2/2 BAYLOR BEARS (25-2, 14-1) Location: Waco, Texas  Head Coach: Scott Drew (Butler, 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes	BAYLOR (25-2, 14-2) at TCU (15-13, 6-9) Feb. 29, 2020 • 1 p.m. CT Fort Worth, Texas • Schollmaier Arena (8,500)  LIVE STATS: baylorstats.com WATCH: ESPN2 and ESPN App Talent: Chuckie Kempf (pxp), Tim Welsh (analyst) LISTEN: Baylor-IMG College | ESPN Central Texas Talent: John Morris (pxp), Pat Nunley (analyst) Baylor Social Media:
	NR/NR TCU (15-13, 6-9) Location: Fort Worth, Texas Head Coach: Jamie Dixon (TCU, 1987)  Roster | Stats | Game Notes

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Back in August, when Baylor basketball was touring Italy, there was no light at the end of the tunnel. March Madness was barely a thought. 
            But now that we're here on the last day of February, the second-ranked Bears (25-2, 14-1) can see a clear path to their first conference championship in 70 years. String together three more wins, including Saturday's 1 p.m. road test at TCU (15-13, 6-9), and they will do no worse than a share of their first Big 12 championship with No. 1 Kansas (25-3, 14-1). 
            "Of course, you understand what's at stake," coach Scott Drew said, "and we kind of told our guys the countdown is nine days to make history. We've been successful because we focus on one game at a time. That's what we'll continue to do, but obviously when you're this close to the end and you see the finish line, you're excited to be at your best."
            Bouncing back from last Saturday's 64-61 loss to Kansas, which snapped a school- and Big 12-record 23-game winning streak, Baylor was at its best in Tuesday's 85-66 win at home over Kansas State. 
            In a game where the Bears blew out to a 50-24 halftime lead and stretched it to as many as 34, they were able to rest players down the stretch. 
            "Anytime you can get separation and rest some guys, that's a great thing," Drew said. "It doesn't make some of the wear and tear and the aches and pain go away. Because really what most of them need is a couple weeks off after the season just to recover, but it definitely helps in the short term."
            Much like the Big 12 football season, "when you have grown-men bodies colliding and beating up on each other for a couple of months, you get the wear and tear of that," Drew said. With two months of conference games, "you're going against not only very athletic and physically strong guys, but you're competing at a really high level and exerting a lot of energy, physically and mentally. And it just takes a toll on you."
            Junior forward Tristan Clark didn't play at all in Tuesday's game against K-State, and others like sophomore guard Jared Butler (15.7 ppg, 2.9 assists) and junior forward Mark Vital are banged-up and sat out long stretches in the second half.
            "(Vital's) knee was bothering him a little bit, so it was great to be able to rest him," Drew said. 
            Short of a Big 12 Championship run, TCU looks like it headed back to the NIT at best for the third time in four years. The Frogs lost to Texas in last year's semifinals in New York and won the program's first postseason championship three years ago in coach Jamie Dixon's first season.  
            Hovering near the top of the standings at 4-2 through the first three weeks of conference play this year, TCU has since dropped eight of its last 10 games. That stretch included a 68-52 loss to Baylor in Waco back on the first day of February. 
            On the 175^th birthday of the university, Baylor broke its previous school record for consecutive wins. MaCio Teague broke out of a monthlong shooting slump to drain five 3-pointers and score a game-high 19 points in the Bears' 18^th-consecutive victory. 
            Desmond Bane, the Big 12's second-leading scorer at 15.9 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half of that game at Baylor. But, the 6-6 senior guard came back to hit three second-half 3-pointers and score 14 points. 
            "The big thing was how we played Desmond Bane," said 6-9 Baylor senior forward Freddie Gillespie, who is averaging 9.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game. "He makes them go. He's the engine on both offense and defense. . . . In the second half, he really came alive. But getting on him and keeping him out of his offense was definitely a key."
            TCU has been tough on its home court at Schollmaier Arena, going 13-3 overall and 5-2 in conference, with the only league losses coming against Texas (62-61) and Kansas (60-46). 
            "Coach Dixon always does a great job of getting them to play fundamentally sound basketball," Drew said. "They're being more deliberate, and that keeps the game shorter. I know they've got some players banged-up. And as long as they're out, they'll probably continue to do that."
            Teague is another of Baylor's banged-up players, missing two games with a wrist injury. After playing less of a role in the loss to Kansas, the junior guard hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 points in 24 minutes against K-State. 
            "He's one of those confidence-type kids," Drew said of Teague, who is averaging 14.1 points and 4.8 rebounds. "Guys that spend a lot of time in the gym that when they're making shots in practice, it carries over to the game. So, it's been great having him being able to be a regular in practice now."
            Saturday's game will be televised by ESPN2, with Chuckie Kempf and Tim Welsh calling the action. 
            Wrapping up the regular season, Baylor will host No. 21/22 Texas Tech (18-10, 9-6) at 8 p.m. Monday and then close with a road game next Saturday at No. 19/20 West Virginia (19-9, 7-8). 
            "I try not to get too focused on (winning a Big 12 championship)," Gillespie said. "It's hard because we're so close to the end. It's definitely something that crosses our mind, but we get back to taking it one game at a time and not getting ahead of ourselves, because this conference is good. If you get caught on an off day, you're more than capable of losing."


STORY LINES
• No. 2 Baylor looks for its 8th Big 12 road win of the season when it plays at 1 p.m. Saturday at TCU.
• Baylor's 14 conference wins are the most in program history (beating 12-6 in 2012 & 12-6 in 2017).
• BU is looking to sweep its school-record 6th Big 12 opponent this season (ISU, KSU, OU, OSU, UT).
• Baylor (9-0) can reach 10+ road wins for the 2nd time in program history (13-1 in 1945-46).
• BU can become the 3rd team in Big 12 history to reach 8 conference road wins (KU in 2002 & 2017).
• Baylor won 68-52 vs. TCU in Waco on Feb. 1. BU used a 14-0 run to break a 17-17 tie and led by at least 6 points the rest of the way. Freddie Gillespie had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks.
• Baylor fell to No. 2 in this week's AP Top 25, snapping a streak of 5 straight weeks at No. 1. 
• Five straight weeks at No. 1 tied the nation's longest streak since Kentucky in 2014-15.
• BU has been top-2 ranked for 7 consecutive weeks after being top-2 for 3 total weeks prior to 2020.
• Baylor is on a school-record streak of 8 straight weeks top-5 ranked (previously 6 straight in 2017).
• BU has led by at least 5 points in every game this season and has built a double-digit lead in 23 of 27 games.
• BU has trailed by double-digits only twice all season (win at Oklahoma State, loss vs. Kansas).
• Baylor's streak of 17 consecutive AP polls ranked is tied for 3rd-longest in program history (all since 2010).
• BU's 25-2 is its best 27-game mark in program history. BU's best 28-game start is 23-5 in 2012 & 2017.
• Baylor (6-1) has the nation's best record vs. AP Top 25 ranked teams (min. 3 games).
• Both of Baylor's losses this season have been by 3 points (Nov. 8 vs. Washington, Feb. 22 vs. Kansas).
• Baylor ranks 5th nationally in scoring defense (58.7) and 13th nationally in scoring margin (+12.7).
• Baylor's 58.7 ppg allowed is on pace to break the Big 12 scoring defense record (59.4 TAMU in 2007).
• Baylor's 2-point FG% defense ranks 10th nationally (.434) and effective FG% defense ranks 12th (.442).
• BU has trailed for only 13.1% of game time over 21 total games since December 1 (109:51 of 840:00).
• Baylor has trailed in the 2nd half only twice since December 1 (win at Oklahoma State, loss vs. Kansas).
• BU and KU are both 7-0 in Big 12 road games, while the rest of the league is a combined 10-51.
• BU has the nation's 2nd-longest road winning streak at 9 straight (San Diego State 11).
• Baylor is 41-38 in Big 12 road games since 2012, 2nd-best in the league behind only Kansas (51-27).
• 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-25 NET wins: No. 1 (road), No. 7, No. 13, No. 16, No. 21 (road), No. 23.
• Baylor (10-1), Kansas (11-3) and Seton Hall (10-5) are the nation's only teams with 10+ Quadrant 1 wins.
• Baylor's defense has forced 15+ turnovers in 16 of 27 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 25 of 27 opponents below 70 points.
• BU is the only team with 2 Naismith Defensive POY semifinalists (Mark Vital & Davion Mitchell).
• Baylor is the only school with FB, MBB, WBB & VB all ranked. Those teams are a combined 92-8 this year.
• Baylor is playing its 239th 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 236 of 418 games.

QUICK HITS 
• Baylor's 23-game winning streak was the longest ever by a Big 12 team (previously 22 by 1996-97 KU). 
• BU's 13-game conference winning streak was the longest in school history (previously 11 in 1946 SWC). 
• 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 51-4 when leading at halftime over the last 3 seasons since 2017-18 (21-1 this season). 
• Baylor has won 89% of its games when leading at the half since 2011-12 (169-20). 
• BU is 113-21 since 2015-16 when leading at any point in the 2nd half of a game (25-1 this season). 
• Baylor is 216-95 over the last 9 seasons, averaging 24 wins per season since 2012. 
• Baylor's 216 wins since 2011-12 are second-most in the Big 12 behind only Kansas (261). 
• Baylor is 307-142 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 930 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). 

SEVEN STRAIGHT WEEKS TOP-2 RANKED 
• BU is No. 2 in this week's AP Top 25, snapping a streak of 5 straight weeks at the nation's No. 1 team. 
• Baylor has been top-2 ranked in 7 consecutive polls. Prior to 2020, BU was top-2 in 3 total polls all-time (all in 2017). 
• Baylor's 5-week streak at No. 1 was the longest since Kentucky in 2015 and longest by a Texas team since 1968. 
• Baylor's streak of 17 consecutive weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 is tied for the 3rd-longest streak in program history – 25 consecutive polls in 2016-17, 22 in 2011-12, 17 in 2010-11, 17 in 2019-20. 
• Baylor was ranked No. 16 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, which tied the 2nd-highest preseason ranking in BU history. 

SERIES HISTORY 
• Saturday is the 187th all-time series meeting and the 17th as Big 12 Conference members. 
• Baylor leads the series 102-83, including a 41-42 mark in Fort Worth and a 13-3 record in the Drew era. 
• Since TCU joined the Big 12, Baylor is 13-3 in the series with an average scoring margin of +14.4 points per game. 
• The Bears' 7 Big 12 home wins over TCU have been by at least 11 points and by an average of 20.3 points. 
• The Bears are 5-2 against TCU in Fort Worth as Big 12 rivals, with an scoring margin of +10.9 points per game. 
• BU beat TCU in Fort Worth by 26 in 2013, by 33 in 2014, by 7 (OT) in 2015, by 15 in 2016 and by 9 in 2017. 
• The Bears lost at TCU by 10 in 2018 and by 4 in 2019, falling to 5-2 in Big 12 games played in Fort Worth. 

LAST TIME VS. TCU 
• Baylor broke a school-record by running its winning streak to 18 straight with at 68-52 win over TCU on Feb. 1. 
• The game was tied 17-17 with 8 minutes left in the first half, then BU went on a 14-0 run and led by at least 6 points the rest of the game. BU led 60-52 with 3:42 left, then closed the game on an 8-0 run to win 68-52. 
• Freddie Gillespie had his 8th double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 6 blocks.