Bryce, Scott Drew shares biggest takeaways from Baylor basketball win vs. Grand Canyon

While it was an exhibition, the Bears were back in action on Friday and came away with a win.

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Baylor basketball was back in action on Friday night for its first exhibition game of the season. The Bears hosted Scott Drew's brother, Bryce Drew's team, Grand Canyon. Baylor won the contest 79-74 and true freshman Tounde Yessoufou was impressive in his debut, scoring a team-high 21 points.

Following the game, Scott Drew was asked what his major takeaways were from Baylor's exhibition win. He first mentioned the free-throw woes that his team had this summer when representing Team USA in the FISU World University Games. The lack of free throws crushed Drew's team in the finals, but Baylor shot free throws well on Friday, making 13-of-14. His team also shot 50% from 3, and that will do wonders in Big 12 play.

"Well, I think, first and foremost, for all those that watched us in Germany, we didn't shoot 13 for 14 from the free throw line," Drew said. "And we've made a really conscious effort because we know we're going to be in a lot of close games. And free throws is going to be a big, big deciding factor for us.

"Bryce's team, I know in their scrimmage was 22 for 24. And they got a great free throw shooting team. When you bring in guys that shoot 86%, usually that carries over. We didn't have a lot of guys coming in shooting a great percentage and really credit them for working hard. Our staff's done a good job working with them. But 13 to 14 from three, we can win a lot of games.

"Obviously, 12 for 24 from three, we can win a lot of games. The one thing we missed a lot of layups and their size length bothered us on a lot of that. But the great thing is, we won't face and why it's good that we able to play this. It's not like there's anyone in the Big 12 that's that much has that much more size than they have. So this is a great, it'll be one that would be one of the taller teams in the Big 12. Give us something to work on finishing and when we want to go up and when we want to pass. And we don't get extra points for a degree of difficulty. So we want to make the easy ones."

Bryce Drew's takeaway from Baylor

Grand Canyon has been great since Bryce Drew became the coach. The Lopes have been in the NCAA Tournament in four of fives years Drew has coached GCU. Drew knows how to get the most out of his team, and keeping the game close with Baylor was good for his program.

Drew mentioned how physical Baylor was and two players who stood out to him: Dan Skillings and Cameron Carr.

"Yeah, you know, I obviously watched all the Baylor games that we can and you know, I really like this, the team that he has, they have a lot of length, a lot of shooting, some tough matchups," Drew said of Baylor. "And, you know, I think for our guys, the level of physicality was an adjustment in the first half.

"We didn't rebound the ball well, we turned it over too much. And I thought second half we got more physical, which helped us but again, I love the different weapons they have. And from watching film from Skillings last year to now, he's a totally different, much better player. Carr, from Tennessee to now, he's a different player.

"And I think as you look through, you know, you see development, what he talked about from the outside in though, you see those players are much better now than they were on film, you know, in the past already."

More From Baylor On SI:

• Baylor basketball downs Grand Canyon in exhibition match, Yessoufou shines
• Baylor’s Tounde Yessoufou drawing early buzz ahead of 2025-26 season
• Ranking Baylor's schedule by difficulty for the rest of the season after six games
• Redshirt tracker: How many games every Baylor football true freshman has played