ESPN Says Baylor Basketball Needs to Turn its Season Around Quickly

Baylor basketball found itself in the crosshairs on Tuesday night. They were 0-3 in conference play, and had to go on the road to Stillwater to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Hot shooting and a thwarting of a late rally led by a big night from freshman Tounde Yessoufou.

That was just the first of what Baylor hopes to be many wins in conference play, and they’re hoping to build off that on Friday night against the Kansas Jayhawks.

What's Next?

“Yeah, well, I think, I mean, when you win, what, 14 championships, not a lot of people are beating them there,” head coach Scott Drew said.

“I know, I think at one point, everyone kept saying fewer losses at home than total losses for Coach [Bill] Self, and that just is remarkable for what him and the program's been able to achieve. But I think we all know in the Big 12, no matter who you play on the road, it's really hard to win, and the margin of error is slight.”

Despite some of the positive momentum built on Tuesday night, Baylor was listed as one of the teams that ESPN thinks needs to turn its season around immediately.

Baylor G Cameron Carr — Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Baylor, which owns a defense that's barely inside the top 100 in efficiency, lost its first three games in the Big 12. That stretch included a road loss to TCU and home losses to Houston and Iowa State. That's not an easy collection of games for any team. Baylor is grappling with imbalance, though. and , two projected first-rounders in , lead a top-20 offense. But the Bears have to improve on the defensive end to survive the rest of their Big 12 schedule and secure a bid on Selection Sunday.

Defense was not as much of a problem on Tuesday night in Stillwater, as the Bears held the Cowboys to 79 points on 46 percent shooting.

The biggest reason the Bears were able to hold a lead like that, however, was seeing the ball go through the basket.

Freshman Sensation

Yessofou was excellent, leading the way with 23 points, and helping mitigate the loss of Dan Skillings Jr.

Baylor shot 52 percent from the floor beyond the arc, sinking 13 triples as they built their lead.

“So I think what we care most about, one, is it the shot that's best for us? So if we get the right shot, then we can live with the result, make or miss,” Drew said.

Baylor G Tounde Yessoufou — Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Then the next thing is after the right shot, what are we doing on the glass? And we've been a really good offensive rebounding team, and when you're not making shots, you gotta get rebounds, and that's why you're a good offensive rebounding team. So for us, I think it's getting the right shot, not turning it over, not taking a bad shot, and then when you miss, doing your job on the glass.”

Drew is right. Baylor is not going to shoot the lights out from beyond the arc every night, so they need to continue to do their job on the glass. The other reality is the defense, which we noted wasn’t an issue on Tuesday night, has to get better.

Trouble Ahead?

Baylor ranks just inside the top-100 in defensive efficiency.

They’ve held just one opponent under 70 since the calendar turned to January, a 69-63 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs earlier this month.

Regardless, as their freshmen continue to grow, Baylor should get better as the season goes along, which should prevent them from sweating out Selection Sunday in just two months.

What's Next?

Freshman Sensation

Trouble Ahead?

More from Baylor on SI