BAYLOR (7-16, 2-8) at No. 20 KANSAS (15-6, 7-3)
Feb. 18, 2004 - Allen Fieldhouse (Lawrence, Kan.) - 7:00 p.m. CST

Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

RADIO: Baylor Radio Network (KRZI 1660/1580 AM Waco)
INTERNET AUDIO: live broadcast at BaylorBears.com
TELEVISION: none
INTERNET VIDEO: none

THE GAME
Baylor plays the third of three straight games against Top-25 teams when it travels to Lawrence, Kan., for a Wednesday, Feb. 18, matchup against No. 20 Kansas. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST at Allen Fieldhouse. The Bears have lost two straight games and enter the game 7-16, 2-8 in Big 12 play coming off a 91-58 loss to No. 10 Oklahoma State Saturday in Stillwater. The Jayhawks have also lost two straight and are 15-6, 7-3 and in third place in the Big 12 after a 74-55 loss at Nebraska Sunday. Baylor is 0-5 all time vs. Kansas in Lawrence. The short-handed Bears (six available scholarship players) have lost five of their last six games.

BAYLOR TIP-INS
- Baylor is currently playing with 6 active scholarship players and 5 active walk-ons.
- The Bears are 2-21 vs. ranked opponents over the last 3 seasons (0-7 this year).
- BU is 1-11 in its last 12 games away from home & has lost 9 straight true road gms.
- Baylor has been outrebounded in 3 straight games (1st time all season).
- After holding its opponents under 80 points for first 18 games, Bears have allowed 80-plus points in 4 of last 5 games.
- Baylor's coaching staff, with an average age of 34 years, is the nation's youngest among major conference schools.
- Starting forward Corey Herring is sidelined w/ a fractured hand (missed last 5 gms).
- In Big 12 play, Matt Sayman ranks 2nd in conf. in assists (4.2) & 9th in steals (1.4).
- Carl Marshall has scored in double-digits in 2 of the last 3 games (1 in previous 20).
- Over last 8 games, Terrance Thomas is averaging 3.0 1st-half points & 10.3 in 2nd.
- Terrance Thomas ranks 3rd in Big 12 scoring (16.6 ppg) & 9th in rebounding (7.4).
- Baylor's Thomas & Thomas duo is only school's 2nd pair in a decade to average more than 15 ppg (Terrance 16.6, Harvey 15.9).
- Terrance Thomas leads BU in scoring (16.6), rebounding (7.4), 3-pointers (45) & minutes (34.3).
- Matt Sayman in No. 8 on BU's career minutes played list (2,555 in 112 games).
- Terrance Thomas has compiled 9 career double-doubles (6 this season).
- R.T. Guinn owns the 3rd-best career 3-point shooting % in Baylor history (40.3%).
- Carl Marshall has hit 10-of-18 3-pointers the last 6 games (broke 0-of-8 streak from previous 8 games).
- Carl Marshall has 0 assists in the last 5 games.
- Baylor's 5 walk-ons have logged a total of 23 minutes in 11 games playing as an entire 5-man substitution team, and been outscored 53-36 while on the court.
- Baylor's jerseys include a black stripe in honor of late teammate Patrick Dennehy.

HEAD COACH Scott Drew
Scott Drew is 7-16 in his first season as head coach at Baylor and 27-27 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. He was named the 1998-99 National Recruiter of the Year by Court Vision and helped produce what HoopScoop 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).

OVERACHIEVING BEARS EXCEEDING ALL EXPECTATIONS
A 7-16 overall and 2-8 Big 12 record may not at first glance impress, but considering that many observers nationwide didn't expect Baylor to win any games - let alone games vs. Big 12 opponents - it is safe to say the short-handed Bears have exceeded expectations this season. As a Baylor team that was a consensus pick to finish last in the conference sits two games out of the cellar, head coach Scott Drew continues to garner praise for his efforts and that of his team. [see box, opposite page]

BREAKING DOWN THE ROSTER
Baylor's current 2003-2004 roster lists 14 players: six returnees and eight newcomers. Of the eight newcomers (six active), two are scholarship recruits (junior Harvey Thomas, freshman Carl Marshall), two arrived as walk-ons prior to the fall semester (junior Ryan Pryor, freshman Turner Phipps), one earned a spot during open walk-on tryouts in October (junior Robbie McKenzie), one was added in early January from a prep school (freshman Nino Etienne), one is a Division I transfer who joined in early January and will sit out the season (sophomore Tim Bush), and one walked on in mid January and is redshirting (forward Mark Shepherd). Seven of Baylor's 13 active players are on scholarships (five returnees & two newcomers). [note: Ellis Kidd Jr. was dismissed from the team in December for violation of team policy; senior football letterman Joe Simmons played five games before leaving to focus on football]

SHORT-HANDED BEARS FIGHT ON DESPITE DEPLETED ROSTER
The Bears are currently suiting up 11 players, including six scholarship athletes. Baylor began the season with eight scholarship players (though only seven were eligible*). One player was lost in December (starting guard Ellis Kidd Jr. was dismissed for violation of team policy) and one was injured the last day of January (starting guard Corey Herring, out 3-5 weeks). Baylor added LSU-transfer Tim Bush as a scholarship player in January, but he will sit out the season under NCAA transfer rules. *Forward Harvey Thomas became eligible after the first eight games.

THE KANSAS JAYHAWKS
No. 20 Kansas (15-6, 7-3) is led by Bill Self, in his first season in Lawrence and his 11th year as a collegiate head coach (222-111 record). Self was head coach at Oral Roberts (1994-97), Tulsa (1998-2000) and Illinois (2001-03) before Kansas.

KU NOTES: Kansas has lost two straight conference games for the first time since 2001... The Jayhawks are led by junior F Wayne Simien who averages 16.4 points and 9.4 rebounds... Junior G Aaron Miles leads the Big 12 in assists, averaging 7.24 a game... KU has two Texas natives on its roster, senior F Bryant Nash is a product of Turner High School in Carrollton and junior G Keith Langford prepped at North Crowley High School in Fort Worth, a former teammate of Baylor sophomore Tommy Swanson.

THE KANSAS SERIES
Wednesday marks just the 10th meeting between Baylor and Kansas on the hardwood, a series which KU leads by an 8-1 margin. The Jayhawks have won all five previous games played in Lawrence in the series.

DREW vs. KANSAS
Baylor head coach Scott Drew has never coached against Kansas.

ROAD WOES
Baylor owns a 1-11 record in its last 12 games away from home. The Bears have also lost nine straight true road games (dating to 66-57 win at KSU in Feb. 2003).

MILESTONES & RECORDS WATCH
* Matt Sayman is 2 games played shy of 3rd place (Melvin Hunt 114) on BU's career GP list.
* Matt Sayman is 4 steals shy of 8th place (Julius Denton 110) on BU's career list.
* R.T. Guinn is 1 3-pointer shy of 9th place (Patrick Hunter 97) on BU's career list.
* Matt Sayman is 64 minutes played shy of 7th place (Willie Sublett 2,619) on BU's career MP list.
* Harvey Thomas is 4 blocks shy of qualifying (min. 25) for BU's single-season blocks-per-game Top-10 list (current 1.4 average would rank 10th).
* Tommy Swanson is 3 foul-outs shy of 10th place (4 players at 8) on BU's single-season disqualification list.
* Matt Sayman is 40 assists shy of 6th place (Vinnie Johnson 308) on BU's career list.

BEARS vs. NATIONALLY RANKED FOES
Wednesday's matchup vs. No. 20 Kansas is Baylor's eighth game against a ranked opponent this season (0-7). The Bears are 2-21 over the last three seasons vs. ranked teams and have lost eight straight. The last Baylor win over a Top-25 foe was Feb. 15, 2003 at No. 13 Oklahoma State.

THOMAS & THOMAS 1-2 PUNCH
Harvey and Terrance Thomas (no relation) have combined to give Baylor a potent offensive duo. The pair is leading the Bears in scoring and rebounding, Terrance with 16.6 points and 7.4 boards and Harvey with 15.9 and 5.9. The Thomas duo is on pace to become just the second Baylor twosome (joining Terry Black & DeMarcus Minor in 2000-2001) to average better than 15 points per game for a season.

TERRANCE LEADING THE BEARS
Senior F Terrance Thomas leads the Bears in scoring (16.6 ppg), rebounding (7.4 rpg), 3-pointers (45) and average minutes played (34.3). He also ranks as the second-leading scorer and ninth-leading rebounder in the Big 12 Conference and is third the league with an average of 2.3 3-pointers. Thomas has six double-doubles this season and was named to the Hawai'i Surf N' Slam all-tournament team in December.

SAYMAN IMPRESSIVE IN BIG 12 PLAY
Senior co-captain Matt Sayman has stepped up his play since Big 12 Conference action began. In nine games of league play, Sayman is ranked second in the conference in assists (4.20), ninth in average steals (1.40) and 11th in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.45).

HARVEY DESERVING OF NEWCOMER MENTION
Junior Harvey Thomas is putting together numbers worthy of Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year mention. The transfer from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M missed the first eight games of the season but over the last 15 games has averaged 15.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 1.4 blocks. Thomas has not played enough games to qualify for overall conference rankings, but in league games he ranks seventh in scoring, 13th in rebounds and fourth in blocks. The former Georgetown player has recorded three double-doubles on the season.

HERRING SIDELINED
Sophomore F Corey Herring has missed the last five games after fracturing his right hand in a shootaround prior to the game in Colorado Jan. 31. He is expected to be out a total of three-to-five weeks. Herring had started seven straight games prior to the injury.

BAYLOR'S IRON MAN
Matt Sayman is the Bears' most veteran player and a co-captain. The fourth-year senior provides leadership and consistent play as Baylor's most experienced player (112 games played). He is averaging 7.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 34.3 minutes. Sayman is on pace to break the school's games-played record (currently fourth, four games behind Jamie Kendrick's 116 from 1997-2000) and is currently eighth on the school's career minutes played chart (2,555).

LAST TIME OUT: No. 10 OKLAHOMA STATE 91 - BAYLOR 58
The short-handed Bears suffered their worst loss of the season at the hands of a streaking Oklahoma State team as the 10th-ranked Cowboys defeated Baylor 91-58 at Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Cowboys opened the game with a 17-2 run and extended that into a 43-14 halftime lead. Baylor made just five of 34 field goals (15 percent) and its two leading scorers -- Harvey Thomas and Terrance Thomas were held to two points in the first half. In the second half, the Cowboys led by as many as 39 points and rested many of their starters in the game's final minutes. Terrance Thomas scored all of his team-high 16 points in the second half. Baylor transfer John Lucas scored 13 points and had four assists for OSU in the win.

THE LAST MEETING: No. 9 KANSAS 79 - BAYLOR 58 [Feb. 11, 2003]
Baylor couldn't withstand a 10-0 Kansas run to end the first quarter and fell to the No. 9 Jayhawks 79-58 at the Ferrell Center. Nick Collison drove for a short bank shot with 3:34 left in the first half, starting a 15-0 run for the Jayhawks. That included the final 10 points before halftime for a 41-28 lead. Kansas proceeded to score the first five points of the second half. The Jayhawks led by as many as 26. R.T. Guinn had 15 points for Baylor. The 6-foot-10 center hit five 3-pointers and also grabbed 10 rebounds. John Lucas added 15 points, Lawrence Roberts 12 and Matt Sayman 10. Baylor hit 11 3-pointers, two more than its Big 12-leading season average, but was outscored 50-12 inside the paint. The Jayhawks had a 35-28 rebounding lead. Baylor, despite hitting just two of its first nine shots, led 8-6 when Roberts made a free throw with 14:11 left. The Jayhawks tied the game when Michael Lee scored an easy basket after a backdoor pass from Jeff Graves. Kenny Taylor's 3-pointer put Baylor back in front, but after Collison's dunk, Keith Langford had consecutive three-point plays.

WALK-ON CONTRIBUTIONS
Playing behind a current roster of six active scholarship players, Baylor's five active walk-ons (juniors Robbie McKenzie and Ryan Pryor, sophomore Will Allen and freshmen Nino Etienne and Turner Phipps) have played an important role, and the quintet has quickly become crowd favorites at home in the Ferrell Center. Though they log minutes individually as reserve subs (typically Allen and McKenzie), the unit has been utilized by head coach Scott Drew as an entire five-man substitution team to both rest and energize the regulars. The entire walk-on "team" has appeared as a group in 11 games and has logged 26 minutes together on the floor and has been outscored 53-36. [note: five of the walk-ons are new this season, Allen is a second-year sophomore]

NATION'S YOUNGEST COACHING STAFF
Baylor's coaching staff is the youngest among the nation's major college conferences (tallied by average age). The Bears' staff averages 34 years of age (head coach Scott Drew [34] and assistants Matthew Driscoll [39], Mark Morefield [27] and Jerome Tang [37]). New Mexico's staff also averages 34 years.

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.

SHEPHERD ADDED TO ROSTER
Baylor added a walk-on to its roster in January, Mark Shepherd, a three-year letterman from St. Michael's Academy in Austin, Texas. The 6-8, 210-pound forward led the Crusaders to a 28-7 record and the 2003 TAPPS 5A state championship as a senior. Shepherd averaged 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks and was named to the TABC All-State Large School second team.

LSU TRANSFER JOINS BEARS
Tim Bush, a freshman F at LSU in 2002-2003, joined the Bears in January and is practicing with the team. The 6-5 forward will be eligible to play after the fall 2004 semester as a sophomore with three years of eligibility. 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. Bush won MVP honors at the 2001 Michael Jordan camp in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was also a top-10 prospect at the 2001 Great American Shootout in Denton, Texas.

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 39th-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

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.

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.

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.

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 returns home to face Missouri Saturday, Feb. 21. Tipoff at the Ferrell Center is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CST and the game will be televised live regionally on ESPN Regional syndicated stations.