Men's Hoops Preview: Feb. 27 at Nebraska

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BAYLOR (14-13, 4-10) at NEBRASKA (12-13, 5-11)
Bob Devaney Sports Arena (13,500) - Lincoln, Neb.
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002 - 7:05 p.m. CST

RADIO: Baylor Radio Network
KRZI 1660/1580 AM (Waco)
on-line @ www.GoBaylorBears.com

TELEVISION: none

QUICK STATS
??? BU is 10-2 when outrebounding its opponent.
??? BU is tied for 12th in nation with 8.9 3-pointers per game.
??? Baylor teams have made at least one 3-point basket in 319 straight games.
??? Baylor has lost 16 straight road games.
??? In the past two years Baylor is 28-1 when totaling an equal or higher shooting percentage than its opponent (10-0 this year).
??? Freshman Lawrence Roberts ranks in the Big 12???sup>TMs Top 10 in four categories: scoring, rebounding, blocks & steals.
??? Wendell Greenleaf leads the Big 12 and is 26th nationally in steals with 2.41 per game.
??? Wendell Greenleaf is third on BU???sup>TMs career steals list with 151.
??? Lawrence Roberts has scored in double-digits in in 23 of 27 games this season with seven double-doubles.
??? Lawrence Roberts ranks 5th among the nation???sup>TMs freshmen in rebounding average.

THE GAME
Baylor plays its final road contest of the 2001-2002 regular season Wednesday, Feb. 27, at Nebraska. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. CST at the Bob Devaney Sports Arena. Baylor (14-13, 4-10) has lost four straight games and is coming off a 77-64 loss last Saturday at 13th-ranked Oklahoma State. Nebraska (12-13, 5-11) most recently lost an 88-87 heartbreaker Sunday at home against No. 1 Kansas Saturday. The Bears are attempting to snap a 16-game losing streak on opponents home courts dating back to last season.

HEAD COACH DAVE BLISS
Dave Bliss, in his third season at Baylor, is a 27-year coaching veteran and ranks 17th among active Division I coaches in victories with 512. The former head coach at New Mexico, Southern Methodist and Oklahoma owns a career record of 512-311 (.622). 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 23 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 and in his second year led Baylor to a 19-12 mark and into the NIT.

BLISS A MEMBER OF COACHING???sup>TMS 500 CLUB
Baylor???sup>TMs Dave Bliss became the 92nd collegiate head coach to reach 500 career victories Nov. 21 when the Bears defeated Texas-Arlington 88-64. In 27 years as a head coach, Bliss has averaged more than 19 wins per season.

THE NEBRASKA SERIES
Wednesday marks just the 12th meeting between Baylor and Nebraska. The Huskers lead the series, which dates back to 1949, by a 7-4 tally. Baylor has won each of the last two meetings, winning 69-58 last season in Waco and 63-55 two years ago in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. The Bears have never won at Lincoln, coming up short in all four tries, Baylor lost 69-55 two seasons ago in its last trip to Lincoln. The series began with a 71-55 Nebraska victory in December 1949 over Bill Henderson???sup>TMs Baylor squad that would advance to the 1950 NCAA Final Four.

THE NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS
Nebraska (12-13, 5-11) is led by second-year head coach Barry Collier, who is 26-29 while at Lincoln. Collier owns a career record of 222-161, he spent 11 seassons as the head coach at Butler, his alma mater, prior to taking over at Nebraska last season.

NU NOTES: Nebraska???sup>TMs John Robinson II is no stranger to the Bears, the senior point guard played his freshman season at New Mexico under Dave Bliss and staff, and started 30 games in the same backcourt as Kevin Henry... Robinson also played his freshman season with current Baylor forward Greg Davis at UNM, and part of his sophomore season at UNM with R.T. Guinn before transferring to Nebraska... The Cornhuskers senior guard Cary Cochran leads the team and is 22nd in the Big 12 Conference with 13.2 points per game... Freshman forward John Turek is the Nebraska???sup>TMs leading rebounder with 5.8 boards per contest... NU is 11-4 at home this season, including a 4-3 mark in league play.

BLISS vs. NEBRASKA
Dave Bliss is 8-10 all-time against Nebraska and 2-1 while at Baylor. All his other meetings vs. NU came as head coach at Oklahoma (1975-80), where he compiled a 6-9 record.

BEARS SUCCESSFULL vs. BIG 12 NORTH
Including a 3-2 mark this year, Baylor has won nine of its last 13 games against teams from the Big 12 North (dating back to last season). This season, the Bears have defeated Iowa State, Kansas State and Missouri, while losing at Colorado and Kansas.

ROAD BEARS
Though the Bears have earned a 4-12 record in their last 16 games away from the Ferrell Center, Baylor has dropped 16 straight decisions in games played on their opponents???sup>TM home court. That 16-game losing streak dates back to a 63-55 victory at Kansas State on Jan. 13, 2001.

GUINN BLOSSOMING IN THE POST
Sophomore center R.T. Guinn has been making his presence felt in the post recently. Guinn entered the starting lineup following an injury to Greg Davis in mid-January, and in the last 12 games he has made 11 starts and has gradually put up impressive numbers. His 8.4 scoring average in Big 12 games is nearly double that of his non-conference average (4.3) and he leads the team in 3-point shooting percentage (44.2%). Guinn posted a career-high 18 points in Baylor???sup>TMs last outing at Oklahoma State, and over the last five games is averaging 11.2 points and 5.0 rebounds.

BEARS CONCLUDE ROUGH STRETCH
The Bears concluded perhaps the toughest portion of their schedule with Saturday???sup>TMs 77-64 loss at 13th-ranked Oklahoma State. The Cowboys were one of five nationally ranked opponents the Bears faced in a six-game stretch. Baylor went 1-5 in that stretch, beating 22nd-ranked Missouri and losing to OU twice (ranked fourth the first meeting and fifth the second meeting), unranked Texas Tech, No. 2 Kansas and OSU.

BEARS TAKE CARE OF THE BALL
Baylor has shown a strong sense of court awareness this season, evidenced by the fact that the Bears rank second in the Big 12 Conference in steals (9.74 spg), fourth in turnover margin (+2.70) and in assists (17.41), and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.21). BU is just as solid in conference contests. According to the Feb. 25 rankings, the Bears lead the league in steals (8.57), rank fourth in turnover margin (+1.86) and in assists (15.64), and rank fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.21).

MILESTONES & RECORDS WATCH
??? Baylor is 11 steals shy of setting a new team single-season steals record (274 - 2000-01).
??? Baylor is 24 made 3-pointers shy of setting a new team single-season 3-point record (265 - 1994-95).
??? Lawrence Roberts is 27 points shy of breaking the Big 12 freshman scoring record (474 - Bernard King, A&M, 1999-00).
??? Lawrence Roberts is 31 rebounds shy of breaking the Big 12 freshman rebounding record (257 - Arthur Johnson, MU, 2000-01).
??? Wendell Greenleaf is 2 steals shy of moving into 2nd in career steals.
??? Greg Davis is 5 blocks shy of moving into 4th in career blocked shots.
??? Wendell Greenleaf is 12 points shy of 800 career points.
??? Greg Davis is 5 assists shy of 100 career assists.
??? Wendell Greenleaf is 6 3-pointers shy of moving into 3rd in career 3-pointers made.

THE LAST MEETING, BAYLOR 69-NEBRASKA 58, FEBRUARY 2001
Terry Black's alley-oop dunk from Wendell Greenleaf with 29.2 seconds remaining put an exclamation point on Baylor's 69-58 win over Nebraska at the Ferrell Center. Baylor led the entire game. Nebraska got within striking distance several times, closing to within one point with five minutes to go, but the Bears fended off every advance for the win. The Bears led by 12 with just over 10 minutes to go in the game and threatened to close things out early, but Nebraska put together a 10-0 run to close within one at the 4:58 mark. The Huskers, however, never hit another shot from the field. Nebraska went 0-for-8 over the final five minutes, including five missed 3-pointers, and hit only a pair of free throws as the Bears rebuilt their lead. Baylor hit nine-of-11 from the charity stripe in the final five minutes to close out the game and claim the victory. DeMarcus Minor led the Bears with 17 points on the night and was one of four Bears to post double-digit point totals. Greg Davis led the Bears with seven rebounds.

THE LAST TIME OUT, No. 13 OKLAHOMA 77-BAYLOR 64
A career-high 18 points from R.T. Guinn and a Lawrence Roberts double-double were not enough to lift Baylor to a road win over No. 13 Oklahoma State, as the Cowboys triumphed 77-64 at Gallagher-Iba Arena. OSU beat the Bears for the 10th straight time and handed them their fourth straight loss overall and 16th in a row on the road. Roberts led Baylor with 22 points and 15 rebounds, and Guinn added seven rebounds to his 18 points. The Bears hurt themselves by shooting just 38 percent and committing 19 turnovers, 13 in the first half. Eight of the Bears' turnovers came during a five-minute stretch of the first half in which Oklahoma State outscored them 12-0 to take a 17-4 lead. Roberts had three baskets and Guinn made two straight 3-pointers to help the Bears get within 23-18 later in the half. They cut the deficit to 29-25 on a three-point play by Matt Sayman 3:19 before halftime, but OSU outscored them 11-4 the rest of the way for a 40-29 lead. Guinn was one of four Baylor players to hit a 3-pointer early in the second half when the Bears cut an 11-point halftime deficit to 44-41. But the Cowboys responded with an 8-2 run to push the margin to nine with just under 10 minutes left. It was 52-46 when OSU put together a 9-2 run for a 61-48 lead. Baylor got no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

GOLD DOME BRINGS OUT BEST IN BEARS
The Bears once again hit the road, where they have struggled to match the success they???sup>TMve enjoyed at home in the Ferrell Center. The following chart illustrates the difference between Baylor???sup>TMs play at home vs. other venues in key stat categories:

    HOME-AWAY COMPARISON                Ferrell Center  Road    Record              12-3        2-10    Points per game         81.7        71.1    Scoring Margin          +16.1       -7.4    Rebounding Margin   -0.7        -7.0    Opp. 3-Pt FG Pct.   33.7%       41.1%    Blocks per game         5.0     2.5    Lucas 3-Pt FG Pct.      43.2%       29.4%    Roberts FG Pct.         47.5%       41.9%

3-POINT MISCELLANY
Baylor is averaging 8.93 3-point shots made per game (241) this season, a figure that ranks third in the Big 12 Conference and tied for 12th nationally... The Bears are on pace to break the school???sup>TMs single-season record of 265 3-pointers in 1994-1995... Baylor has made 10 or more 3s in in 13 of 27 games this season... Leading the Bears???sup>TM charge in 3-pointers made is junior Wendell Greenleaf with 60, freshman John Lucas has hit 50... In all, nine Bears have made at least 10 shots from 3-point range this season... With eight 3-pointers Saturday at Oklahoma State, the Bears have made at least one 3-pointer in 319 consecutive games (dating back to Feb. 21, 1990, 0-for-8 vs.Texas Tech).

BAYLOR LED BY ITS CUBS
Baylor???sup>TMs three true freshmen (John Lucas, Lawrence Roberts, and Kenny Taylor) have made an immediate impact on this year???sup>TMs team. Through 27 games, the three freshmen have combined for 42 percent of the team???sup>TMs points, 32 percent of the rebounds, 33 percent of the steals and 31 percent of the assists.

ROBERTS ENJOYING STELLAR FROSH SEASON
Lawrence Roberts has hit the ground running in his first season of college basketball. In 27 games, the true freshman has compiled six double-doubles, been honored a second-team NABC All-District 9 selection, been named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week and to the San Juan Shootout all-tournament team, and leads the team in several categories, including: scoring (16.6 ppg), rebounds (8.4 rpg), blocks (37), field goals (154), free throws made (116) and free throws attempted (173). The Houston, Texas, native is also second on the team in steals (46). According to the Feb. 25 Big 12 rankings, Roberts is tied for seventh in scoring, fourth in rebounding, sixth in steals and sixth in blocks.

ROBERTS TABBED NABC ALL-DISTRICT 9
Freshman Lawrence Roberts was named second-team all-District 9 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches in February. Roberts was one of 10 athletes selected from District 9, joining 140 other athletes nationwide who are now eligible for the NABC/Pontiac Division I all-America team.

ROBERTS AMONG FRESHMAN BOARD LEADERS
Freshman Lawrence Roberts leads the Bears and ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 8.4 rebounds per game. Through games of Feb. 24, Roberts is tied for fifth nationally in rebounding average among freshmen.

YOUNG LUCAS LEADING THE BEARS
Freshman point guard John Lucas III (son of Cleveland Cavaliers coach John Lucas Jr.) has adequately assumed the Bears???sup>TM point guard position. Lucas is shooting 37.9 percent on 3-point shots (50-of-132). The Houston, Texas, native has scored 20-plus points three times and his assist-to-turnover ratio is 1.98 (109-to-55), 14th in the conference. According to the Feb. 25 rankings, Lucas is 25th in the Big 12 in scoring, ninth in assists, 15th in steals and 12th in 3-pointers. He has twice been named the Big 12 Rookie of the Week (Dec. 10, Jan. 7).

COOL HAND LUCAS
In the waning minutes with the game on the line, who better to have on the line than freshman John Lucas? Through 27 games, Lucas is 17-of-18 (94.4 percent) from the charity stripe in the final three minutes of games. Overall, Lucas is shooting 80.7 percent (46-of-57) from the free throw line, second on the team.

GREENLEAF CLIMBS TO THIRD ON STEALS LIST
Wendell Greenleaf recently moved into third place at Baylor in career steals. Greenleaf passed David Wesley, who tallied 145 swipes from 1990 to 1992, and his total of 151 trails former teammate Terry Black (153) by just two thefts. Greenleaf leads the Big 12 and ranks 26th nationally with 2.41 steals per game.

BEARS???sup>TM WINNING WAYS AT HOME
The Bears are 12-3 at home in the Ferrell Center this season. Baylor recorded a 14-3 record at home in 2000-2001, giving the Bears a school-record 26 wins at home over a two-year span. Since Dave Bliss took over the reigns of Baylor???sup>TMs basketball program, the Bears have compiled a 37-13 record (.740) at home, that is the best three-year record at home in the program???sup>TMs history.

BEAR FANS SHATTER ATTENDANCE MARKS
This season Baylor has established records for total attendance, average attendance and single-game attendance at the 14-year-old Ferrell Center. With one home game remaining, a total of 99,616 Bear fans have attended games, shattering the previous mark of 91,421 set last season in 17 games. Baylor is averaging 6,641 fans per game through 15 games and even if no fans were to show for the Bears final home game, the average would still eclipse 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.

BIG 12 ROOKIES OF THE WEEK
Three of 10 Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors this season have gone to Baylor true freshmen. Forward Lawrence Roberts was selected Nov. 27, and guard John Lucas was honored Dec. 10 and Jan. 7. Roberts received the award following his performance in season-opening wins over Hardin-Simmons, UT-Arlington and Sacred Heart. He averaged a double-double and led Baylor in scoring (18.3 ppg), rebounds (12.0 rpg), steals (12), blocks (7), free throws made (13) and free throws attempted (20). Lucas was initially honored after the Bears???sup>TM 95-81 victory over North Texas, in which he had career highs with 27 points and 11 field goals. Lucas earned his second selection after averaging 17.5 points in wins over Colorado State and Iowa State.

PLENTY OF NEW BRUINS
The 2001-2002 Baylor roster includes four new players: three true freshmen (John Lucas, Lawrence Roberts and Kenny Taylor) and one junior college transfer (Rod Nealy). Also seeing their first game action in the Green and Gold this season are former transfers R.T. Guinn and Kevin Henry. The pair, both former New Mexico players, sat out last season at Baylor to gain eligibility.

BEAR FAMILY LOSES ECHOLS
The Baylor basketball program lost one of its own in January, when letterman Ben Echols died following surgery. Echols, who transferred to Baylor from Centenary, played for the Bears from 1997 to 2000. Echols started every game at center in 1999-2000, Dave Bliss???sup>TM first season, and led the team in blocks and averaged 6.6 points and 6.7 rebounds. Following graduation from Baylor in May 2000, Echols had played overseas in Lebanon and Russia.

TRANSFERS FIND HOME AT BAYLOR
The 2001-2002 Bear squad boasts four players who transferred to Baylor from Division I schools, and a fifth who previously played at a DI institution. A sixth transferred from a DIII school. The players are:

    Player          Prev. School            Status    Greg Davis  New Mexico      Senior forward    Chad Elsey  SMU         Senior guard    R.T. Guinn  New Mexico      Sophomore center    Kevin Henry    New Mexico      Senior guard    Rod Nealy *  Ark.-Little Rock    Junior forward    Andre White    Hardin-Simmons          Junior guard    * Nealy played as a freshman (1999-2000) at Arkansas-Little Rock before transferring to McLennan Community College.

BEARS ADD 3 EARLY SIGNEES
Baylor has signed three early signees, all from the state of Texas, to national letters of intent during the early signing period: Ellis Kidd Jr., a guard from Seminole (Okla.) State College, Tommy Swanson, a forward from North Crowley (Texas) High School, and Terrance Thomas, a forward from Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas.

Kidd, a 6-4, 185-pound guard, is in his first season at Seminole State after transferring from Oklahoma State. He redshirted the 2000-2001 season at OSU after playing only 10 minutes in two early games and will have three seasons of eligibility at Baylor. A former Dallas Morning News all-area selection at James Madison High School in Dallas, Kidd was named a USA Today honorable mention all-American as a senior in 2000.

Swanson, a 6-9, 215-pound forward, played only seven games as a junior last season at North Crowley following a head injury. He averaged 14 points and nine rebounds before a hairline fracture to his skull sidelined him for the season. Texas Hoops rated Swanson the state's No. 24 player prior to his senior season. He is listed among the nation's top 300 prep seniors by Athon Sports and was named an honorable mention all-American by Street & Smith's College Basketball.

Thomas, a 6-7, 220-pound forward, was highly recruited after being named to the All-Region XIV team as a freshman last season at Lon Morris. Thomas averaged 19.3 points and 12 rebounds last season, and is rated No. 4 among junior college small forwards by The Sporting News in its preseason preview. He is also listed as the 22nd-best junior college recruit by Mike Mitchell's Midwest Report and is rated the No. 27 juco player nationally by Greg Swaim's scouting service. A native of Waco, Thomas attended Maceo Smith High School in Dallas. He averaged 23 points and 14 rebounds as a senior in 2000 and was named a USA Today honorable mention all-American.

BAYLOR EARLY SIGNEESName        Pos.    Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown (High School)Ellis Kidd Jr.  G   6-4 185 So. Dallas, Texas (Madison HS/OSU/Seminole St.)Tommy Swanson   F   6-9 215 Fr. Fort Worth, Texas (North Crowley HS)Terrance Thomas F   6-7 220 Jr. Dallas, Texas (Maceo Smith HS/Lon Morris)

THE LOBO TRANSFERS
As has been well documented, the Baylor roster includes three former players from the University of New Mexico, where Dave Bliss and his staff previously coached. The players, senior Greg Davis, sophomore R.T. Guinn and senior Kevin Henry, were all recruited by Bliss???sup>TM UNM staff. Guinn (who was recruited by???QUOTE]but never played for???QUOTE]Bliss at UNM) and Henry sat out last year due to NCAA transfer policy. All three players were starters at New Mexico.

NATION???sup>TMS LONGEST-STANDING COACHING DUO
Baylor boasts Division I basketball???sup>TMs longest-tenured current coaching tandem. Bear assistant coach Doug Ash has been Dave Bliss???sup>TM top aide for all 27 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.

FERRELL CENTER???sup>TMS 14th YEAR
The Bears are in their 14th season in the beautiful Ferrell Center. Including this season???sup>TMs 12-3 mark, the Bears own a 128-82 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.

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 during night games. All Baylor games are broadcast by the ???eVoice of the Bears??? John Morris, a veteran broadcaster in his seventh season. Former Baylor basketball standout Pat Nunley is in his 20th season as color analyst for Bear broadcasts.

UP NEXT...
Baylor concludes the 2001-2002 regular season Saturday, March 2, by hosting Texas Tech for a 12:45 p.m. game at the Ferrell Center. The game will be televised by ESPN-Regional. Tech won the first meeting this season 90-65 two weeks ago at Lubbock.

Men's Hoops Preview: Feb. 27 at Nebraska

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