Baylor aims to register its sixth victory in seven games when it battles Arizona State in Big 12 play on Saturday night in Tempe, Ariz.
The Bears (10-4, 2-1 Big 12) are 0-3 in true road games this season, falling at then-No. 6 Gonzaga, then-No. 25 UConn and then-No. 3 Iowa State.
Baylor was blown out in two of the games — losing to Gonzaga by 38 and Iowa State by 19 — but played two-time defending national champion UConn tough before losing 76-72.
The Bears are coming off a 68-48 home rout of Cincinnati on Tuesday. Baylor shot 50 percent from the field and held the Bearcats to 34.7 percent.
Norchad Omier made 7 of 9 shots while notching 18 points and 10 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. VJ Edgecombe added 18 points.
The 20-point winning margin allowed highly regarded freshman forward Jason Asemota to play 15 minutes. He finished with four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot.
Asemota has 23 points, 26 rebounds, six steals and two blocked shots in just 75 minutes this season.
“I’m 6-9, long arms, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be a good defender,” Asemota said. “That’s what they’ve been telling me all year.”
Omier leads Baylor with averages of 15.7 points and 10.8 rebounds.
Arizona State (10-4, 1-2) is hoping to halt a five-game losing streak against the Bears. The Sun Devils last beat Baylor during the 1988-89 season. The Bears hold a 6-2 series lead.
Arizona State has lost three of its last five overall games after falling 74-55 at No. 11 Kansas on Wednesday. The Sun Devils led by six at halftime but were clobbered in the second half, outscored 38-13.
“They really turned up their pressure on defense with their press and that cost us some baskets and the game started getting away from us quickly,” Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. “We weren’t able to stop the bleeding at any point with trying to get an easy basket.”
The Sun Devils hope to have leading scorer Joson Sanon back after he missed the last two games with an ankle injury. Sanon averages 13.5 points and has made a team-leading 28 3-pointers.
Basheer Jihad is Arizona State’s second-leading scorer at 13.1 points per game.
Forward Jayden Quaintance is averaging 9.4 points and leads the Sun Devils in rebounding (8.4 per game), as well as blocked shots (42) and steals (20).
Quaintance is on pace to shatter the school’s freshman mark for blocked shots of 55, set by Mario Bennett in 1991-92.
–Field Level Media
