Watch live video of this game!
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BAYLOR (1-0) vs. STEPHEN F. AUSTIN (1-0)
Nov. 25, 2003 - Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas) - 7:00 p.m. CST
RADIO: Baylor Radio Network (KRZI 1660/1580 AM Waco)
TELEVISION: None
THE GAME
Baylor continues a five-game season-opening homestand with game two Tuesday vs. Stephen F. Austin. Tipoff at the Ferrell Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST. The Bears (1-0) are coming off a 72-59 victory over Texas Southern in their season opener Saturday. The Lumberjacks (1-0) began the season with a 98-83 win at home over Houston Baptist. Tuesday marks the Bears' second straight game against a team that is the preseason favorite to win its conference, as Stephen F. Austin is the consensus pick to take the Southland Conference title.
BAYLOR vs. NON-CONFERENCE FOES
The Bears are 40-7 in regular-season non-league play over the last five seasons, including a 1-0 record this year. The Bruins have won 29 of their last 30 games vs. non-conference opponents in the Ferrell Center.
HEAD COACH Scott Drew
Scott Drew is 1-0 in his first season as head coach at Baylor and 21-11 in two seasons as a head coach. He came to Waco after 10 seasons coaching at Valparaiso, the final as head coach. Drew led the Crusaders to a 20-11 record and into the NIT in 2002-2003. Valpo earned the Mid-Continent Conference regular season championship with a 12-2 league record last season.
The previous nine seasons, Drew served as an assistant at Valpo under his father Homer Drew. During Drew's decade at Valparaiso, the Crusaders earned six NCAA Tournament berths, including the magical 1997-1998 squad that shocked the nation by advancing to the Sweet 16. Valpo made five straight NCAA appearances from 1996-2000. An outstanding recruiter, Drew was responsible for three national Top-20 recruiting classes the last five years. Drew was named the 1998-99 National Recruiter of the Year by Court Vision and helped produce what Hoop Scoop magazine named the nation's sixth best recruiting class in 2001, the 13th best in 1999 and the 19th best in 2003 (including four Top-100 national recruits).
THE STEPHEN F. AUSTIN SERIES
Baylor leads the all-time series vs. Stephen F. Austin by an 8-5 margin. Though the series dates back to 1930, the two schools have met just three times since 1950. Stephen F. Austin won the last meeting, an 80-75 game at Nacogdoches in 1995. Baylor had won five straight prior to that, including an 85-73 win in the 1993 Dr Pepper Classic.
THE STEPHEN F. AUSTIN LUMBERJACKS
Stephen F. Austin (1-0) is led by head coach Danny Kaspar, who owns a 44-41 record in four years at SFA. Kaspar is 263-92 in 13 seasons as a head coach.
SFA NOTES: Stephen F. Austin is a Division I member of the Southland Conference... The Lumberjacks defeated Houston Baptist 98-83 Saturday in their season opener... F Antonio Burks led SFA with 20 points and seven rebounds... Stephen F. Austin finished 21-8 last season and is the preseason favorite to win the Southland Conference this year... In preseason publications, G B.J. Banks is projected an All-Southland performer by Lindy's and Basketball News, and F Hank Rivers was chosen the Southland Newcomer of the Year by Street & Smith's and Basketball News.
DREW vs. STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
Baylor head coach Scott Drew has never coached against Stephen F. Austin.
BAYLOR vs. SOUTHLAND
The Bears own an all-time record of 65-17 against teams currently in the Southland Conference, with the majority, five, of those 17 losses coming at the hands of Stephen F. Austin. Baylor was 3-0 vs. Southland teams last season and has won four straight vs. the conference since an 81-64 loss to Sam Houston State in 1999. The Bears' schedule has two remaining Southland teams: UT-San Antonio (Dec. 13) and Louisiana-Monroe (Dec. 16).
LAST TIME OUT: BAYLOR 72 - TEXAS SOUTHERN 59
Terrance Thomas had 16 points and 11 rebounds and five Bears scored in double figures in a 72-59 win over Texas Southern at the Ferrell Center to open the 2003-2004 season at Baylor. The win was the first for head coach Scott Drew at Baylor. Tommy Swanson made Baylor's first shot for a 2-0 lead just 30 seconds in. The game was tied only once, and the Bears led for good after R.T. Guinn's layup made it 4-2. Baylor led by as many as 21 points before settling for a 41-23 halftime lead. With only seven scholarship players in uniform, Baylor's play got ragged in the second half as the minutes added up for the starters. Four of them played at least 34 minutes while Swanson was limited to eight minutes because of four fouls. Texas Southern used an 18-4 run to cut the gap to 54-46 on Damien Smith's free throw with 8:09 left. That came a possession after he hit a 3-pointer from just in front of his coach on the sideline. Ellis Kidd Jr. ended Baylor's 4:30 scoring drought with a 3-pointer at the seven-minute mark and Matt Sayman followed with a layup. Sayman had 15 points while Guinn had 13. Kidd and Corey Herring both had 10 points.
THOMAS LEADS BEARS
Senior Terrance Thomas tallied his fourth career double-double in Baylor's season-opening win over Texas Southern. Thomas had 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in the 72-59 victory.
STEADY SAYMAN
Matt Sayman returns as the Bears' most veteran player and a co-captain. The senior provides leadership and consistent play as Baylor's most experienced player (90 games played). Sayman totaled 15 points, six rebounds and five assists in the season opening win over Texas Southern. Sayman, a career 79 percent free throw shooter, is 18-for-20 from the line in the game's final three minutes over the last two seasons.
NEW STAFF GUIDING BEARS
Head coach Scott Drew is joined on the Baylor coaching staff by new assistants Matthew Driscoll, Mark Morefield and Jerome Tang. Driscoll and Morefield followed Drew from his staff at Valparaiso, and Tang joined Baylor after 10 years as a prep coach at Heritage Christian Academy in Cleveland, Texas.
NEW BRUINS
The 2003-2004 Baylor roster includes five new players: three high school players (Carl Marshall, Robbie McKenzie and Turner Phipps) and two junior college transfers (Ryan Pryor and Harvey Thomas). Marshall and Thomas are scholarship players. Seven players return from last year's team.
3-POINT PROPENSITY
Baylor shot 4-of-22 on 3-pointers in its season-opening win over Texas Southern. The Bears averaged 9.1 made 3-pointers (8th nationally) and 26.5 attempts per game last season; both figures topped the Big 12 Conference. Baylor has made at least one 3-pointer in 350 consecutive games (dating back to Feb. 21, 1990).
BEARS' STELLAR SHOOTING FROM LINE
As a team, the Bears shot 72.5 percent from the free throw line in 2002-2003, the best mark in the Big 12 Conference. Matt Sayman finished ninth in the league in free-throw percentage for all games (77.6%) and ranked fourth for conference games (83.0%).
REMEMBERING PATRICK
Baylor's jerseys include a black stripe across the left shoulder in honor of the late Patrick Dennehy, a former teammate who was a redshirt at Baylor during the 2002-2003 season after transferring from New Mexico.
BAYLOR PRAISED FOR PAIR OF EARLY SIGNEES
Baylor has inked two prep athletes to national letters of intent during the early signing period: center Mamadou Diene of Senegal and guard Aaron Bruce of Australia. The pair are ranked as the 36th-best recruiting class to date by HoopScoop.
Diene, a 7-footer, is rated as the top NBA prospect in Africa and the sixth-best international prospect in the world by NBAdraft.net. The analysts at HoopScoop said that if Diene were playing high school basketball in the United States, he would rank among the top 40 players in the nation. HoopScoop also reported that Diene was ranked as the top player in camp when he attended the Babacar Sy Basketball Camp in July.
Bruce spent last summer playing for the Australian junior national team in the 2003 FIBA Junior World Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece. The 6-2 guard led Australia with 25 points as the Aussies upset Team USA 106-85. HoopScoop reports that if Bruce were playing high school basketball in the United States, he would rank among the top 50 seniors in the country.
BAYLOR SIGNEES:Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. HometownAaron Bruce G 6-2 190 Fr. Horsham, VictoriaMamadou Diene C 7-0 210 Fr. Yeumbeul, Senegal
LSU TRANSFER TO ENROLL AT BAYLOR
Tim Bush, a freshman forward at LSU in 2002-2003, has signed scholarship papers to transfer to Baylor. The 6-6 forward will enroll at Baylor for the spring 2004 semester but will not be eligible to play until after the conclusion of the fall 2004 semester. Bush will compete for the Bears as a sophomore with three years of eligibility remaining. As a true freshman last season at LSU, Bush appeared in 10 games, averaging 0.7 points and 1.5 rebounds per contest. Coming out of high school, Bush was ranked the No. 137 prospect in the class of 2003 by HoopScoop. Bush averaged 15 points and eight rebounds per game as a junior at Shaw High School in New Orleans.
FERRELL CENTER'S 16th YEAR
The Bears are enjoying their 16th season in the beautiful Ferrell Center. Baylor finished 10-6 at home in 2002-2003 and owns a 137-90 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 are 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 ninth season. Former Baylor basketball standout Pat Nunley is in his 22nd season as color analyst for Bear broadcasts.
BAYLOR GAMES ONLINE - AUDIO AND VIDEO
For the first time, Bear fans can both watch and listen to live video and audio of Baylor basketball online in 2003-2004. The radio broadcast of all Baylor basketball games can be heard live on-line on Baylor's official website, BaylorBears.com, or at www.broadcast.com. Live video is available at baylorbears.nmnathletics.com; all home games that are not scheduled to be televised are included in the package. Subscriptions are available for $6.95 per game, or $49.95 for a season pass that covers both men's and women's games.
BIG 12 PRESEASON PROJECTIONS
Baylor's 2003-2004 edition has been projected to finish last in the Big 12 Conference in virtually every preseason poll. The only preseason publication that didn't pick the Bears 12th in the conference was Athlon Sports, which was published prior to the transfers of three Baylor returnees.
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, College Sports TV and the College Channel (Waco Time Warner 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. Each show is archived online at BaylorBears.com and BaylorTV.com.
NEXT UP...
Baylor continues a five-game homestand to open the season when it hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday, Nov. 29. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST at the Ferrell Center. The contest is the lead game of a men's-women's Baylor doubleheader, with the Lady Bears' game vs. Washington State to follow.
