the two Pacific Northwest institutions staying are slim, with a move to the Mountain West or a new conference formation being more probable.

    Following the departures of Sam Houston and New Mexico State last year, Seattle and Grand Canyon’s exit from the WAC will reduce the conference’s membership to just eight by July 2025.

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  2. College Sports News

    Ex-Cal State Fullerton G Max Jones Commits to Kansas State

    Kansas State adds athletic wing in left-handed shooter Max Jones

    Kansas State adds athletic wing in left-handed shooter Max Jones

    Former guard of Cal State Fullerton Max Jones has made a decision to join Kansas State for his upcoming collegiate season, according to reports.

    Notable alternatives that Jones purportedly pondered were New Mexico, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Florida Atlantic, and Loyola Chicago.

    During the previous season with the Titans, Jones maintained an average of 15.3 points and 3.0 rebounds across 24 games, in which he started 21. He secured the second-highest scoring position within the team, alongside being the second in 3-pointers with 42 baskets and 41 steals.

    In the season prior, Jones held an average of 12.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in 32 games, amassing 34 three-pointers and 30 steals.

    Before making his way to Cal State Fullerton post the 2021-22 season, Jones spent two years at Division II Tampa, where he managed to achieve an average of 21.9 points across 21 games during his sophomore year with the Spartans.

    In the recent offseason, Kansas State acquired Dug McDaniel, a former player from Michigan recognized as one of the premier point guards available in this year’s transfer portal.

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  3. College Sports News

    Stanford Names Basketball Court in Honor of Tara VanDerveer

    View From The Top with Tara VanDerveer, Former Coach of Stanford Women’s Basketball

    View From The Top with Tara VanDerveer, Former Coach of Stanford Women’s Basketball

    Tara VanDerveer’s legacy at Stanford will now be visibly acknowledged, with the school revealing on Thursday that the basketball arena’s floor will bear the name of the esteemed Hall of Fame coach.

    At the age of 70, VanDerveer stepped down following her 38th season at the helm of the Cardinal.

    She steered Stanford to 14 Final Fours and secured three national championships (1990, 1992, 2021). VanDerveer embarked on her coaching journey at Idaho (1978-80) and later coached at Ohio State (1980-85).

    In January, she surpassed Mike Krzyzewski to clinch the title of the most successful college basketball coach in history, across both men’s and women’s teams. VanDerveer concluded with a remarkable 1,216-271 record, boasting a 1,064-220 tally with the Cardinal.

    Alongside the unveiling of the Tara VanDerveer Court at Maples Pavilion this November, Stanford also established an endowed position in women’s basketball for an assistant coach in VanDerveer’s honor.

    VanDerveer said in a statement, “This endowment will go a long way to strengthening the future of Stanford women’s basketball. I have many wonderful memories of leading the women’s basketball program at Maples Pavilion.”

    “It’s an honor, and a little surreal, to know that my name will be linked to both in these ways, and I look forward to celebrating with all our fans this fall.”

    Last month, Stanford appointed Kate Paye, one of VanDerveer’s longtime assistant coaches who played for the Cardinal from 1991-95 and began coaching under VanDerveer in 2007, as the new head coach.

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