Talk about your fast breaks.

Just 48 hours after dispatching Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., the No. 1-ranked Baylor Lady Bears will turn on their heels and race back to the Ferrell Center for tonight’s matchup against Kansas, the second-place team in the Big 12.

As far as transitions go, that’s about as fast as an Odyssey Sims steal and breakaway layup.

Brittney Griner and the Lady Bears have to play again today after beating Whitney Hand (left), Nicole Griffin and Oklahoma on Thursday
Alonzo Adams / Associated Press

“You’ve just got to play,” said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, who opted not to practice Friday. “I mean, we’re tired. But they’re young. Be smart, stay off your feet, lace them up and let’s go play. You don’t make excuses. We selected to play the (Oklahoma) game on Thursday for television reasons. We could have left it on Wednesday. Anytime you can take an opportunity to play on TV, you do, and we did. We knew we’d have a quick turnaround, but we’ll be fine.”

Against the Sooners, the Lady Bears (20-0, 6-0) were much better than fine. Baylor showed off the full breadth of its firepower, overcoming some early foul trouble behind a well-distributed attack that saw six players score in double figures.

At one point in the first half, Destiny Williams had more shot attempts than Sims and Brittney Griner combined, and yet the Lady Bears still maintained a double-digit lead.

“The posts left me open a lot at the key, daring me to shoot that shot,” said Williams, who is averaging 11.4 points and 11.6 rebounds in Big 12 play. “Our guards did a great job of penetrating and making the right pass and allowing me to have those shot attempts. They fed the ball to me early. I had a smaller person guarding me, so I give credit to the team for realizing that.”

Mulkey hesitated to call this her best Baylor team yet, especially considering her 2005 squad won the NCAA championship. But she’s more than willing to admit that this year’s bunch is her deepest and most talented team, including that title team.

With Brooklyn Pope and Shanay Washington back in the fold after injury, these Lady Bears are deeper than the Brazos River.

“Several things are happening right now,” Mulkey said. “The distribution of scoring, rebounding and defending is all over the floor. If you look at what Destiny has done the last month, she’s averaging a double-double. If you look at what Nae-Nae (Hayden) and Jordan (Madden) are doing, they’re getting you five or six rebounds in conference, they’re guarding the best players on the perimeter, they’re scoring.

“And then if you look at bench production, we had it all last night. If you continue to do that for a period of time, you’re going to win a lot of basketball games.”

Beyond expectations

Kansas (16-3, 5-2), picked seventh in the league by the Big 12 coaches in their preseason poll, has infinitely exceeded expectations thus far. The Jayhawks are 3-0 in conference road games thus far, and have won two of three games against ranked opponents.

Like Baylor, the Jayhawks possess a dynamic duo of superheroes at the center and point guard positions. KU junior Carolyn Davis ranks second to Griner in the Big 12 in scoring at 18.5 points per game and leads the league in field-goal percentage, hitting 63.2 percent of her shots. Davis doesn’t stray far from the paint, which should result in her matching up often against Griner.

On the other end of those post entry passes to Davis is another gym dandy, junior point guard Angel Goodrich. Goodrich leads the nation in assists, dishing out 7.7 a night, and her 3.4 steals a game are second-best in the Big 12 behind only Sims (3.6).

No. 1 vs. No. 2

This marks the second straight Saturday the Big 12’s top two teams in the standings have clashed at the Ferrell Center. Last week, the home crowd reveled in Baylor’s 76-41 whipping of K-State, and the Lady Bears are plenty eager to hear those rousing cheers again.

“Coming off a road game with not as many fans, I think our fans will give us a lot of energy,” Williams said. “I think they’re going to help us tremendously. I’d definitely rather play here than away.”

BEAR FACTS: Tonight is “Family Night” at the Ferrell Center, as the players and their families will be introduced on the court prior to the game. “It’s special, just to know I made it this far,” senior Terran Condrey said. “I’m glad that my mom, my dad and my sister got the chance to come (from Alabama).” . . . With 501 career swats, Griner needs three blocks to pass Michigan State’s Allyssa DeHaan for No. 2 on the NCAA’s all-time list. . . . Baylor ranks fifth nationally in home attendance, drawing an average crowd of 8,101. That puts the team on pace to break last year’s school record average attendance of 7,933.

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