The No. 2 Baylor Bears are not showing any signs of slowing down. On Saturday, they will look to get another win to add to their undefeated record when they travel to Stillwater for a duel with the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Check out our preview of this game below.
Baylor remains undefeated this season after beating the No.9 Kansas Jayhawks on Jan. 18 in Waco, 77-69. Jared Butler was smoking hot in that contest, leading the Bears with 30 points and eight assists in 34 minutes. MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell, meanwhile, had 13 and 10 points, respectively. Butler, the team’s leading scorer this season with 15.6 points per game average, nailed seven threes against the Jayhawks, upping his 3-point shooting percentage on the season to 41.5. Baylor is a terrific outside-shooting team, one that is fourth nationally with 42.3 3-point shooting percentage and 14th with 10.3 threes per contest. But the best asset of Baylor is its defense that’s allowing only 61.1 points per game and holds opponents to just 40.4 field goal shooting percentage. The Bears have a bunch of ballhawks on defense who would be a problem for a Cowboys team that is already among the worst in the Big 12 in ball security. Baylor is tops in the Big 12 with 9.5 steals per game, while Oklahoma State is second-worst with 14.2 turnovers per contest.
Baylor is 7-3 against the spread in its last 10 games.
Cade Cunningham is the real deal. Cunningham once again showed why he’s among those expected to get selected early in this year’s NBA Draft when he dropped 18 points in the Cowboys’ 75-70 upset win over the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks at home on Jan. 12. The Cowboys covered there as 3.5-point underdogs. The Cowboys have done a good job of beating the spread as underdogs. In fact, in five games so far this season in which they were labeled as underdogs, they managed to cover the spread four times. Against Baylor, the Bears might find themselves in trouble if they engage the Cowboys in a shootout. Although Oklahoma State is just a 32.5 percent 3-point-shooting team on the season, the Cowboys have been lethal from deep of late. The Cowboys are 15 of 35 from behind the arc in their last two games. The focal of Oklahoma State’s offense is, of course, Cunningham, who leads all players in the Big 12 with 17.8 points per game.
Oklahoma State is 4-1 against the spread in its last five games overall.
