Breaking down Vanderbilt's round of 64 opponent: Baylor
Vanderbilt picked up its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2013 over Columbia in a play-in-game Wednesday night. The Commodores beat the Lions, 72-68.
The 12-seed Commodores will face the fifth-seed Baylor Bears on Friday evening in Blacksburg, Virginia.
This is the first time that Vanderbilt and Baylor have ever played against each other. The only tie that these schools have is Jordyn Oliver.
The guard started her career in Waco where she spent two season. She then went to Duke for two seasons and is now in her first season with Vanderbilt.
What Baylor's offense consists of
Just like Columbia, this is a high-powered offense. Baylor averages 74.8 points per game on 44.5% shooting from the floor due to good ball movement. It averages 18.5 assists per game.
The Bears have three players who average double figures. Leading them in scoring in Dre'una Edwards. The forward is averaging 12 points per game on 49.7% shooting.
Alongside Edwards is a duo of guards who round out the double-digit scoring. Sarah Andrews pours in 11.1 points per game and is a major threat from deep. The senior leads the team in 3-pointers made this season with 65 on the year.
The other guard that provides an offensive threat is Darianna Littlepage-Buggs who provides 10.5 points per game to the Bears offense.
The trio all received post season awards from the Big 12. Andrews found herself on the All-Big 12 Second Team, while Edwards and Littlepage-Buggs were awarded All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.
What Baylor's defense consists of
The Bears have a very solid defense, especially around the perimeter.
Baylor holds its opponents to 59.6 points per game. It only allows its opponent to convert on 26.1% of their 3-point attempts.
A focal point for its team is rebounding. As a unit, Baylor pulls down 40.4 rebounds per game while outrebounding its opponent by an average of eight rebounds.
As far as stealing and blocking the ball goes, Vanderbilt is better statistically, but the key in this game is rebounding.
The Bears are 59th in Division 1, averaging 27.4 defensive rebounds per game, whereas Vanderbilt sits at 219th on the defensive glass.
Only one common foe
It's difficult to see where the two teams stand against each other considering they've never played. The only common opponent these teams have this season is Iowa State.
Vanderbilt defeated Iowa State early on in the nonconfernce slate, 68-53. The Commodores did a good job holding Iowa State's leading rebounder, Addy Brown, to just five rebounds.
Iowa State and Baylor played twice. Once in the regular season and once in the Big 12 Tournament, and both times the Cyclones beat the Bears.
Baylor lost one of the games by five and the other by six. The Bears gave up 23 rebounds to Brown in the two games combined.
Just going off of the comparison of how these two teams played Iowa State, if Vanderbilt can rebound the ball, it has a much better chance of advancing to Sunday.