INDIANAPOLIS — Arkansas is one game away from reaching its seventh Final Four.

Standing in its way is Baylor, the 1 seed in the South Region, in an Elite 8 matchup scheduled for 8:57 p.m. CT on CBS.

The Bears have been one of college basketball’s top teams all season long. Here is a closer look at them to help you get ready for Monday night’s game…

The strength of Baylor is its trio of starting guards - Jared Butler, MaCio Teague and Davion Mitchell - that returned from last year’s team. They were the Bears’ top three scorers when the pandemic ended the season with them ranked in the top five.

Butler is the leading scorer at 16.6 points per game, while Teague averages 15.7 and Mitchell averages 14.1. Together, they account for nearly 56 percent of Baylor’s total scoring.

“I can go all the way down the line,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “They’re all great shooters, they can beat you off the bounce, they have great spacing. They defend as perimeter players. This is just a really, really difficult team to prepare for.”

What makes the trio even better is the fact that each of them have been around for several years. Butler and Mitchell - both of which were first-team All-Big 12 selections - are juniors, while Teague is a senior.

That is a stark contrast to the Razorbacks, who have a pair of freshman guards - Moses Moody and Davonte Davis - in their starting lineup.

“With our guys, I know we believe in them, we trust them, we love them,” Drew said. “Coaches always tell you they’d rather have an older guard than a younger guard, but at the end of the day, both of our teams have great guards, and if we didn’t, we wouldn’t still be playing.”

Baylor gets a lot of attention for its offense and rightfully so, as it averages 83.0 points per game. That ranks sixth nationally, which is five spots ahead of Arkansas’ 81.7-point average.

However, the Bears are also really good on the other end of the floor. Despite being one of the top scoring teams in the country, they still have a top-50 scoring defense at 65.3 points allowed per game. According to KenPom, Baylor is 27th in adjusted defensive efficiency.

They’re not quite the same, but Musselman said Baylor’s defense is similar to Texas Tech’s from a physicality standpoint.

Baylor struggled a bit after a two-week break because of COVID-19, but has found its groove defensively since arriving in Indianapolis. In three NCAA Tournament games, it is allowing just 56.3 points per game.

“I think our defense had been really good until we hit that pause, and then we hit the pause and it diminished,” Drew said. “I think we’re starting to get it back to where it was. With that, our defense is the reason for our success this year because there’s been nights like last night where you’re 3 for 19 from three and you still win a game. That’s because of your defense.”

The top defender for the Bears is undoubtedly Mitchell, who was named the Big 12’s Defensive Player of the Year and is averaging 2 steals per game.

“He definitely sets the tone,” teammate Adam Flagler said. “He’s easily, in my opinion, the best defender out there. When he’s out there guarding 94 feet, we have no choice but to have his back out there."

A key characteristic of Baylor’s defense is forcing turnovers. It ranks ninth nationally - and first among high-major conference teams - with 17.4 turnovers forced per game.

The Bears have also done a great job of capitalizing on those plays. In the NCAA Tournament alone, they are averaging 20 points off turnovers.

“We’re going to have to avoid any catastrophic turnovers and try to get shots on goal,” Musselman said. “You put that thing on the deck and they’ll swarm to you. They’ll leave the strongside corner. They’ll attack the ball with multiple people when you try to get in the lanes. So it’ll be really important for us to have patience and to make the right reads against defensive coverages.”

That goes both ways for Monday’s game, as Arkansas is also good in transition. The Razorbacks like to get out and run in transition with the help of their 15.3 turnovers forced per game, which ranks 44th in Division I.

“Both teams are really good in transition and both teams have very good defenders, very athletic and pressure,” Drew said. “Pressure bursts pipes, so both teams got to take care of the ball. I know coaches will preach that and whichever team does that will definitely have an advantage.”

No team in America has shot three-pointers as well as Baylor this season. Even after a 3-of-19 performance beyond the arc against Villanova in the Sweet 16, the Bears are No. 1 nationally in three-point percentage at 40.8 percent.

“We’ve been the leading three-point shooting team in the country for a reason,” Drew said. “Normally we take pretty good shots, and we have really good shooters. At the end of the day, though, the best shooters in the world still have off nights, and credit Villanova’s defense for causing some of that.”

It will be Arkansas’ third game against a top-15 three-point shooting team in the NCAA Tournament.

Colgate (third, 40.3 percent) made 12 of 27 attempts beyond the arc against the Razorbacks in the first round and Oral Roberts (15th, 38.0 percent) made 8 of 31 attempts.

The right side of the NCAA Tournament bracket has a strong Southwest Conference flavor. In addition to Arkansas and Baylor squaring off in the South Regional Final, Houston is facing Oregon State in the Midwest Regional Final.

As former conference foes, the Razorbacks and Bears have a long history of playing against each other. In fact, Monday’s matchup will be the 144th all-time meeting between the two schools, dating back to Arkansas’ first season in 1923-24, with the Razorbacks leading 96-47.

Despite being such familiar opponents, this will be the first time Arkansas has faced an AP-ranked Baylor team, according to HogStats. The Bears are No. 3 in the latest AP Poll.

HawgBeat's coverage of Arkansas' journey in the 2021 NCAA tournament is presented by Wright's Barbecue. Already serving up the best meats in Arkansas, you can now also find Wright's meat rub and sauces at Walmart and Walmart.com.