Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
SACRED HEART (1-0) at BAYLOR (2-0)
Ferrell Center (10,284) - Waco, Texas
Saturday, Nov. 24, 2001 - 3:30 p.m. CST
THE GAME
Baylor enters a stretch of four games in eight days beginning with a home game against Sacred Heart Saturday, Nov. 24. The game is set to tipoff at 3:30 p.m. CST at the Ferrell Center. The Bears (2-0) are coming off a 88-64 victory over Texas-Arlington at home Wednesday night. Sacred Heart (1-0) opened its season Monday with a 76-71 victory at home over Stony Brook. The Bears are in the third season of the Dave Bliss era and are commencing their 96th year of men's basketball in 2001-2002. Baylor owns an all-time record of 1,009-1,135 in 96 seasons of basketball.
HEAD COACH DAVE BLISS
Dave Bliss, in his third season at Baylor, is a 27-year coaching veteran and ranks 18th among active Division I coaches in victories with 500. The former head coach at New Mexico, Southern Methodist and Oklahoma owns a career record of 500-298 (.627). He has led teams to 15 postseason tournament appearances, including 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament. Five times Bliss has been honored as his conference's coach of the year, and he is one of only 23 Division I coaches ever to have taken three different schools to the NCAA Tournament (UNM, SMU, OU).
Bliss took over the reigns of Baylor basketball on March 23, 1999, and was given the task of rebuilding a program that had finished the 1998-99 season without a Big 12 Conference win. Bliss proceeded to guide the Bears to a 14-15 record in 1999-2000 and in his second year led Baylor to a 19-12 mark and into the NIT.
BLISS CLAIMS 500th CAREER VICTORY
Baylor's Dave Bliss became the 92nd collegiate head coach to reach 500 career victories Wednesday when the Bears defeated Texas-Arlington 88-64. In 27 years as a head coach, Bliss has averaged more than 19 wins per season. Bliss' milestone wins are listed below:
BLISS' MILESTONE VICTORIES No. Date Opponent 1 Nov. 20, 1975 Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma City (67-65) 100 Jan. 18, 1983 SMU vs. Baylor (62-61) 200 Dec. 29, 1987 SMU vs. Creighton (88-51) 300 Mar. 19, 1992 UNM vs. Louisiana Tech (90-84) 400 Dec. 23, 1996 UNM vs. Jackson State (98-45) 500 Nov. 21, 2001 Baylor vs. Texas-Arlington (88-64)
BLISS CLIMBING BAYLOR'S COACHING LISTS
In three seasons at the helm of the Bear basketball program, Dave Bliss has compiled a 35-27 won-loss record. His 56.5 winning percentage ranks as the fourth-highest career mark at Baylor.
THE SACRED HEART SERIES
This will be the first meeting ever between Baylor and Sacred Heart.
THE SACRED HEART PIONEERS
Sacred Heart (1-0) is led by head coach Dave Bike, in his 24th season as a head coach. Bike owns a career record of 385-291, all at Sacred Heart. He has never faced Baylor.
SACRED HEART NOTES: Sacred Heart, located in Fairfield, Conn., is a member of the Northeast Conference ... The Pioneers return eight lettermen and two starters from a 2000-2001 squad that went 7-21 overall and 6-14 in the Northeast Conference ... Sacred Heart opened its season at home Monday with a 76-71 victory over Stony Brook ... G Omar Wellington had 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, and F Tim Welch had 18 points and five rebounds.
BLISS vs. SACRED HEART
This will be the first meeting between a Dave Bliss-coached team and Sacred Heart.
BAYLOR vs. NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
Baylor has never faced any of the current members of the Northeast Conference. Head coach Dave Bliss has faced just one such team in his career, going 1-0 against Monmouth.
BAYLOR vs. NON-CONFERENCE FOES
Baylor has won 18 consecutive regular-season games vs. non-conference opponents. In addition to this season's 2-0 non-conference start, the Bears finished the regular-season, non-conference portion of last year's schedule with a perfect 11-0 record. Under head coach Dave Bliss, Baylor has compiled a 22-2 non-conference record in three seasons.
THE LAST TIME OUT - TEXAS-ARLINGTON
Chad Elsey scored 23 points and Lawrence Roberts added 15 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday night as Baylor defeated Texas-Arlington 88-64. The victory gave Baylor coach Dave Bliss his 500th career win in his 27-year career. Eighthteen of Elsey's points came off 3-pointers. He was 6-of-11 from 3-point range. In the 3-point battle that keyed the win, the Bears (2-0) dominated Texas-Arlington (0-2), connecting on 14-of-37 attempts compared to the Mavericks' 4-of-22. Donny Beacham led Texas-Arlington with 14 points. He and Mack Callier each had nine rebounds. Baylor shot 35.1 percent (13-of-37) in the first half, while Texas-Arlington hit 9-of-38 shots for 23.7 percent in the first half. The Bears connected on 21-of-38 attempts in the second half, including 9-of-18 3-pointers.
BAYLOR USES LONG-RANGE ATTACK AGAINST UTA
The Bears connected on 14-of-37 3-point attempts Wednesday night against Texas-Arlington. Baylor's 14 3-pointers and 37 3-point attempts were both higher than last season's single-game highs in those categories. The Bears' high for 3-pointers made last season was 13, while their high for attempts was 32.
FRESHMEN SENSATIONAL
Three Baylor freshmen combined for 35 points in the Bears' 88-64 victory Wednesday over Texas-Arlington. F Lawrence Roberts had 15 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three blocks and two assists, posting his second straight double-double. G John Lucas added 12 points and eight assists, and G Kenny Taylor came off the bench for eight points. In Baylor's first two games, that trio has combined for 43.1 percent of the Bears' points.
EARLY SEASON NOTES OF INTEREST
G/F Chad Elsey is up to his usual early-season tricks, averaging 19.5 points an 7.0 rebounds per game. Last season, Elsey scored at least 10 points in each of his first four games, five of his first six and five of his first seven. ... F Lawrence Roberts is averaging a double-double through the first two games with 17.0 ppg and 13.5 rpg. ... Nine Bears are averaging more than 15 minutes per game.
BEARS' HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE
The Bears are a perfect 2-0 at home in the Ferrell Center this season. Baylor recorded a 14-3 record at home in 2000-2001. Since Dave Bliss took over the reigns of Baylor's basketball program, the Bears have compiled a 24-10 record (.706) at home.
PLENTY OF NEW BRUINS
The 2001-2002 Baylor roster includes four new players: three true freshmen (John Lucas, Lawrence Roberts and Kenny Taylor) and one junior college transfer (Rod Nealy). Also seeing their first game action in the Green and Gold this season are former transfers R.T. Guinn and Kevin Henry. The pair, both former New Mexico players, sat out last season at Baylor to gain eligibility.
TRANSFERS FIND HOME AT BAYLOR
The 2001-2002 Bear squad boasts four players who transferred to Baylor from Division I schools, and a fifth who previously played at a DI institution. A sixth transferred from a DIII school. The players are:
Player Prev. School Status Greg Davis New Mexico Senior forward Chad Elsey SMU Senior guard R.T. Guinn New Mexico Sophomore center Kevin Henry New Mexico Senior guard Rod Nealy * Ark.-Little Rock Junior forward Andre White Hardin-Simmons Junior guard
* Nealy played as a freshman (1999-2000) at Arkansas-Little Rock before transferring to McLennan Community College.
FERRELL CENTER'S 14th YEAR
The Bears are in their 14th season in the beautiful Ferrell Center. Including this season's 2-0 mark, the Bears own a 118-80 all-time record in the arena, which opened in November 1988. The Ferrell Center is a golden-domed structure that seats 10,284 for basketball games.
NATION'S LONGEST-STANDING COACHING DUO
Baylor boasts Division I basketball's longest-tenured current coaching tandem. Bear assistant coach Doug Ash has been Dave Bliss' top aide for all 27 years Bliss has been a collegiate head coach. The Bliss and Ash duo began at Indiana University in the early 1970s when both were assistants under Bobby Knight. When Bliss became head coach at Oklahoma in 1975, he took Ash with him. The pair has been together ever since, at SMU, New Mexico and Baylor.
THE LOBO TRANSFERS
As has been well documented, the Baylor roster includes three former players from the University of New Mexico, where Dave Bliss and his staff previously coached. The players, senior Greg Davis, sophomore R.T. Guinn and senior Kevin Henry, were all recruited by Bliss' UNM staff. Guinn (who was recruited by-but never played for-Bliss at UNM) and Henry sat out last year due to NCAA transfer policy. All three players were starters at New Mexico.
GOBAYLORBEARS.COM
Baylor's official athletic web site can be found at www.GoBaylorBears.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases, photos, biographical sketches and audio broadcasts, is part of the FANSonly Network. FANSonly currently hosts sites for more than 100 schools, including eight institutions of the Big 12 Conference.
BIG-12 PRESEASON PROJECTIONS
Baylor's 2001-2002 edition has been projected in preseason polls to finish anywhere from seventh to 10th in the Big 12 Conference. The league's coaches picked the Bears to finish ninth in preseason balloting, and the conference media projected Baylor eighth. The highest projected finish for Baylor was seventh, by Lindys magazine.
OVER THE AIR
Bear basketball games can be heard live on the Baylor Radio Network. The flagship station is KRZI-AM (1660/1580) in Waco. Selected Baylor games will be broadcast on Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate WBAP News/Talk 820, which covers 80 percent of the nation during night games. All Baylor games are broadcast by the "Voice of the Bears" John Morris. Morris is a veteran broadcaster in his seventh season behind the mic at Baylor. Former Baylor basketball standout Pat Nunley is in his 20th season as color analyst for Bear broadcasts.
BAYLOR GAMES ON THE NET
The radio broadcast from all Baylor basketball games can be heard live on the internet on Baylor's official online website, www.GoBaylorBears.com, or at www.yahoo.broadcast.com.
INSIDE BAYLOR SPORTS TV SHOW
Inside Baylor Sports, a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, airs weekly throughout Central Texas and other regional outlets. The program, co-hosted by John Morris and Lori Scott-Fogleman, airs on KCEN-TV Channel 6, Fox Sports Southwest and the College Channel (Waco cable channel 18). KCEN carries the show at 10:30 p.m. Sundays, and it airs at 1 p.m. Wednesdays on Fox Sports Net Southwest.
NATION'S 4th-HIGHEST ATTENDANCE INCREASE
Baylor experienced a 2,131 increase in average home attendance from 1999-2000 to last season (3,247 to 5,378), the fourth-largest such increase in the nation during that span.
BEARS ADD 3 EARLY SIGNEES
Baylor has signed three early signees, all from the state of Texas, to national letters of intent during the early signing period: Ellis Kidd Jr., a guard from Seminole (Okla.) State College, Tommy Swanson, a forward from North Crowley (Texas) High School, and Terrance Thomas, a forward from Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas.
Kidd, a 6-4, 185-pound guard, is in his first season at Seminole State after transferring from Oklahoma State. He redshirted the 2000-2001 season at OSU after playing only 10 minutes in two early games and will have three seasons of eligibility at Baylor. A former Dallas Morning News all-area selection at James Madison High School in Dallas, Kidd was named a USA Today honorable mention all-American as a senior in 2000.
Swanson, a 6-9, 215-pound forward, played only seven games as a junior last season at North Crowley following a head injury. He averaged 14 points and nine rebounds before a hairline fracture to his skull sidelined him for the season. Texas Hoops rated Swanson the state's No. 24 player prior to his senior season. He is listed among the nation's top 300 prep seniors by Athon Sports and was named an honorable mention all-American by Street & Smith's College Basketball.
Thomas, a 6-7, 220-pound forward, was highly recruited after being named to the All-Region XIV team as a freshman last season at Lon Morris. Thomas averaged 19.3 points and 12 rebounds last season, and is rated No. 4 among junior college small forwards by The Sporting News in its preseason preview. He is also listed as the 22nd-best junior college recruit by Mike Mitchell's Midwest Report and is rated the No. 27 juco player nationally by Greg Swaim's scouting service. A native of Waco, Thomas attended Maceo Smith High School in Dallas. He averaged 23 points and 14 rebounds as a senior in 2000 and was named a USA Today honorable mention all-American.
BAYLOR EARLY SIGNEESName Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown (High School)Ellis Kidd Jr. G 6-4 185 So. Dallas, Texas (Madison HS/OSU/Seminole St.)Tommy Swanson F 6-9 215 Fr. Fort Worth, Texas (North Crowley HS)Terrance Thomas F 6-7 220 Jr. Dallas, Texas (Maceo Smith HS/Lon Morris)
