No. 1 Bears hope to continue road success at Iowa State

There was a time when Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum was as tough of a place to win for Baylor as Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse.

Beginning with the first year of the Big 12 in 1997, the Bears lost 11 straight games in Ames before breaking through with a win in 2015.

Since then Baylor has won three of the last five games at Hilton Coliseum, including a 73-69 decision last season. The No. 1 Bears hope to continue their success against the Cyclones at 8 p.m. Wednesday, but they know it will be a tough environment with a crowd of more than 13,000 packing the arena.

“It’s usually 10 degrees up there, and they must have the heat on there, and that’s one of the few places that do because everybody comes to it,” said Baylor coach Scott Drew. “But they have great fan support and a very knowledgeable fan base.”

For the first time in school history, Baylor (17-1, 6-0) has been ranked No. 1 two straight weeks in the Associated Press poll. In their only other appearance at No. 1 in 2017, the Bears were crushed by West Virginia the following day in Morgantown.

Riding a 16-game winning streak, the Bears stayed in the top spot in the AP poll and moved to No. 1 in the coaches poll by beating Oklahoma at the Ferrell Center and Florida in Gainesville last week.

With such a lofty ranking, Baylor expects to get opponents’ best shot every game.

“You saw it even before we were No. 1 against Oklahoma State, teams just give extra,” said Baylor guard Devonte Bandoo. “Guys you scout hit shots we haven’t seen before. They have a little extra edge, so we have to give that extra edge also. That’s one thing we’ve just got to keep doing.”

The Bears knocked off the Cyclones (9-10, 2-4) at the Ferrell Center on Jan. 15 as Jared Butler hit 19 points and Davion Mitchell scored 17 in a 68-55 decision.

Baylor’s defense was tremendous as Iowa State shot 39.7 percent and nobody scored in double figures. With Freddie Gillespie grabbing 11 rebounds, the Bears dominated the boards by a 45-33 margin.

But the Bears know the Cyclones feature some dangerous shooters who are capable of big games. Tyrese Haliburton is one of the most versatile guards in the Big 12 as he’s averaging 15.7 points, 7.1 assists and 5.9 rebounds.

Rasir Bolton is another talented guard who is averaging 15.1 points and 2.8 assists while both guard Prentiss Nixon and forward George Conditt are averaging 8.6 points. The Cyclones are coming off a hard-fought 80-76 loss Saturday at No. 17 Auburn.

“We know their plays pretty well and their personnel pretty well,” Butler said. “But they know us as well as we know them. I think they’re a great pick and roll team and they do a great job of finding open shooters. We’ve got to limit Haliburton and really lock in. That’s our main thing.”

The Bears have a lot of confidence playing on the road because they’ve already beaten Kansas, Texas Tech and Florida in January before big crowds. They have a knack for coming through with crucial plays in the final minutes.

“It’s really a process,” Butler said. “You don’t wake up one day and are able to do that. I think Coach Drew and our coaching staff have done a great job, and we’ve got some great guys who want to win the game. You see that all the time in the last five minutes or throughout the whole game.”

Butler also credits Baylor’s veteran players for not allowing the team to crumble on the road. Even when the Bears have had an off shooting night, their defense and rebounding have been enough to pull them through.

“We’ve got older guards,” Butler said. “We’ve got some guys who are built to last and we’ve got some qualities to us that can travel whether we’re hitting shots or not. We’re always going to play defense and hit the right guy and things like that, and I think that’s why we can win on the road.”

With such a tough road schedule in January, Drew hopes his team can overcome potential fatigue and stretch the winning streak to 17 games to tie the 2011-12 squad for the longest in school history.

“This will be our fifth road game in seven games,” Drew said. “I know the first thing we want to do is make sure we’re not road-weary and make sure we get off to a good start because traditionally Iowa State is one of the top five toughest places to play in the country. And you don’t want to get their fans going.”

Drew is optimistic that forward Tristan Clark will play after missing the Florida game with knee soreness.

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