MBB Opens 2026-27 Season Against Northwestern State

	BAYLOR BEARS (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) Location: Waco, Texas Conference/Affiliation: Big 12 Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes (PDF)	NORTHWESTERN STATE (0-0, 0-0 Southland) vs. BAYLOR (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) Nov. 2, 2026 • 8:30 p.m. CT Waco, Texas • Foster Pavilion (7,500) LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast WATCH: ESPN+ Talent: John Morris (PxP), Mark Vital (Analyst) LISTEN: Baylor Sports Media Network via ESPN 1660 AM / 92.3 FM in Central Texas and worldwide at centexsportsfan.com Talent: Pete Sousa (PxP), Pat Nunley (Analyst) Baylor Social Media:
	NORTHWESTERN STATE DEMONS (0-0, 0-0 Southland) Location: Natchitoches, La. Conference/Affiliation: Southland Head Coach: Rick Cabrera (Tennessee Tech, 1998) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes (PDF)

STORYLINES

2026-27 PREVIEW

• Baylor opens the 2026-27 season with three-straight home games beginning Monday night, Nov. 2, against Northwestern State. The Bears are looking to bounce back from a 17-17 season (6-12 Big 12) that ended in the College Basketball Crown semifinals.

• 24th-year head coach Scott Drew enters the new year with 501 career wins, including 481 at Baylor.

• The Bears return eight players, including letterwinners Isaac Williams IV and Caden Powell, and add seven newcomers after losing six lettermen.

• Williams IV and Powell help Baylor return 21 percent of its scoring, 23 percent of its rebounding, 30 percent of its assists, 34 percent of its blocks and 25 percent of its minutes from a season ago.

• Williams IV averaged 10.4 points and 3.3 assists in his first season at Baylor in 2025-26, shooting 56.4 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from three-point range and 68.4 percent from the free throw line. He played in all 34 games and made 14 starts, including the last 13 straight, and scored in double figures 19 times.

• The newcomer class is led by freshman guard Dylan Mingo, the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2026 class by Rivals and the sixth consecutive five-star signee under Drew. Baylor is one of two schools in the nation to land six straight five-stars in the past six seasons.

• Four transfers join the program: Kayden Mingo (Penn State, older brother of Dylan), Brett Decker Jr. (Liberty), Isaac Celiscar (Yale) and Evan Chatman (UAB).

• K. Mingo averaged 13.7 points, 4.3 assists and 2.1 steals as a freshman and ranked second in the Big Ten in steals.

• Decker averaged 16.9 points and led Conference USA with a 47 percent mark from three-point range.

• Celiscar earned Second Team All-Ivy honors after averaging 13.2 points and 6.3 rebounds and leading the Ivy League in field goal percentage (57.3 percent).

• Chatman led the American Athletic Conference in defensive rebounds (199) while averaging 8.8 points and 8.8 rebounds.

• Freshman Elijah Williams, a four-star prospect ranked No. 31 nationally and No. 3 in Texas, also joins BU. He is the son of former NBA coach Monty Williams.

• Center Juslin Bodo Bodo returns to the court this season after missing all of 2025-26 with an arm injury. A 6-foot-11 transfer from High Point, Bodo Bodo was a two-time Big South Defensive Player of the Year.

STARTING STRONG

• Baylor is 20-3 in season openers under 24th-year head coach Scott Drew and has won seven of its last eight opening contests since the 2018-19 season.

• This will be just the second time in the last four season openers that BU has opened the year at home.

• The Bears have won each of their last eight home openers, dating back to a 72-69 defeat on Nov. 6, 2018, against Texas Southern in Waco.

PRESEASON PICKS

• This is the fourth time in the last 12 seasons that Baylor has been unranked in the preseason AP Top 25 poll.

• In two of the three prior instances, those unranked Bears teams went on to win NCAA Tournament games, including the 2016-17 team that received no preseason votes before rising to No. 1 for the first time in program history.

• 2016-17 - started 15-0, reached Sweet 16 (won 27 games)

• 2018-19 - advanced to NCAA Second Round (won 20 games)

• 2025-26 - finished 17-17, reached College Basketball Crown semifinals.

• Opening the 2024-25 season, the Bears were ranked No. 8 and had been ranked in the top-10 for a sixth-straight year, one of just four programs (Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas) to accomplish that feat.

• In the 2026-27 Big 12 Coaches Poll, Baylor was picked to finish 10th in the league. In a subsequent media poll, following BU's two exhibition wins over No. 1 Florida and No. 3 Illinois, the Bears were voted seventh.

• BU has finished better than or equal to its Big 12 preseason poll position in 14 of the previous 23 seasons under Scott Drew:

WHO SAID THESE GAMES DON'T MATTER?

• Baylor tested itself in the preseason with two exhibitions and a closed scrimmage against Power 4 teams in Oklahoma, Preseason No. 1 Florida and Preseason No. 3 Illinois.

• BU went 3-0, coming from behind to defeat Oklahoma in Fort Worth, then winning an overtime battle in a not-so-neutral site in Jacksonville, Fla., against the top-ranked Gators. To finish off the preseason, the Bears went on the road to Champaign, Ill., and knocked off the No. 3 Illini in front of over 15,000 fans.

CHOMP, CHOMP

• Baylor outshot UF, 45% to 35%, and limited the Gators to just 14% from three-point range while also shooting 41% from deep en route to an 82-76 overtime win.

• Baylor held Florida to just 28 points in the first half – the Gators were held to 30 points or fewer in the first half just twice during the 2025-26 season.

• The Bears outrebounded the Gators 28-21 in the second half and overtime, including an 8-2 advantage in OT.

• 61 of Baylor's 82 points were scored by newcomers, while BU's bench outscored Florida's 33-3.

• 12 of BU's final 14 points and 21 of the last 25 points were scored by the Mingo brothers, with Kayden dropping 15 and Dylan adding six since the 4:35 mark in the second half.

• Sophomore guard Kayden Mingo scored a game-high 31 points, finishing 9-of-15 from the field and adding an 11-of-15 mark from the free throw line.

• Junior guard Isaac Williams IV (15) and freshman guard Dylan Mingo (12) also put up double-digit points in BU's win.

POPPING OFF IN CHAMPAIGN

• Baylor led for over 39 minutes and earned a wire-to-wire victory, 95-91, at Illinois on Oct. 23 in Champaign, Ill.

• The Bears were up 63-44 at halftime behind 11 made three-pointers in the first half, including five from Brett Decker Jr.

• Illinois trailed at half just seven times during the 2025-26 season; 19 points would've been their second-largest deficit at the break.

• Isaac Williams IV led all scorers with 28 points, a would-be career high. He scored 16 straight for the Bears after checking in at the under-12 media timeout in the first half.

• Despite being shutout from deep in the second half, BU out-rebounded Illinois, 47-38, scored more second chance points, 20-18, and outscored the Illini from the bench, 43-37.

• Three players carried Baylor down the stretch, as Kayden Mingo (12), Isaac Celiscar (11) and Isaac Williams IV (9) accounted for all 32 of BU's second-half points.

-BaylorBears.com-

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Players Mentioned

Juslin Bodo Bodo

Isaac Celiscar

Brett Decker Jr.

Dylan Mingo

Kayden Mingo

Isaac Williams IV

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