Texas basketball vs. Baylor: Prediction, scouting report for marquee midweek meeting

Respectively ranked 12th and 13th by the Associated Press, Texas and Baylor will meet in Waco on Thursday night for a primetime battle (7:30 p.m., ESPN, 103.1). Both Texas (19-3, 6-3 Big 12) and Baylor (16-3, 5-3) desperately need a win to keep within shouting distance of first-place Kansas State (20-1, 9-0) in the race for the Big 12 title.

Here's what you need to know about the matchup:

Is Texas-Baylor actually a rivalry?

Some Texas fans would argue that Baylor — and not Oklahoma — is UT's biggest rival in women's basketball. But as Texas coach Vic Schaefer pointed out this week, "it's hard to have a rivalry when it's one-sided."

Texas holds a 60-50 lead in the all-time meetings between these two schools, but the Bears have won 29 of their last 32 games against the Longhorns and Schaefer is just 2-7 in this series. Texas, though, did beat Baylor in the 2022 Big 12 championship game.

Back in December, Baylor recorded an 85-79 win over Texas in Austin. That was the second game played by Texas without star guard Rori Harmon, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on Dec. 27.

"To start out, I think they're always super talented. They obviously are kind of a powerhouse program and have been for a while," UT guard Shay Holle said. "They're always really well-coached, they always have not just skilled players, but they always play really hard. Obviously, just the rivalry adds another aspect to it. I think they're always really ready to go and really ready to play and we really need to match that."

Texas freshman Madison Booker in elite company

On Tuesday, Texas freshman Madison Booker was among the 20 names listed on the late-season watch list for the Wooden Award. The Wooden Award is given annually to the best player in college basketball.

Booker joined Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo and USC's JuJu Watkins as the only freshmen on the list.

This season, Booker is averaging 15.1 points, 4.7 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game. After starting the season as a forward in UT's starting lineup, she took over at point guard after Harmon was lost.

Booker missed last Saturday's game against Cincinnati with a tweaked hamstring. As of Wednesday, both Booker and senior forward DeYona Gaston (ankle) had day-to-day designations on the Texas injury report.

Longhorns to check out the Bears' new home

Between 1989-2023, Texas played at the Ferrell Center whenever it visited Waco. The Longhorns will need to input a new address into their GPS this time around.

Earlier this month, the Baylor men and women moved into the Foster Pavilion. In four games at their new home, the Baylor women are 3-1.

"We're excited about the intimate size of Foster and at the same time all the bells and whistles that it will have but really creating an environment where we can really get a home court environment where 5,000 people can make a lot of noise and a sell out is 7,000 which should be our goal every game," Baylor coach Nicki Collen said at the Big 12's media day in October. "We're excited about how that connects downtown and how that can change kind of the downtown scene as well and get people excited about Baylor basketball in general, men's and women's."

Texas vs. Baylor prediction

Baylor. With the status of Booker and Gaston up in the air, the safe bet is on the Bears. All bets, however, are off if those two players can go.

— Danny Davis

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas, Baylor women meeting for key game in Big 12 championship race