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No. 1 MBB to Host No. 3 Kansas in Highly Anticipated Showdown

Baylor is hosting College GameDay for the second time in basketball

Men's Basketball 2/20/2020 1:13:00 PM



	1/1 BAYLOR BEARS (24-1, 13-0) Location: Waco, Texas Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes	BAYLOR (24-1, 13-0) vs. KANSAS (23-3, 12-1) Feb. 22, 2020 • 11 a.m. CT Waco, Texas • Ferrell Center (10,284) LIVE STATS: baylorstats.com WATCH: ESPN and the ESPN App Talent: Dan Shulman (pxp), Jay Bilas (analyst), Holly Rowe (reporter) LISTEN: Baylor-IMG College \| ESPN Central Texas Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (analyst) Baylor Social Media:

	3/3 KANSAS (23-3, 12-1) Location: Lawrence, Kan. Head Coach: Bill Self (Oklahoma State, 1985) Roster \| Stats \| Game Notes

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Just another game . . . hardly.
            In what is (not even debatable) the biggest regular-season game in program history, top-ranked Baylor (24-1, 13-0) hosts No. 3 Kansas (23-3, 12-1) at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Ferrell Center. Not only will the game be televised nationally by ESPN, the College GameDay crew will go live from 10-11 a.m. with host Rece Davis and analysts Jay Bilas, LaPhonso Ellis and Seth Greenberg.
            For good measure, if the Bears extend their Big 12-record winning streak to 24 in a row, they will take a two-game lead on the Jayhawks with four to play.
            "Yeah, I guess it's a pretty big deal when you put it like that," said sophomore guard Jared Butler, who is averaging 15.6 points and 3.0 assists per game. "It's hard for us to (make it just another game), especially when there's a few more people in this (interview) room right now than any other game. But, when I'm going into it, I'm just thinking, 'We've got to win the game. We've got to be the tougher team.'''
            Once the ball is tipped, 6-9 senior forward Freddie Gillespie says, "all the outside noise kind of goes away."
            "Leading up to this, it's kind of hard to tell you it's just another game because of all the hype and fanfare," said Gillespie, who's averaging 9.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. "But, when the cameras are gone, our preparation is still the same. Our nutrition, our weight-lifting, our film, all of that, we're going to do with the same intensity we always do."
            Yet another measuring stick is fan interest. Students are camping overnight in the Ferrell Center concourse to get the best seats when the doors open at 8:30 a.m. Gillespie said he's had more ticket requests for this game than all the other games combined in his three years at Baylor.
            "I've had random people on campus say, 'Hey, you're Freddie, right?''' he said. "And they'll say, 'So, can you get me a ticket?' Yeah, you're like eight weeks' late on that request."
            What's been key in Baylor's program- and conference-record winning streak has been a laser-focus, one-game-at-a-time mentality that hasn't changed from when the Bears played UT Martin in the Battleground 2K19 at the Toyota Center in Houston to taking down Kansas for the first time ever at Allen Fieldhouse.
            "That's why we've been successful up to this point," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Great player leadership, making sure we are staying focused on the here and now, one game at a time. . . . This is one of 18 games (in Big 12 play), so we've got a way to go. It doesn't matter if you win this game, you lose this game, there is still a lot left to be played."
            Baylor, though, can take a big step toward its first Big 12 championship and first conference title in 70 years with a season series sweep of Kansas. The Jayhawks had a string of 14-consecutive Big 12 championships snapped last year when Kansas State and Texas Tech shared the regular-season title at 14-4.
            Since the Bears' 67-55 win at Kansas back on Jan. 11 – first-ever in Lawrence – Kansas has reeled off 11-straight wins. Ten days ago, they rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to beat West Virginia, 58-49, on the road.
            "You watch them play, and they are in a situation where offensively and defensively they are executing at a high rate," Drew said. "Coach (Bill) Self's teams are never going to beat themselves. They are always going to have talented players. But, any team is at their best when they know the roles of everybody, and looks like they've really settled into what and how."
            Kansas has one of the best inside-out combos in the country in 6-2 sophomore guard Devon Dotson (18.4 ppg, 4.2 assists, 2.1 steals) and 7-foot senior center Udoka Azubuike (12.8 ppg, 9.8 rebounds, 2.7 blocks). Dotson is the league's leading scorer, while Azubuike is first in rebounds and field goal percentage (.733) and second in blocks.
            "He's just pretty physically imposing. That alone, with a guy with that type of size and strength, is always going to give you a lot of challenges," said Gillespie, who helped limit Azubuike to just six points in the first meeting.
            "His shot-blocking ability, that's the anchor of their defense. And then, his ability to finish at the rim through contact. A lot of times, he might miss free throws, but those are and-one (free throw) attempts. He's going for the three-point play. I think it's just about rhythm. You take any player out of their rhythm, that's how you try to stop them."
            Junior guard MaCio Teague (14.4 ppg, 5.0 rebounds), who's missed the last two games with a wrist injury, could be a game-time decision for Saturday's game. In the first meeting, Teague hit three 3-pointers and scored 16 points.
            "We will see him in practice and praying he keeps heading in the right direction," Drew said. "He's done a great job, and it's going to be close."
            Dan Shulman, Bilas and Holly Rowe will call Saturday's game for ESPN.
            Baylor plays three of its next four at home, hosting Kansas State (9-17, 2-11) at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Texas Tech (17-9, 8-5) the following Monday, March 1, sandwiched around a road trip next Saturday to TCU (14-12, 5-8).
            "I think it's good for us to not get too high, not get too low," Butler said. "We definitely appreciate all the wins, but we understand there's another storm coming. We have to manage the storm and be ab le to be level-headed in everything we do."

STORY LINES
• No. 1 Baylor carries a Big 12-record 23-game winning streak into Saturday's game vs. No. 3 Kansas.
• Baylor's 23-game streak topped Kansas (22 in 1996-97) for longest in the Big 12's 24-year history.
• Baylor's 13 conference wins are the most in program history (beating 12-6 in 2012 & 12-6 in 2017).
• BU's 13-game Big 12 streak is tied for the 2nd-longest conference-only winning streak in league history.
• BU's 13-0 start to Big 12 play is the Bears' best mark thru 13 conference games in program history.
• BU's 13-game conference winning streak is the longest in school history (previously 11 in 1946 SWC).
• Baylor won for the first time at Kansas on Jan. 11, snapping a 17-game losing streak in Lawrence.
• BU's 5 straight weeks as the AP No. 1 team ties the nation's longest streak since 2015 (Kentucky) and is the longest by a team from the state of Texas since Houston was No. 1 for the final 8 weeks of 1968.
• Baylor is 12-0 at home this season and hasn't trailed by more than 2 points in any home game.
• Baylor has trailed for only 2.6% of game time over 12 home games this season (12:38 of 480:00).
• BU's 24-1 is its best 25-game mark in program history. BU's best 26-game start is 22-4 in 2012 & 2017.
• Baylor's 23-game winning streak is the nation's 2nd-longest behind San Diego State (26).
• Baylor (6-0) is the nation's only teams with 6 wins vs. AP Top 25 ranked teams.
• Baylor has defeated 8 top-10 teams in the last 4 seasons, including a 6-3 mark vs. top-10 teams in Waco.
• Baylor has gone 29-32 against ranked teams over the last 6 seasons since 2014-15.
• Baylor ranks 4th nationally in scoring defense (58.2) and 10th nationally in scoring margin (+13.0).
• Baylor's 2-point FG% defense ranks 7th nationally (.425) and effective FG% defense ranks 6th (.435).
• BU is coming off a 65-54 win at Oklahoma, notching a 7th Big 12 road win for the first time.
• BU has trailed for only 9.7% of game time over 19 total games since December (74:05 of 760:00).
• Baylor has trailed in the 2nd half only once since December (12-pt comeback win at Oklahoma State).
• BU has held 8 Big 12 opponents to 55 or fewer points, the program record for most in a single season.
• BU is No. 2 in the NET with 6 top-20 NET wins: No. 4 (road), No. 8, No. 9, No. 15, No. 18 (road), No. 19.
• Baylor (10-0) and Kansas (10-3) are the nation's only teams with 10 Quadrant 1 wins.
• Baylor's defense has forced 15+ turnovers in 15 of 25 games after doing so in 7 of 34 games last year.
• Baylor has held 5 high-major opponents to their season-low scoring totals – Arizona (58), Butler (52), Texas (44), Texas Tech (52) and Kansas (55). BU has held 23 of 25 opponents below 70 points.
• BU is the only team with 2 players on the Naismith Defensive POY Midseason Team (Vital & Mitchell).
• BU and KU are a combined 13-0 in Big 12 road games, while the rest of the league is a combined 8-44.
• BU also has the nation's 3rd-longest road winning streak at 9 straight (Gonzaga-17, SDSU-10).
• Baylor is the only school with FB, MBB, WBB & VB all ranked. Those teams are a combined 89-7 this year and all four are top-12 ranked (No. 1 MBB, No. 1 WBB, No. 3 VB, No. 12 FB).
• Baylor is playing its 237th game as a ranked team under Drew – BU was ranked in 2 of 2197 games over the program's 97 seasons prior to Drew. Since 2008-09, BU has been ranked in 234 of 416 games.
• This is the 7th straight year BU has ranked top-10 nationally in offensive rebounding pct (No. 5 this year).

QUICK HITS
• Baylor has won 20+ games in 11 of the last 13 seasons after recording only three 20-win seasons in the previous 100 years of Baylor Basketball (1946, 1948, 1988).
• Baylor is 50-4 when leading at halftime over the last 3 seasons since 2017-18 (20-1 this season).
• Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (168-20).
• BU is 112-21 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (24-1 this season).
• Baylor is 215-94 over the last 9 seasons, averaging 24 wins per season since 2012.
• Baylor's 215 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (259).
• Baylor is 306-141 since 2007-08, the first year Drew's staff had a full allotment of scholarships.
• BU returned 8 letterwinners from last season, including 5 players who made at least 7 starts – Mark Vital (34), Jared Butler (21), Tristan Clark (14), Freddie Gillespie (11) and Devonte Bandoo (7).
• Baylor returned 9 players with at least 26 games of Division I experience, including a pair of transfers who are now starters after sitting out last season – Davion Mitchell and MaCio Teague.
• Eight of Baylor's 14 players either have used or are currently using a redshirt year. Five after transferring to BU – Flagler, Gillespie, Mitchell, Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Teague, and three as freshmen — Moffatt, Turner and Vital.
• Eight of Baylor's nine starting point guards under Drew have earned All-Big recognition (14 of last 15 seasons).
• The Bears are one of 11 programs nationally (1 of 6 in Power-5) to win 18+ games in every year since 2008.
• Baylor is 1 of 14 teams nationally to appear in every postseason since 2012 (6 NCAAs, 2 NITs).
• Baylor has the nation's 10th-longest active streak with at least one 3-point FG made in 928 straight games — the last time Baylor failed to make a 3-pointer was more than 29 years ago, on Feb. 21, 1990 vs. Texas Tech (0-8).
• BU is 6-1 all-time in Big 12/SEC Challenges, the best record of any team in either league. Combined with a 3-1 mark in the Big 12/Pac-10 Series and 1-0 in the Big 12/Big East Battle, Baylor is 10-2 in conference challenges.
• Baylor has won 6 tournament titles under Drew (2007 Paradise Jam, 2011 Las Vegas Classic, 2013 NIT, 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2017 Hall of Fame Classic and 2019 Myrtle Beach Invitational).

COLLEGE GAMEDAY COMES TO WACO
• Baylor is hosting College Gameday in Waco for the 5th time overall and the 2nd time for basketball.
• The show first came to Waco for basketball in 2011, then came for football in 2014, 2015 and 2019.
• Baylor is the first school since Michigan State in 2015-16 to host College Gameday for football and basketball in the same academic year. This marks the 9th time in the show's history a school has hosted both in the same year.

SERIES HISTORY
• Saturday is the 39th all-time meeting between Baylor and Kansas. BU is 6-32 against the Jayhawks.
• Baylor lost both games against Kansas last year, but the Bears are 2-2 in their last 4 games vs. Kansas.
• Baylor's wins in the series came in 2001 vs. No. 6 Kansas (Waco), in 2009 vs. No. 14 Kansas (Oklahoma City), in 2012 vs. No. 3 (Kansas City), in 2013 vs. No. 4 Kansas (Waco), in 2018 vs. No. 10 Kansas (Waco) and in 2020 at No. 3 Kansas (Lawrence).
• The Bears are 3-13 all-time against Kansas in Waco, with wins in 2001, 2013 and 2018.

LAST TIME VS. KANSAS
• Baylor broke through for its first win at Kansas (in its 18th attempt) and its first road win against a top-5 team (in its 23rd attempt) by knocking off No. 3 Kansas, 67-55, at Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 11.
• The 55 points scored by Kansas matched its fewest in a home game since 2000.
• BU trailed 20-15 with 8 minutes left in the first half, then closed the half on a 22-4 run to take a 37-24 lead to the break. Kansas would cut the deficit to 5 points with 13 minutes left, but couldn't get any closer.
• Jared Butler scored 10 straight BU points in the final 8 minutes, and BU led by double-digits the rest of the way.

TOP-10 WINS IN WACO
• Baylor is 6-3 against top-10 ranked teams in Waco over the last 4 seasons. BU's top-10 home wins since 2016-17 include: No. 4 Oregon (Nov. 15, 2016), No. 7 Xavier (Dec. 3, 2016), No. 10 West Virginia (Feb. 27, 2017), No. 10 Kansas (Feb. 10, 2018), No. 7 Texas Tech (Feb. 17, 2018) and No. 8 Texas Tech (Jan. 19, 2019).

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