WACO, Texas — National college basketball experts have billed Saturday's game the "Game to build your weekend around," as Baylor aims to make history.
The 4th-ranked Bears face No. 3 Kansas at noon on Saturday at the Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.
Baylor is 0-17 all-time in Lawrence and 0-22 against AP Top-5 teams on the road.
But, this time out, Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander in Friday's episode of the CBS Sports Eye on College Basketball podcast, the two billed the showdown as the "matchup to build your weekend around," and both picked Baylor to cover a nine-point spread (according to Ken Pomeroy), but Kansas to win outright.
"It gives us a chance to play a quality opponent and to see where we can improve for the rest of the year," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "At the same time, whenever you're playing somebody like Kansas on their home floor, if you have any weaknesses, they get exposed."
According to KenPom, this showdown features two Top-10 defenses (KU No. 2, BU No. 8) and two Top-35 offenses (KU No. 11, BU No. 31).
Kansas is also ranked as a Top-5 team in almost every metric in college basketball, with KenPom ranking the Jayhawks second, behind Duke. For those who point to KU's 12-2 record, the Jayhawks two losses this season are away from home by a combined three homes.
Baylor makes this match-up incredibly interesting, too, with its lone loss by three away from Waco in a game it controlled for 38 minutes.
Baylor has run its offense through Jared Butler and MaCio Teague this season, with the pair averaging 16.3 and 14.5 points per game, respectively.
On defense, the Bears are averaging more than 8.6 steals per game and taking care of the basketball, with an average of just 12.62 turnovers per game.
The Jayhawks have run through star guard Devon Dotson, primarily, with him shooting 52.6% from 2 and 30.2% from 3.
But the Bears feel poised this year, they're more than capable of snapping KU's 15-game home conference win streak.
"We're here to make history and we've got the pieces," senior guard Devonte Bandoo said. "We're very deep, it's going to be a great game....and we've got the potential to come out of there with a W."
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