Takeaways from Baylor basketball's win against Rio Grande-Valley
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Did you hear that?
In the dead heat of the college football season, with college football playoff rankings are set to be released for the first time this week, you might've heard the faint squeak of basketball shoes on the hardwood. No, it's not Christmas yet, but there is college basketball going on. The Baylor Bears opened up their regular season, after exhibitions against Grand Canyon and Indiana, tonight against the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, defeating the Vaqueros 96-81.
This college basketball season is marked by the arrivals by primetime freshman Darryn Peterson at Kansas, Cameron Boozer at Duke, and AJ Dybantsa at BYU, who is joined by former Baylor point guard Rob Wright. The Bears, picked 7th in the Big 12 preseason poll, have a tall task in replacing 100% of their roster from last year, but are set to get a heavy lift from their diaper dandy freshman and NBA lottery pick hopeful Tounde Yessoufou. With all that, let's dive into what we learned from the Bears' first regular season game.
Wing reliance for Baylor
With Waco native Caden Powell coming off bench for the Bears, the Bears starting five of Cameron Carr, Michael Rataj, Dan Skillings Jr., Tounde Yessoufou, and Obi Agim featured four players between 6'6 and 6'10, with the Wyoming transfer Agim being the only one shorter than 6'4. While it led Scott Drew being able to switch 1 through 5 on the defensive end, the need for a true big became immediately clear, as the Vaqueros got off to a 9-0 start, with the first seven points coming from UTRGV big man Filip Brankovic, who bulled the Bears early on with his 265-pound frame. The Bears were able to win this comfortably, but the construction of Scott Drew's roster relies almost solely on the wing position, and it'll be interesting how the lineup evolves as the season does, as Big 12 opponents challenge Baylor's lack of rim protection.
Working to wake up the defense
Speaking of rim protection, that's just one of the aspects that was lacking in Baylor's overall lackluster defensive performance. The Bears recorded five blocks, but, with that belied the Bears ability to deter ball-handers from entering the paint, leading to the 81-point performance from the Vaqueros on 49% shooting. With guys like Michael Rataj, Cameron Carr, and Obi Agbim being scorers more than defensive stoppers, Scott Drew is going to need some of these wings like Yessoufou to step up and take the challenge of containing perimeter ball-handlers with the aforementioned lack of rim protection. Scott Drew has been known for rugged defense and his "no middle" defensive strategy, but this team will need to develop its defensive identity to consistently get stops.
Tale of two halves for Tounde
The five-star freshman and projected lottery pick got off to a rough start, missing his first five shots, and looking to be generally pressed, to the point where former Baylor guard King McClure noted it on the broadcast. There were some easy misses in there, but the California native seemed to have jitters that seemed to be completely normal that come with his first game. However, Yessoufou will carry a large load for a freshman in the Big 12, and with Washington on the schedule next, the Bears won't have the luxury of being able to overpower their opponent with talent against a fellow conference opponent. With that, while Yessoufou finished with 24 points and two threes, they will need him to grow up quickly and find a consistent rhythm if Baylor wants to return to the NCAA tournament.
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Josh began covering Baylor athletics in July 2025. Before this, he previously wrote for Syracuse men's basketball and football at SI from 2022-24. As a former Division I defensive lineman at Prairie View, Josh is passionate about storytelling from a former athlete's perspective. When he's not covering Baylor, he enjoys traveling, listening to podcasts and music, and loves cooking a good meal.
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