New-look Baylor will look to take its next step to build team chemistry when it hosts Washington in a nonconference matchup Sunday in Waco, Texas.
The Bears (1-0) opened their campaign with a 96-81 win on Monday as Cameron Carr poured in 28 points, matching former Baylor star Ja’Kobe Walter for most points in a debut contest for the team. Tounde Yessoufou added 24 points, Obi Agbim hit for 16, and Dan Skillings Jr. had 15 in the win.
The victory was an important first step for the Bears, who are still working to come together after returning zero players from last year’s team. Baylor is one of just three high-major programs (along with Miami and Memphis) with zero returning players from the 2024-25 season. The Bears lost four members of last year’s team to eligibility, nine to the transfer portal, and one to the NBA.
Baylor trailed by 14 about nine minutes into the game but forged a pair of runs, the latter over the final minute of the first half that gave it a 46-37 advantage at the break. The Bears never let the visitors sniff the front in the second half.
Yessoufou hit his final 10 shots from the floor after starting the game 0-for-6.
“Tounde will have ups, he’ll have downs — just like every player but freshmen tend to have a little bigger swings,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said of one his prized recruits. “The great thing is, there are certain things he provides with his size, athleticism, that should be constant, and his physicality, his rebounding, his defense should travel.”
Drew said he was not surprised that his team was a little ragged early in Monday’s win.
“That’s what you’re supposed to do at the beginning of the year,” he said. “If everyone was really good at the beginning of the year, there’s no room to grow and improve.”
The Huskies (2-0) head to the banks of the Brazos River after an 84-70 home win over Denver on Thursday in Spokane. Seven Washington players had at least 10 points led by Hannes Steinbach’s 13-point, 16-rebound double-double.
Wesley Yates III finished with 13 points; Zoom Diallo had 12. Lathan Sommerville, Quimari Peterson, JJ Mandaquit, and Bryson Tucker hit for 11 apiece, as the Huskies expanded an eight-point halftime lead to 48-31 with 17:15 to play and cruised to the finish line.
Yates lauded his team’s balance and unselfishness.
“It feels amazing knowing anybody can put the ball in the basket,” he said. “It takes a lot of pressure off of everybody just knowing you can go out there and play freely. We all know the ball is going to come back around, regardless of what five is in the game.”
“Mentally it helps us more than anything to prepare because we know what we’re about and we know what it takes to win.”
