No. 7 Texas and Baylor roll into Sunday afternoon’s San Antonio Hoops Showdown with matching 3-0 records and a chance to land the season’s biggest win so far.
It’s a rare reunion, too. The former conference rivals haven’t faced each other since Texas departed the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference after the 2023-24 season.
Texas has looked every bit like a top-10 team through three games, and the numbers are loud. The Longhorns have won by a combined 129 points and have topped 93 points in every outing.
Their latest statement came Monday in a 93-62 home win over Grambling, a game they controlled from the jump. Texas scored 30 of the first 35 points, led by 28 at halftime and stretched the margin to as many as 44 in the second half.
Matas Vokietaitis was the headliner again, finishing with 26 points and a game-high nine rebounds. It was the third straight game he has led Texas in scoring. Joe Sterling added 13 points, Marcus Spears Jr. had 12, Elyjah Freeman scored 11 and David Punch chipped in 10.
The pace and the scoring are exactly what Sean Miller has been pushing, but he knows the challenge changes once the opponent can push back.
"It's just, eventually you have to coach your players," Miller said about last year's team. "Sometimes you're forcing a style onto them that isn't in their best interest."
Now comes a much stiffer test. Miller pointed to ball security as a major factor against Baylor, especially with pressure coming from a defense he expects to be relentless.
"Against Baylor, one of the key stats in the game is just our team's ability to play without turning it over in an early-season game against pressure and a team that I think plays really hard defensively," Miller said.
Baylor has been just as convincing in its own right. The Bears are also 3-0 and have won in blowout fashion, including a 90-61 home victory over Yale on Tuesday. Their average margin of victory sits at 35.7 points per game.
That win featured a balanced scoring night, with Brett Decker Jr. leading the way with 18 points. Freshman standout Dylan Mingo scored 16, Kayden Mingo added 15 and Isaac Celiscar finished with 15 against his former team.
Baylor’s depth has been a theme from the start, and Dylan Mingo said that’s a big reason the Bears have been so hard to deal with.
"We have a really deep team, which is our strength this year," Dylan Mingo said. "It can be anybody's night."
Kayden Mingo echoed that idea after the Yale win, pointing to the way the group has embraced each other.
"Everybody has their nights and anybody on this team can be the catalyst on any given night," Kayden Mingo added. "One thing we talked about in the locker room was always having our brothers' back. It was great to take on that challenge and help our team win."
In Other News...
BYU-Baylor Suddenly Has A Game-Day Problem Fans Need To Watch
A nationwide grounding of flights has put Baylors trip to Provo in a tricky spot, with the Bears among the college football teams dealing with disrupted travel plans heading into their game against BYU. The issue is not just getting there, either. If Baylor cannot leave as planned, the timing of the trip itself becomes a problem, and the earliest possible departure would be Saturday morning.
BYUs long-standing agreement not to play games on Sunday makes the situation even tighter, because it narrows the window for any backup plan if the Bears are delayed. Baylor is not alone in dealing with the fallout, with Arizona State and UCF among the other programs facing similar headaches, but this one has a particularly awkward setup because of the games location and the limited flexibility around the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Heads To BYU With New Uncertainty Around A Crucial Big 12 Test
Baylors trip to BYU picked up an extra layer of uncertainty Friday night when a nationwide FAA ground stop forced the Big 12 to shuffle kickoff times for several games on Saturday. The conference announced updated start times for four matchups, including the Bears road test in Provo, as travel disruptions rippled through the league on the eve of a key November slate.
The timing change adds another wrinkle to a matchup Baylor already needed to navigate carefully in a Big 12 race that leaves little margin for error. Kansas at West Virginia, Arizona State at UCF and Utah at Arizona were also affected, while Kansas State at TCU remained set for 1 p.m. CT pending further updates. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Is About To Give Texas An Early Reality Check
Sean Miller knows exactly why this one matters. Before Big 12 play even settles in, Texas is getting a nonconference test against Baylor, a game that should tell a lot about where the Longhorns stand and what kind of team they are becoming. Early-season matchups like this are where identities start to harden, and Baylor brings the kind of profile that can expose a team quickly, with Scott Drews group built around rebounding and pressure defense.
For Texas, the stakes go beyond the usual November measuring stick. Davis Punch pointed to the game as a chance to answer for the preseason scrimmage loss to St. Johns, and that makes this trip feel like more than just another step in the schedule. Baylor has a way of making opponents work for every possession, and if Texas wants to leave with momentum, it will have to show it can handle that physical edge from the opening tip. [Read more 🡒]