Saturday, January 10, 2009
By John Werner
Tribune-Herald staff writer
During most of its Big 12 tenure, Baylor was the little guy trying to find a way to escape the bottom tier.
Now, the Bears are one of the hunted with a number attached to their name.
For the first time in 13 Big 12 seasons, the Bears will open league play ranked in the Top 25 when they host Texas Tech at 12:45 p.m. today at the Ferrell Center.
Tipoff: 12:45 p.m., Ferrell Center
TV: 12:45 p.m., KWTX (Ch. 10)
Radio: 12:15 p.m., KRZI-AM (1660)
Records: BU 12-2, TT 10-5
Series: TT leads, 73-43
Last meeting: BU, 86-73 (2008 in Lubbock)
Red Raiders coach Pat Knight doesn’t relish kicking off league play against the No. 23 Bears.
“You can’t ask for a tougher opponent,” said Knight, whose team is 10-5. “They were the team I picked as the favorite early because of all the guys they had coming back. This isn’t the first place I’d want to open up. But it would be tough any place you play in the league.”
The Bears broke a 20-year NCAA Tournament drought last year when they finished 21-11 overall and 9-7 in the Big 12. They sealed their invitation to the Big Dance with an 86-73 win over the Red Raiders in the regular-season finale in Lubbock when LaceDarius Dunn erupted for 38 points.
Baylor coach Scott Drew believes his team will be more prepared for the rigors of the Big 12 after their success last season. He hopes this Big 12 season won’t be such a roller coaster.
After winning their first four Big 12 games — including an historic 116-110 five-overtime win at Texas A&M — the Bears cracked the Top 25 for the first time in 39 years. But they lost five of their next six Big 12 games before winning four of their last five regular-season games.
“I don’t think we’ll get as high or low as last year,” Drew said. “When we started off so well, a lot of people were patting us on the back and telling us what a good job we were doing. This year, I think we’ll be more prepared for the ups and downs. That’s the great thing about experience.”
Like last season, the Bears are 12-2 heading into Big 12 play. But Drew believes the Bears have played a tougher schedule that has included wins over No. 20 Arizona State, Providence, Washington State and Portland State. Their only two losses have come against No. 4 Wake Forest and South Carolina.
“We’ll be confident coming into Big 12 play because we know what we can do and what it takes to win,” Baylor senior guard Curtis Jerrells said. “I think we earned a lot of respect from teams, and we know we’re going to get their A game. Everybody is going to want to beat us, but we’ll be ready.”
The Bears have spent the last week focusing on rebounding and defense following an 85-84 loss to the Gamecocks on Jan. 2 at the Ferrell Center. Baylor had shown a lot of defensive improvement before South Carolina shot 54 percent, the best against the Bears this season.
South Carolina guard Devan Downey repeatedly penetrated into the lane against the Bears for baskets.
“We had a lapse in the South Carolina game, and our players are aware of that,” Drew said. “We know we’ve got to do better defensively, and we’ve got to keep doing a better job on the boards. We play a smaller lineup, so rebounding is tough at times. But we’ve seen improvement.”
Today’s game could be an offensive shootout since the Bears are averaging 83.5 points and the Red Raiders are averaging 83.2. Both teams feature up-tempo offenses that spread the wealth.
Jerrells leads the Bears with a 16.7-point average, while Dunn is averaging 15.9, Henry Dugat 13.8, Kevin Rogers 12.1 and Tweety Carter 11.2. Guard John Roberson leads the Red Raiders with a 14.9 average, while guard Alan Voskuil is hitting 14.5, forward Mike Singletary 11.0 and guard Nick Okorie 10.5.
But Knight hasn’t been pleased with Tech’s defense, which ranks last in the league by allowing 78 points per game.
“I really like the way our offense is playing because we move at a good pace and can score in a variety of ways,” Knight said. “But our defense obviously needs to improve. We’ve only played defense well for both halves in a game against SFA. Baylor is going to be tough because they’ve got good guards who can create a lot of problems. They can drive or kick it outside for 3-pointers. You can’t overlook their big guys, either.” Ironically, Knight’s first game as Texas Tech’s head coach was an 80-74 loss to the Bears last February at the Ferrell Center after his father, Bob Knight, announced his sudden retirement. He knows it’s going to be even harder to beat a more experienced Baylor team this season.
jwerner@wacotrib.com
757-5716
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