 | | MEDIA INFORMATION | | Date | Thursday, Nov. 27 | 11:00 p.m. CT | | Location | Las Vegas, Nev.; Orleans Arena (9,500)
| | Tickets | Purchase Tickets Online | | TV | FS1
| | TV Talent | Justin Kutcher (pxp), Bill Raftery (color)
| | Satellite Radio | TBA
| | BU Radio | ESPN Central Texas | | BU Talent | John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (color) | | Stats | GameTracker | | Game Notes | Baylor | Memphis | | Twitter | @BaylorMBB | BAYLOR BEARS
| | Record | 4-0 | | Ranking | rv (AP), rv (Coaches)
| | Head Coach | Scott Drew
| | Career: 228-161 (13th season)
| | BU Record: 208-150 (12th season)
| MEMPHIS TIGERS
| | Record | 1-1
| | Ranking | rv (AP), rv (Coaches)
| | Head Coach | Josh Pastner
| | Career: 131-45 (6th season)
| | Memphis Record: 131-45 (6th season)
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STORY LINES ? Thursday will mark the 8th series meeting between Baylor and Memphis and first since the Reagan administration.
? Baylor's last game vs. Memphis was more than 25 years ago, a 75-60 loss in the 1988 NCAA Tournament first round.
? Baylor is 1-6 all-time vs. UM. The Bears lost the first five meetings, then split the two most recent games.
? Baylor's game against Memphis will air on FS1, marking the first time the Bears have ever played on the network.
? Baylor has allowed only 200 points over its first 4 games, tying 2000-01 for its fewest points allowed over the first 4 games of a season since 1949-50, when BU allowed 172 points in the first 4 games.
? Baylor is playing on Thanksgiving Day for the 3rd time. BU defeated Providence, 72-56, in the 2008 76 Classic (Anaheim, Calif.) and lost to Alabama, 79-76, in the 2009 Old Spice Classic (Lake Buena Vista, Fla.)
? Baylor held McNeese State to 39 points in the season opener, tying the fewest points BU has allowed against a Division I opponent since a 43-37 win vs. 20th-ranked Oklahoma State on Dec. 11, 1958.
? Baylor is 42-18 against non-Big 12 teams in games away from the Ferrell Center in the
Scott Drew era, including a 19-5 record in away games against non-Big 12 teams since 2011-12.
? Baylor is 50-9 in November games during the Drew era, including a 31-4 mark since 2009-10.
? Newcomers have scored 47% of BU's points through 4 games (129 of 276), led by Motley and Medford with 41 each.
? Baylor is 174-81 (24 wins per season) over the last seven-plus seasons and has made six postseason appearances (NCAA Tournament -- 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014; NIT -- 2009, 2013) with six 20-win seasons.
? Baylor has posted a winning record in six of its last seven regular-season tournaments.
? Baylor has advanced to regular-season tournament title games three times under Drew, and BU is 2-1 in those.
? Baylor is coming off a 2014 NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, which made Drew the youngest of 11 coaches nationally to take his current team to three Sweet 16s in the last five years.
? Baylor is 65-4 when leading at the half over the last four seasons -- 4-0 this season, 18-2 in 2013-14, 17-1 in 2012-13 and 26-1 in 2011-12. BU is 169-28 when leading at the half during the entire Drew era.
? BU has six 20-win seasons in the last 7 years. BU had only three 20-win seasons prior to Drew's arrival.
? Baylor's 5 NBA Draft picks in the last 3 years ranks 5th nationally behind Kentucky, Duke, Kansas and Syracuse.
? Baylor has the nation's second-best postseason winning percentage over the last six years (17-4; .810).
? Baylor was picked tied for 6th in the Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll, BU's lowest since 2009-10.
? Baylor is one of only 12 schools nationally to play in the Sweet 16 in three of the last five seasons.
? Baylor is receiving votes in both national preseason polls. BU finished 2013-14 ranked No. 18 by the coaches.
? All 31 of Baylor's regular-season games will be televised this season, including 22 games on the ESPN family of networks. The SFA game will be Baylor's 107th consecutive televised contest.
? Baylor is 14-3 in overtime games under Drew, including a 3-0 mark last season.
? Baylor is 25-4 against in-state opponents since 2011-12 and 39-8 against Lone Star State teams since 2009-10.
QUICK HITS
? Baylor is one of two Big 12 schools to be ranked in each of the last seven seasons (Kansas) entering 2014-15.
? Drew is coaching his 358th game at Baylor (207-150). His .580 winning percentage is best in BU history among coaches with four or more seasons, and his teams have a .681 winning percentage since 2007-08.
? Baylor is 27-10 in postseason tournaments (conference, national) over the last six seasons.
? Baylor has more Big 12 wins in the last 7 seasons (62-56) than its first 11 years in the league combined (45-131).
? Drew is tied with Kansas' Bill Self as the second-longest tenured head coach in the Big 12 Conference. Drew, who is in his 12th season at Baylor, is second only to Texas' Rick Barnes (17th season at UT).
? Baylor has the Big 12's 2nd-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 735 consecutive games.
? Baylor has 22 games on ESPN networks this season, giving BU 106 ESPN appearances in the last seven seasons.
SERIES HISTORY
? Thursday is the 8th all-time series meeting and the first since Memphis knocked off BU, 75-60, in the first round of the 1988 NCAA Tournament in South Bend, Ind.
? That 1988 game was Baylor's only NCAA Tournament appearance in a 57-year span from 1951 through 2007.
? Baylor lost the first five games of the series against Memphis before a 106-87 win in Waco on Dec. 10, 1977.
? Baylor is 108-150 all-time against current members of the American Conference, but Thursday's game will be the first time the Bears have played a team from the league since it began play last season.
LAST TIME VS. MEMPHIS
? Baylor waited 38 years for a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament, but it took only six minutes for the Bears' dreams to fall apart in South Bend, Ind.
? The Bears trailed just 33-30 at the break, but an intimidating press by Memphis to start the second half led the Tigers to a 75-60 win.
? Darryl Middleton led the Bears with 22 points and 8 rebounds, while Michael Williams added 13 points.
? Current Utah Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey was on that Baylor team, and he fouled out with 5 points in 10 minutes.
? Memphis was led by Rodney Douglas' 22 points and Dwight Boyd with 20 points.
? The game was Baylor's last NCAA Tournament trip until Scott Drew took the 2008 Bears dancing.
ONE OF TWO BIG 12 TEAMS RANKED SEVEN STRAIGHT SEASONS
? Baylor joins Kansas as the only two Big 12 Conference schools to be ranked in each of the last seven seasons entering 2013-14. The Bears are unranked in the preseason for the first time since 2009-10.
? Baylor has been ranked for at least three weeks in each of the last six seasons (2008-09 through 2013-14).
A WIN WOULD...
? Make Baylor 2-6 all-time vs. Memphis and give the Bears their first win vs. UM since Dec. 10, 1977.
? Give Baylor a 5-0 start to the season for the 6th time in the last 8 years.
? Be the 5th consecutive year that Baylor won its first bracketed game in its regular season tournament.
? Give Baylor a 17-3 record over its last 20 games dating back to Feb. 12, 2014.
? Make Baylor 51-9 in November games under Drew, including a 31-4 record since 2009-10.
? Give Baylor an 84-34 record since the start of the 2011-12 season.
? Make Baylor 175-81 since the start of the 2007-08 season, good for a .684 winning percentage.
WINNING AWAY FROM HOME VS. NON-BIG 12 TEAMS
? Baylor is 42-18 against non-Big 12 teams in games away from the Ferrell Center in the Scott Drew era, including a 19-5 record in away games against non-Big 12 teams since 2011-12.
? Baylor is 40-14 against non-Big 12 teams away from home since the 2007-08 season (1-0 in 2013-14; 6-2 in 2013-14; 5-2 in 2012-13; 8-1 in 2011-12; 1-3 in 2010-11; 8-2 in 2009-10; 6-2 in 2008-09; 5-2 in 2007-08).
SEVEN NEWCOMERS COMBINE FOR 47% OF SCORING
? Baylor welcomed seven newcomers to its 2014-15 roster, headlined by two junior college transfers: G Lester Medford (Tucson, Ariz./Indian Hills CC) and F Deng Deng (Melbourne, Australia/Lee College).
? BU also added two players from the high school ranks -- T.J. Maston (DeSoto, Texas) and Dee Durham (Oakwood, Texas) -- as well as junior walk-on transfer Austin Mills (Beverly Hills, Calif./Pepperdine).
? Additionally, redshirt freshmen Johnathan Motley and Al Freeman are playing their first collegiate seasons.
? The seven newcomers have combined for 129 of Baylor's 276 points (47%) through the season's first four games, including 65% in the season opener (52 of 80) and 51% in the win at South Carolina (35 of 69).
? BU has leaned on returning players in each of the last two games, as veterans accounted for 67% of the scoring in both Friday's win vs. Prairie View A&M (40 of 60) and Monday's win vs. SFA (45 of 67).
HISTORIC DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCES
? Baylor leads the Big 12 in scoring defense at 50.0 points allowed per game through the season's first four contests.
? The Bears have allowed only 200 points, tying the lowest point total allowed through the first four games of a season since 1949-50, when BU allowed 172 points in its first four games.
? The last time BU allowed 200 or fewer points in any 4-game stretch was Nov. 22-Dec. 15, 2010 (198 points).
? The 39 points Baylor allowed against McNeese State in the season opener tied the best defensive performance by the Bears against a Division I opponent since a 43-37 win vs. No. 20 Oklahoma State on Dec. 11, 1958.
? Baylor has held three opponents to 51 or fewer points this season after doing so just twice last year.
SUCCESS IN REGULAR SEASON TOURNAMENTS
? Baylor is 16-9 in nine regular season tournaments under Scott Drew, including a 6-2 record since 2011-12.
? The Bears have won multiple games in six of their last seven regular season tournaments, including tournament titles at the 2007 Paradise Jam (U.S. Virgin Islands) and the 2011 Las Vegas Classic.
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS PAYING OFF
? Baylor has won 94% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12. The Bears are 65-4 when leading through the first 20 minutes in that stretch (4-0 this season, 18-2 in 2013-14, 17-1 in 2012-13 and 26-1 in 2011-12).
? BU has won 38% of games in which its been tied or trailing at the half since 2011-12, going 18-30 in those.
? BU has led at halftime in 69 of 117 games over the last three-plus seasons. With wins in 65 of those 69 games, and victories in 18 of 48 games it has trailed or been tied at the half, Baylor is 83-34 since 2011-12.
BEARS 50-9 IN NOVEMBER GAMES UNDER DREW
? Baylor is 50-9 in November games during the Scott Drew era, including a 31-4 mark since 2009-10.
? The Bears are 47-14 in December games under Drew, including a 23-5 record since 2009-10.
? Baylor is a combined 97-23 in games before the New Year under Drew, including a 54-9 record since 2009-10.
DREW IS PROGRAM'S ALL-TIME WINS LEADER
? Scott Drew holds Baylor's school record with 208 career wins as head coach.
? Drew became the all-time wins leader by defeating Texas on March 14, 2014 for his 202nd Baylor victory, passing Bill Henderson (201 wins; 1941-43 and 1945-61) for the all-time wins mark.
? Drew's .581 winning percentage is the best ever by a Baylor coach with four or more years at the helm.
BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
? Baylor has benefited from a balanced scoring attack that has seen seven different players combine to score in double figures 11 times through the first four games.
? BU has had a different leading scorer in all four games this season -- Deng Deng vs. McNeese State, Kenny Chery at South Carolina, Taurean Prince vs. Prairie View A&M and Royce O'Neale vs. Stephen F. Austin.
? Chery, Lester Medford and Johnathan Motley are tied for the team lead with 41 points scored.
? Prince leads the team with 11.7 points per game, but he's fourth with 35 total points after missing the season opener. O'Neale also has 35 total points, though more than half of those (19) came Monday vs. SFA.
UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS
? Baylor has enjoyed unprecedented success over the last seven seasons under 12th-year head coach Scott Drew. Since the start of the 2007-08 season, Baylor is 174-81 (24 wins per season) and has made six postseason appearances (NCAA -- 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014; NIT -- 2009, 2013) and posted six 20-win seasons.
? Prior to 2007-08, Baylor won only 135 games in the first 11 seasons of the Big 12 era (12.3 wins per season).
? Baylor has made 13 postseason appearances (six under Drew) and won 20+ games just nine times (six under Drew) in the program's first 108 seasons.
COACHING STABILITY
? Baylor's Scott Drew is tied with Kansas' Bill Self as the Big 12 Conference's second-longest tenured head coach. Drew, who is in his 12th season at BU in 2014-15, trails only Texas' Rick Barnes (17th season at UT).
ANOTHER NATIONALLY RANKED SIGNING CLASS
? Six of Scott Drew's last seven recruiting classes have been ranked among the top 25 nationally.
? Baylor's 2015 signing class is ranked No. 25 by both 247Sports.com and Scout.com.
? The Bears signed three prep standouts with King McClure (Ovilla, Texas), Jake Lindsey (Salt Lake City, Utah) and Wendell Mitchell (Rockdale, Texas), along with highly regarded JuCo prospect Joseph Acuil (Melbourne, Australia).
UP NEXT
? Baylor will face either Illinois or Indiana State on Friday night. If the Bears win their game vs. Memphis they'll face the winner of Illinois/Indiana State at 9:30 p.m. CT. With a loss vs. Memphis, BU would play at 7 p.m. CT.
? Both of Baylor's games in the tournament will be played at Orleans Arena and televised on FS1, marking the first time BU has ever played on the two-year-old TV network.
