Baylor @ Colorado preview
CU Events Center
Last Meeting ( Nov 8, 2013 ) Colorado 60, Baylor 72
Baylor's first visit to Boulder, Colo., in 15 years will take place Saturday afternoon. And the stakes for the Bears couldn't be much higher.
Sitting at 16-10 overall and 8-7 in the Big 12 Conference after Monday's 74-67 home loss to No. 19 Arizona, Baylor appears to be in good shape for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
And three of the Bears' next four games will be against teams like Colorado (10-16, 1-14), which doesn't have much of an at-large case.
But a loss to the Buffaloes, while not fatal, would be a serious blow. Colorado is the league's last-place team, by two games over Arizona State.
Saturday will be an opportunity the Bears can't flub. And if they keep missing 3-pointers like they did Monday night, when they were 5 of 22 -- or last Saturday, when they also were 5 of 22 in an overtime win over West Virginia -- anything is possible.
"The last two games, we haven't shot from 3 like we're capable," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "As a staff, we've got to do a better job of getting us better looks because we have better shooters than that."
The Bears are led by senior Norchad Omier, who is averaging 15.7 points and 10.3 rebounds a game. Omier collected his 82nd career double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) Monday night, and freshman VJ Edgecombe (15-ppg average) is coming off a game-high 24 points against Arizona.
As for the Buffaloes, they most recently played on Tuesday night, falling 79-65 at No. 8 Iowa State. It was Colorado's third double-figure loss of the season to the Cyclones, which established a 45-28 halftime lead.
Colorado coach Tad Boyle was left wishing his team had played as well in the first 30 minutes as it did the final 10, when it whittled a 24-point deficit to a more respectable final margin.
"I was really proud of our guys the last 10 minutes," Boyle said.
Julian Hammond is the Buffaloes' only double-figure scorer at an average of 12.9 points per game, although he has struggled lately.
Hammond has made only 6 of 26 shots from the field (20.7 percent) in the last three games.
--Field Level Media