Men's Hoops Preview: Baylor vs. Houston Nov. 30
11/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BAYLOR (2-0) vs. HOUSTON (0-2)
Nov. 30, 2002 - Reliant Stadium (Houston, Texas) - 2002 Space City Hoops Classic
BAYLOR TIP-INS
- Baylor is averaging 12 made 3-pointers per game this season.
- Baylor is 1-11 in its last 12 games played away from the Ferrell Center.
- Baylor is 117-141 all-time vs. teams from Conference USA.
- Under Dave Bliss, Baylor is 11-3 vs. non-conference schools from Texas.
- Baylor teams have made at least one 3-point basket in 324 straight games.
- Over the past three seasons Baylor is 30-1 when totaling an equal or higher shooting percentage than its opponent (2-0 in 2002-2003).
- Dave Bliss is the 3rd winningest active coach in the Big 12 -- 514 victories (13th nationally).
- John Lucas has scored in double-digits in eight straight games (dating back to last season).
THE GAME
Bears John Lucas, Lawrence Roberts and Kenny Taylor make a trip home as Baylor travels to Houston for the 2002 Space City Hoops Classic. Baylor plays Houston in the third of three games, which is slated to tip-off at 6:30 p.m. CST at Reliant Stadium. The Bears (2-0) were victorious in their home opener, defeating Northwestern State 82-54 at the Ferrell Center on Wednesday. The Cougars enter the contest with a record of 0-2 after falling to Rice on Wednesday night. Baylor is now 31-5 in non-conference contests under Dave Bliss. Texas A&M faces LSU and Texas plays Seton Hall in the Classic's early games.
HEAD COACH DAVE BLISS
Dave Bliss, entering his fourth season at Baylor, is a 27-year coaching veteran and ranks 14th among active Division I coaches in victories with 514. The former head coach at New Mexico, SMU and Oklahoma owns a career record of 514-314 (.621). He has led teams to 15 postseason tournament appearances, including 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament. Five times Bliss has been honored as his conference's coach of the year, and he is one of only two dozen Division I coaches ever to have taken three different schools to the NCAA Tournament (UNM, SMU, OU). Bliss took over the reigns of Baylor basketball on March 23, 1999, and was given the task of rebuilding a program that had finished the 1998-99 season without a Big 12 Conference win. Bliss proceeded to guide the Bears to a 14-15 record in 1999-2000, a 19-12 mark and into the NIT in 2000-2001 and in his third year led Baylor to a 14-16 record.
BLISS CLIMBING BAYLOR'S COACHING LISTS
In four seasons at the helm of the Bear basketball program, Dave Bliss has compiled a 49-43 won-loss record. His 49 victories rank as the eighth-most victories all-time at Baylor.
THE HOUSTON COUGARS
Houston (0-2) is led by Ray McCallum, in his third season at Houston. McCallum owns a career record of 153-113 in his ninth season as a head coach.
HOUSTON NOTES: Houston is a Division I member of Conference USA. .. The Cougars enter the contest with a record of 0-2 after suffering loses to Prairie View A&M (78-75) and Rice (71-53) ... Louis Truscott (19.0) and Andre Owens (17.5) have lead the Cougars in scoring ... Houston finished second in C-USA last season with a record of 9-7... The Cougars finished 18-15 overall, playing in the first round of the NIT.
THE HOUSTON SERIES
The Bears and Cougars have met on 52 previous occasions with Houston holding a 38-14 series advantage. Only two of those meetings have been at neutral sites, where the two squads are tied 1-1. The last time the teams met was during the 1995-96 season when the Southwest Confrence foes met twice with Houston emerging victorious on both occasions.
BLISS vs. HOUSTON
Dave Bliss is 10-10 all time against the Cougars. All but one of those meetings came while Bliss was the head coach at SMU. The last time he faced the cougars was at New Mexico, when UH visited the Lobo Invitational in which the Lobos were victorious.
BAYLOR vs. CONFERENCE USA
The Bears own a 117-141 all-time record against current C-USA teams, including a 14-38 ledger vs. Houston. Also included in that mark is an 88-81 advantage over TCU, whom the Bears will face on December 7.
LAST TIME OUT
Terrance Thomas scored 18 points and John Lucas added 15 to lead Baylor to an 82-54 win over Northwestern State in its home opener. Already with a 36-26 lead, Baylor opened the second half with 15 straight points in just over four minutes. The Bears maintained at least a 20-point margin the rest of the game. The Bears led by as many as 29 points against the overmatched Demons, who had to replace all five starters and their top eight scorers from last season. The other double-figure scorers for Baylor were Kenny Taylor with 12 points and Carlton Dotson with 10. Baylor has won 22 straight home games against non-conference opponents. The Bears are 61-17 against teams from the Southland Conference. Sophomore Lawrence Roberts, Baylor's leading scorer last season, played for the first time since suffering a stress fracture in his left leg during preseason workouts. He scored eight points in 14 minutes, all his scoring coming early as Baylor went ahead to stay. Roberts made a 3-pointer just two minutes into the game to put the Bears ahead 4-3. Northwestern tied the game at 6-all on Tyronn Mitchell's 3-pointer, but Baylor never trailed after a Roberts jumper with 16:25 left in the first half broke that tie. Baylor took its first double-digit lead, at 22-12, on Thomas' jumper with 7:29 left in the first half. The Bears had nine 3-pointers, extended their streak of games with a 3-pointer to 324, dating back to Feb. 21, 1990.
BAYLOR vs. NON-CONFERENCE FOES
The Bears are 2-0 this season against non-conference opponents and 32-6 in non-league play in Dave Bliss' four seasons. Baylor has won 22 consecutive home games vs. non-conference opponents.
3-POINT DELUGE
Baylor averaged 9.1 made 3-point shots last season (school-record 273), and the Bears appear to be continuing that trend in 2002-2003. Through two games this season Baylor is averaging 12.0 made 3-pointers. Kenny Taylor (7), John Lucas (6), R.T. Guinn (4) and Ellis Kidd Jr. (4) top the Bears individually. Baylor has made at least one 3-pointer in 324 consecutive games (dating back to Feb. 21, 1990).
ROBERTS RETURNS
After sitting out the season opener vs. Alcorn State with a stress fracture in his left leg (fibula), All-Big 12 forward Lawrence Roberts returned to the starting line up against Northwestern State scoring eight points and grabbing three boards in 14 minutes. The sophomore, who last season set a Big 12 freshman scoring record with 498 points, injured the leg in workouts in October.
THOMAS TURNS IT ON
After being held scoreless in the season opener against Alcorn State, newcomer Terrance Thomas was on fire against the Northwestern State Demons hitting 7-9 shots from the floor, including 2-for-2 on 3-pointers. The J.C. transfer sank both of his free-throw attempts to lead the Bears with 18 points. Thomas also dished out five assists.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Baylor's prized freshman class of 2001, John Lucas, Lawrence Roberts, and Kenny Taylor, have picked up in 2002-2003 where they left off last season. Through two games this season the sophomore trio from Houston has accounted for 44 percent of the team's points, 12 percent of rebounds, 39 percent of steals and 50 percent of Baylor's assists.
ROAD WOES
The Bears snapped an 11-game losing streak in games played away from the Ferrell Center with their season-opening 81-61 defeat of Alcorn State at Reunion Arena in Dallas. Baylor has also lost 17 straight decisions in games played on their opponents' home court. That 17-game losing streak dates back to a 63-55 victory at Kansas State on Jan. 13, 2001. The Bears will have a chance to end that streak when they travel to SMU on December 21.
MONUMENTAL COACHING MATCHUPS
Baylor's 2002-2003 schedule presents six games featuring matchups of current college coaching legends. This season Baylor's Dave Bliss, who ranks 13th among the nation's winningest active coaches with 514 career wins, will face four other coaches who rank among the list's top 12. Baylor will play the active leader in coaching victories, Mount St. Mary's Jim Phelan (No. 1 - 819), and two games against the second winningest coach, Texas Tech's Bob Knight (No. 2 - 788). Also on the Bears' schedule is Eddie Sutton of Oklahoma State (No. 5 - 703). Bliss opened the season with an 81-61 victory over Davey L. Whitney of Alcorn State (No. 12 - 551).
LOTS OF NEW BRUINS
The 2002-2003 Baylor roster includes nine new players: four high school players (Will Allen, Corey Herring, Steve Raquet and Tommy Swanson), four junior college transfers (Carlton Dotson, Robert Hart, Ellis Kidd and Terrance Thomas) and a four-year transfer (Patrick Dennehy). Dennehy, a transfer from New Mexico, will redshirt this season.
BEARS' WINNING WAYS AT HOME
The Bears are 1-0 at home this season. In four years under Dave Bliss, the Bears have compiled a 38-14 record (.731) at home in the Ferrell Center.
BEAR FANS SHATTER ATTENDANCE MARKS IN 2001-2002
Last season Baylor established new records for total attendance, average attendance and single-game attendance at the 14-year-old Ferrell Center. A total of 109,494 Bear fans attended games in 2001-2002, shattering the previous mark of 91,421 set in 2000-2001 in 17 games. Baylor averaged 6,843 fans per game in 16 games, eclipsing the previous high of 5,856 set in 1992-93. Additionally, Baylor fans broke the single-game attendance mark in January, when 10,496 were on hand against Texas.
FERRELL CENTER'S 15th YEAR
The Bears are beginning their 15th season in the beautiful Ferrell Center. Baylor is 1-0 at home in 2002-2003 and owns a 129-84 all-time record in the arena, which opened in November 1988. The Ferrell Center is a golden-domed structure that seats 10,284 for basketball games.
THE LOBO TRANSFERS
Baylor's 2002-2003 roster includes two former players from the University of New Mexico, where Dave Bliss and his staff previously coached. Neither Patrick Dennehy or R.T. Guinn played under Dave Bliss at UNM, though Guinn was recruited to New Mexico by Bliss and staff. Dennehy played at New Mexico under current Bear assistant Rodney Belcher, who was not a part of Bliss' staff at UNM, but joined Baylor this off-season. Both players were starters at New Mexico.
BEARS INK NELSON IN EARLY SIGNING PERIOD
Baylor signed big-man Tyrone Nelson of Hempstead (Texas) High School to a national letter of intent in the early signing period. A 6-9 forward/center, Nelson averaged 29 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks as a junior at Hempstead in 2001-2002. He was named to the TABC Class 3A All-State first team and MVP of District 25-AAA following his junior year. A highly sought recruit nationwide, Nelson is included on several national top-100 recruiting lists. He was rated the 60th-best recruit by TheInsidersHoops.com, No. 64 by Basketball News, No. 70 by The Sporting News, No. 79 by PrepStars, No. 90 by RivalsHoops and No. 125 by Hoop Scoop. Street & Smith's named Nelson an honorable mention prep All-America.
NATION'S LONGEST COACHING DUO
Baylor boasts Division I basketball's longest-tenured current coaching tandem. Bear assistant coach Doug Ash has been Dave Bliss' top aide for all 28 years Bliss has been a collegiate head coach. The Bliss and Ash duo began at Indiana University in the early 1970s when both were assistants under Bobby Knight. When Bliss became head coach at Oklahoma in 1975, he took Ash with him. The pair has been together ever since, at SMU, New Mexico and Baylor.
OVER THE AIR
Bear basketball games can be heard live on the Baylor Radio Network. The flagship station is KRZI-AM (1660/1580) in Waco. Selected Baylor games will be broadcast on Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate WBAP News/Talk 820, which covers 80 percent of the nation and reaches 38 states during night games. All Baylor games are broadcast by the "Voice of the Bears" John Morris, a veteran broadcaster in his eighth season. Former Baylor basketball standout Pat Nunley is in his 21st season as color analyst for Bear broadcasts.
BAYLOR GAMES ON THE NET
The radio broadcast of all Baylor basketball games can be heard live on-line on Baylor's official website, www.BaylorBears.com, or at www.yahoo.broadcast.com.
BIG-12 PRESEASON PROJECTIONS
Baylor's 2002-2003 edition has been projected in preseason polls to finish anywhere from sixth to 12th in the Big 12 Conference. The league's coaches picked the Bears to finish eighth in preseason balloting, and the conference media projected Baylor ninth. The highest projected finish for Baylor was sixth, by Basketball News.
INSIDE BAYLOR SPORTS TV SHOW
Inside Baylor Sports, a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, airs weekly throughout Central Texas and the region. The program, co-hosted by John Morris and Lori Scott-Fogleman, airs on KCEN-TV Channel 6, Fox Sports Net Southwest and the College Channel (Waco cable channel 18). KCEN carries the show at 10:30 p.m. Sundays, and it airs at 1 p.m. Wednesdays on Fox Sports Net Southwest.
UP NEXT...
The Bears return home on Wednesday, Dec. 4 to host Southwest Texas in thier second of three-straight games against foes from their home state. Tip-off at the Ferrell Center is slated for 7 p.m. CST as the Bears look to improve upon thier streak of 22-consecutive victories over non-conference opponents in front of the home crowd.
