Drew seeks 300th win as No. 25 Baylor hosts Alcorn State (Nov 17, 2017)
Friday night is shaping up as a milestone evening for Baylor coach Scott Drew.
If the 25th-ranked Bears knock off Alcorn State in a nonconference matchup at Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas, Drew will pick up his 300th career win -- all at Baylor.
The mark takes on more meaning when one realizes that Drew essentially started from scratch in 2003 following the scandal-ridden ending to the Dave Bliss era.
Since winning only 36 games in his first four years, Drew has won 263 in the last 10-plus seasons, reaching a pair of Elite Eights and becoming a fixture in the NCAA Tournament. This season's team is 2-0, opening with routs of Central Arkansas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Monday night's 70-46 verdict over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi didn't come without a little work, though. Coming off a 107-point outing against Central Arkansas, the Bears led just 28-22 at the half before finally finding the range after halftime.
"You come off a game where everything is so easy and you're making shots, and now you're missing shots and playing a lot more defense," Drew said. "It just starts to build and you get frustrated. Each game is going to be different. That's why you play a nonconference schedule, so you can get used to things that are different."
Baylor ended up rolling the Islanders behind 23 points from senior point guard Manu Lecomte, who was 10-for-10 at the foul line. Lecomte was coming off a 22-point outing against Central Arkansas.
While two games is what some call a small sample size, Lecomte appears to be the man around whom this offense will revolve. He was responsible for most of a 10-0 run early in the second half Monday night, drilling a 3, sinking two foul shots and teeing up Nuni Omot for a 3-pointer that turned a two-point edge into a 40-28 advantage.
"Coach Drew trusts me at the end of the shot clock to have the ball in my hands, coming off ball screens, one-on-one, whatever," Lecomte said.
Alcorn State (0-3) started its season with a three-game, four-day road trip that finished with a back-to-back in the Midwest. After a 109-72 defeat at Creighton on Sunday, the Braves fell 73-45 Monday night to Northern Iowa.
Like many Southwestern Athletic Conference programs, Alcorn State spends the bulk of its non-conference season on the road, playing "buy games" to raise funds for the athletic department and hoping to steal a game or two along the way.
The Braves are expected to contend for the league title under third-year coach Montez Robinson, who is hoping the spurts of good play they've produced will morph into longer stretches.
"We just can't have the lapses that we did, especially against teams that shoot the ball the way they do," he said after the defeat at Northern Iowa. "Our guys were grinding and challenging, but they were making tough shots. I'm really confident in this team and where we could be at the end of this season."
Point guard A.J. Mosby (12.7 points per game) and forward Reginal Johnson (11.0) have been Alcorn State's leading scorers so far.
