 | | MEDIA INFORMATION | | Date | Wednesday, Jan. 7 | 8:00 p.m. CT | | Location | Waco, Texas; Ferrell Center (10,284)
| | Tickets | Purchase Tickets Online | | TV | ESPNU
| | TV Talent | Clay Matvick (pxp), Tim Welsh (color)
| | Web Video | WatchESPN | | Satellite Radio | Sirius 91 / XM 91
| | BU Radio | ESPN Central Texas | | BU Talent | John Morris (pxp), Nick Joos (color) | | Stats | | | Game Notes | Baylor | Kansas
| | Twitter | @BaylorMBB | BAYLOR BEARS
| | Record | 11-2, 0-1 | | Ranking | 21 (AP), 22 (Coaches)
| | Head Coach | Scott Drew
| | Career: 235-163 (13th season)
| | BU Record: 215-152 (12th season)
| KANSAS JAYHAWKS
| | Record | 11-2, 0-0
| | Ranking | 12 (AP), 13 (Coaches)
| | Head Coach | Bill Self
| | Career: 543-176 (22nd season)
| | KU Record: 336-71 (12th season)
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STORY LINES
• Wednesday is Dream Again Night to honor Isaiah Austin, who has returned to the program as a student assistant.
• Baylor moved to No. 21 in Monday's AP?Top 25 and remained No. 22 in the coaches' poll. The Bears have been ranked in eight straight seasons, joining Kansas as the only Big 12 schools to make that claim.
• Baylor has won 12 straight games at the Ferrell Center, the 3rd-longest streak in the arena's 27-year history.
• Baylor's last home loss was 337 days ago, a 69-52 loss against Kansas on?Feb. 4 last season.
• Baylor is the only Division I team to hold all non-conference opponents to 66 or fewer points this season.
• Baylor's defense has held teams to an average of 13.0 points below their season scoring averages.
• Prior to allowing a season-high 73 points at Oklahoma on?Saturday, Baylor's 12 straight games holding opponents to 66 or fewer points was its longest such streak since 1950.
• Baylor ranks 14th nationally in scoring defense (56.1) after allowing only 729 points over its first 13 games.
• Baylor has held opponents under 30 first-half points in 10 of 13 games this season, including 7 times at 25 or fewer.
• Baylor is 15th nationally in 3-point FG defense at 27.6% and 29th in FG?percentage defense at 37.7%.
• Baylor also ranks 6th nationally in rebounding margin (+10.6) and 29th in points-per-possession defense (0.89)
• Baylor and Louisville are the nation's only teams ranked by the AP in football and men's and women's basketball.
• Johnathan Motley has led Baylor in scoring in 4 of the last 5 games and is averaging 17.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 3.2 bpg in his last 5 games. He averaged 6.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 0.6 bpg in the previous 8 games.
• Baylor is 71-5 when leading at the half over the last four seasons -- 10-1 this season, 18-2 in 2013-14, 17-1 in 2012-13 and 26-1 in 2011-12. BU is 174-29 when leading at the half during the entire Drew era.
• BU?has won 38% of its games (19-31) when tied or trailing at half since 2011-12, including 1-1 this season.
• Baylor is 181-83 (24 wins per season) over the last eight seasons and has made six postseason appearances?(NCAA Tournament -- 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014; NIT -- 2009, 2013) with six 20-win seasons.
• 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.
• 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 is one of only 12 schools nationally to play in the Sweet 16 in three of the last five seasons.
• All 31 of Baylor's regular-season games will be televised this season, including 22 games on the ESPN?family of networks. The Kansas game will be Baylor's 117th consecutive televised contest.
• Baylor has the nation's second-best postseason winning percentage over the last six years (17-4; .810).
• Baylor finished undefeated in December for the 6th time in the last 8 years (accomplished just twice prior; `96, `00)
• Baylor is 14-3 in overtime games under Drew, including a 3-0 mark last season.
• Drew is coaching his 368th game at Baylor (215-152). His .586 winning percentage is best in BU history among coaches with 60+ games, and his teams have a .686 winning percentage (181-83) 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 (62-57) 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 745 consecutive games.
• Baylor has 22 games on ESPN networks this season, giving BU 106 ESPN appearances in the last seven seasons.
SERIES HISTORY
• Wednesday is the 26th all-time series meeting between Baylor and Kansas. Baylor trails 4-21 in the series.
• Baylor has defeated Kansas in two of the last five meetings, winning vs.?No 4 KU in Waco in 2013 and at the 2012 Big 12 Championship against No. 3 Kansas.
• Baylor was the nation's only team to defeat Kansas in both the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.
• The Bears' other two wins vs. KU were on Feb. 12, 2001 in Waco and March 12, 2009 in Oklahoma City.
• Prior to Baylor's 2013 win in its final regular-season game of the year, the Bears had lost 12 consecutive regular-season games vs. Kansas by an average of 16.3 points per game.
A WIN WOULD ...
• Extend Baylor's home winning streak to 13 games, tying the 2nd-longest in the Ferrell Center's 27-year history.
• Give Baylor a 12-2 start to the season for the sixth time in the last eight years.
• Give Baylor a 24-5 record over its last 29 games dating back to Feb. 12, 2014.
• Make Baylor 42-48 in January games under Drew, including a 34-24 mark since the 2007-08 season.
• Give Baylor a 91-36 record since the start of the 2011-12 season.
• Make Baylor 182-83 since the start of the 2007-08 season, good for a .687 winning percentage.
• Improve Baylor's record to 5-21 all-time against Kansas, including a 3-9 mark in Waco.
• Give Baylor a 3-3 record in its last 6 games against Kansas after going 2-18 in its first 20 games in the series.
HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS PAYING OFF
• Baylor has won 93% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12. The Bears are 71-5 when leading through the first 20 minutes in that stretch (10-1 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 19-31 in those.
• BU has led at halftime in 76 of 126 games over the last four seasons. With wins in 71 of those 76 games, and victories in 19 of 50 games it has trailed or been tied at the half, Baylor is 90-36 since 2011-12.
DREAM AGAIN NIGHT
• Wednesday is Dream?Again Night at the Ferrell Center to honor Isaiah Austin and his family.
• The first 4,000 fans will receive Dream?Again t-shirts, and Isaiah will be recognized at halftime.
• Austin has resumed his studies at Baylor and is serving as a student assistant for the basketball program.
BEST DEFENSIVE TEAM OF DREW ERA
• Baylor?was the only Division I team to hold every non-conference opponent to 66 or fewer points this season.
• BU's 12 straight games holding opponents to 66 or fewer points was its longest such streak since 1950.
• Baylor's current 56.1 points per game allowed is 7.9 points better than the Bears' best defensive season of the Scott Drew era (2010-11, 64.0 ppg allowed). The last time BU held opponents below 64 ppg was 1985-86 (61.2).
• Baylor has held 10 of 13 opponents under 30 first-half points, including 7 times at 25 or fewer first-half points.
• For the first time since 2009-10, Baylor has held four Division I opponents below 50 points.
• Baylor held Memphis to 15 points in the 2nd half, tying the fewest allowed in any half of the Drew era.
HOLDING TEAMS UNDER SCORING AVERAGES BY 13 PPG
• Through 13 games, Baylor opponents are averaging13 fewer points than their season averages against the Bears.
• Baylor?has held 12 of 13 opponents under their season scoring average, including 9 of 13 at least 10 points below.
BAYLOR AND LOUISVILLE ONLY SCHOOLS RANKED IN FB, MBB AND WBB
• Baylor and Louisville are the nation's only schools ranked by the AP in football and men's and women's basketball.
• Baylor football is ranked No. 4, men's basketball is No. 21 and women's basketball is No. 5.
• Baylor, Duke, Louisville and Michigan State were the only teams to finish the 2013-14 academic year ranked in the final AP polls for all three sports.
FERRELL CENTER WINNING STREAK UP TO 12
• Baylor has won 12 consecutive games at the Ferrell?Center, which is the 3rd-longest winning streak in the arena's 27-year history. The arena record is 15 straight wins from Feb. 3, 2010 through Jan. 11, 2011.
• The Bears have defeated Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Iowa State, McNeese State, Prairie View A&M, Stephen F. Austin, Texas Southern, Texas A&M, New Mexico State, Southern and Norfolk State during the streak.
• BU?has won 9 of its last 10 home games by double digits, and the Bears' last home loss was Feb. 4 vs. Kansas.
BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
• Baylor has benefited from a balanced scoring attack that has seen eight different players combine to score in double figures 37 times through the first 13 games.
• BU?has had six different players lead the team in scoring this season -- Deng Deng vs. McNeese State, Kenny Chery at South?Carolina, Royce O'Neale vs. SFA, at Vandy and vs. NSU, Rico?Gathers vs. Texas Southern, Taurean Prince vs. PVAMU and Memphis and Johnathan?Motley vs.?Texas?A&M, NMSU, Southern and at OU.
• Prince leads the team with 12.0 points per game, while five other players average between 8.2 and 10.8 ppg.
MOTLEY TAKING GAME TO NEW LEVEL
• Redshirt freshman Johnathan Motley has taken his game to a new level over the last five games.
• He's averaging 17.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 3.2 bpg over the last five, up from 6.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 0.6 bpg in his first eight games. He has 16 blocks in the last four games after having 5 blocks in his first nine games.
• Motley's 88 points over the last five games raised his scoring average from 6.6 to 10.8 points per game.
• After going scoreless in back-to-back games, Motley has led the team in scoring in four of the last five games.
O'NEALE DOES IT ALL
• During his four years of Division I basketball, Royce O'Neale has 1,069 points, 676 rebounds, 329 assists, 134 steals and 37 blocks in 114 games played.
• Including his two seasons at Denver, O'Neale has 24 career games played touching all five stat categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks).
• Last season, O'Neale became the first player in program history to post 200+ rebounds and 100+ assists in the same season. He ranked second on the team with 110 assists and fourth with 205 rebounds in 2013-14.
• O'Neale currently ranks 12th in the Big 12 in rebounding (6.4) and 10th in assists (3.3), making him the only Big 12 Conference player in the top 15 in both categories.
FREEMAN LEADS BAYLOR BENCH
• Redshirt freshman Al Freeman has led Baylor in bench scoring in seven of the last nine games.
• Freeman has posted double figure scoring off the bench in three of the last five games. He had a career-high 13 points in 22 minutes vs. Norfolk?State and posted 10 points against both Texas A&M and New Mexico State.
• Freeman averages 19.3 minutes per game, most of any Baylor player with fewer than five starts.
GATHERS FILLING BIG SHOES
• Rico?Gathers spent his first two seasons at Baylor backing up big men Cory Jefferson and Isaiah Austin, but with those players gone to the professional ranks, he's stepped into the starting lineup as a junior.
• Gathers is averaging nearly a double-double with 9.6 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.
• Gathers leads the Big 12 and ranks 10th nationally in total rebounding (10.6), and he's 2nd nationally with 4.9 offensive rebounds per game.
• Gathers also leads the Big 12 with 6 double-doubles this season and 25 career double-digit rebound games, and he's 2nd among active Big 12 players with 13 career double-doubles.
• In his 16 career starts, Gathers is averaging 10.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.
PRINCE BECOMING NATION'S BEST SIXTH MAN
• Taurean Prince entered the season averaging 5.2 points in 11.2 minutes over 62 games played in two seasons, but he is leading the team in scoring at 12.0 points per game in 24.4 minutes per game.
• Prince has scored in double figures in 9 of 12 games played this season after never going more than two straight games scoring in double figures in his first two seasons.
• Prince has also led or tied for the team lead in scoring three times this season, equaling the number of times he led the team in scoring over his first two seasons.
• Prince started 5 games when Kenny Chery was injured, but he's moved back to a 6th-man role with Chery's return.
MEDFORD RAN SHOW WITH CHERY OUT
• Baylor starting point guard Kenny Chery missed 5 starts with a foot injury, allowing Lester Medford to slide from his starting shooting guard position to the starting point guard role.
• Medford posted 30 assists and 7 turnovers in his 5 starts at point guard. Despite since returning to his shooting guard spot, he still ranks 5th in the Big 12 with 4.1 assists per game and 2nd with a 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio.
BEARS COMPLETE SIXTH UNDEFEATED DECEMBER IN EIGHT YEARS
• Baylor just completed its sixth undefeated month of December in the last eight years. Prior to that stretch, Baylor went undefeated in?December only twice (1996 and 2000).
• Baylor is 41-5 in December games since 2007-08 and 53-14 in?December games during the Scott Drew era.
• Baylor is 43-7 in November games since 2007-08 and 51-10 in November games during the Drew era
• Baylor is a combined 104-24 in games before the New Year under Drew, including an 84-12 record since 2007-08.
DREW IS PROGRAM'S ALL-TIME WINS LEADER
• Scott Drew holds Baylor's school record with 215 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 .586 winning percentage is the best ever by a Baylor coach with 60+ games at the helm.
ONE OF TWO RANKED EIGHT STRAIGHT SEASONS
• Baylor joins Kansas as the only Big 12 Conference schools to be ranked in each of the last eight seasons. The Bears were unranked in the preseason for the first time since 2009-10, but cracked the rankings at No. 22 on Dec. 22.
• Baylor has been ranked for at least three weeks in each of the last seven seasons (2008-09 through 2014-15).
DREW AMONG NATION'S ELITE
• Head coach Scott Drew is the youngest of 11 coaches nationally to take his current program to three Sweet 16 appearances in the last five seasons.
• Drew (44) is joined by Arizona's Sean Miller (46), Ohio State's Thad Matta (47), Florida's Billy Donovan (49), Kansas' Bill Self (52), Kentucky's John Calipari (55), Michigan State's Tom Izzo (59), Louisville's Rick Pitino (62), Wisconsin's Bo Ryan (67), Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (67) and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (70).
UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS
• Baylor has enjoyed unprecedented success over the last seven-plus seasons under 12th-year head coach Scott Drew. Since the start of the 2007-08 season, Baylor is 181-83 (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.
UP NEXT
• Baylor heads north on I-35 to take on?TCU at 3 p.m. Saturday in Fort Worth. The game will be played Fort Worth ISD's Wilkerson Greines Athletic Center, where TCU is playing home games this season.
• The Bears have won all five games in the series since TCU joined the Big 12 Conference.
