BAYLOR (0-4, 0-4) vs. No. 22 OKLAHOMA (11-4, 2-2)
Jan. 25, 2006 - Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas) - 7:00 p.m. CST

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RADIO: Baylor-ISP Sports Radio Network (ESPN/KRZI 1660AM Waco)
INTERNET AUDIO: live broadcast at BaylorBears.com
TELEVISION: Sooner Sports Network (Time Warner Cable ch. 15 in Waco)
INTERNET VIDEO: live video stream at BaylorBears.com
LIVE STATS:

THE GAME
Baylor plays the fifth game in its abbreviated season when it hosts No. 22 Oklahoma Wednesday, Jan. 25, at the Ferrell Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CST and the game will be televised live regionally in Oklahoma and Waco via the Sooner Sports Network (Time Warner Cable channel 15 Waco/Temple/Bryan). Baylor (0-4, 0-4) has played just four games after an NCAA ban removed all non-conference games. The result is that the youthful Bears, playing four freshmen among its eight-man rotation, have suffered defeats at the hands of league teams in mid-season form. Baylor has lost 18 straight games dating back to last season. The 22nd-ranked Sooners (11-4, 2-2) have won five of their last seven games (the two losses coming by three combined points) and have beaten the Bears in 22 straight games. Baylor is celebrating its 100th season of basketball in 2005-06.

BAYLOR TIP-INS
- BU's schedule is ranked the 2nd-toughest nationally (by CBSSportsLine.com's RPI).
- Baylor's freshmen account for 54% of the team's scoring, 58% of rebounds, 63% of assists and 54% of minutes played.
- Mamadou Diene ranks second in the Big 12 in offensive rebounds (4.0 orpg) and 4th in blocks per game (1.75 bpg).
- Baylor has lost 22 straight games to Oklahoma dating back to 1977.
- BU has lost 18 straight games vs. ranked teams since a win over #13 OSU in 2003.
- BU's 4 freshmen are outproducing the Bears' 4 returning starters in scoring (27.8-16.3 average points) and rebounding (17.8-9.0 average boards).
- Baylor's bench has accounted for 44% of it scoring (90 of 204 points).
- Aaron Bruce, who has been held scoreless in the first half of each of the last 3 games, is coming off a career-low 2-point scoring output vs. Texas.
- Aaron Bruce ranks 5th in the Big 12 in 3-pointers per game (2.25) and 9th in 3-point percentage (32.1%).
- Baylor has lost 18 straight games (dating to last season), its longest losing streak since a school-record 23-game skid spanning 1943-44 & 1944-45 seasons.
- For the 3rd straight season BU is playing without its full allotment of scholarships (12 available, 10 filled).
- Underclassmen have led BU in scoring in 29 of its last 32 games (dating to last year) [in 20 of last 32 a freshman has been top scorer].
- Baylor's roster includes 6 freshmen, more than any other Big 12 team.
- Aaron Bruce's 3-pointer streak was snapped at 28 straight games vs.
Texas (2nd-longest streak in school history - Tevis Stukes hit a 3 in all 29 games of 1999-2000).
- BU is 1-31 when allowing opponents to shoot 50% or higher (in 3 years under Drew).
- Over the past five seasons Baylor is 51-3 when totaling an equal or higher shooting percentage than its opponent (8-0 last season).
- Baylor teams have made at least one 3-point basket in 410 straight games.
- Baylor will play a minimum of 17 games this season. The last time BU played fewer than 21 games was 1944-45 (0-17).

HEAD COACH Scott Drew
Scott Drew is in his third season of the massive rebuilding project he undertook at Baylor and owns a three-year mark of 17-44 and a career record of 37-55 (four seasons). Drew spent 10 seasons at Valparaiso, the last as head coach after nine seasons as an assistant to his father Homer. During his decade at Valpo, the Crusaders earned six NCAA Tournament berths, including five straight from 1996-2000. An outstanding recruiter, Drew is responsible for four national Top-20 recruiting classes over the last seven years (No. 17 in 2005 and No. 10 in 2004 at Baylor; No. 6 in 2001 and No. 13 in 1999 at Valpo). He was named the 1998-99 National Recruiter of the Year by Court Vision.

THE OKLAHOMA SOONERS
No. 22 Oklahoma (11-4, 2-2) is in its 12th season under the direction of Kelvin Sampson, who owns a 446-252 career record with stops at Montana Tech (1981-85) and Washington State (1985-94) prior to his days in Norman. Sampson has amassed a 270-104 ledger at Oklahoma, including nine 20-win campaigns.

OU NOTES: The Sooners have won five of their last seven contests, with the two losses by a combined three points... OU is 3-3 away from home this season... Oklahoma leads the Big 12 in rebounding margin at +12.7... The Sooners are led by senior F Taj Gray, who averages 14.7 points and 8.1 rebounds... The OU roster includes two Texans; junior G Michael Neal (10.5 ppg), who prepped at Mesquite Poteet High School and freshman G Austin Johnson (4.3 ppg) from Palo Duro High School in Amarillo.

THE OKLAHOMA SERIES
Baylor and Oklahoma will meet for the 33rd time Wednesday. The Sooners lead the all-time series 27-5 and have won 22 consecutive games dating back to the 1977-78 season. The Bears trail 12-2 in the series in games played in Waco, including the last 12 straight.

CRIPPLING SANCTIONS & INEXPERIENCED ROSTER
Baylor's basketball program has been hamstrung by a crippling combination of no non-conference games and heavy inexperience. Due to NCAA sanctions Baylor has been set back by having to play teams in mid-season form (what Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight termed a "tremendous handicap"). At the same time, the Bears are having to do so with a roster loaded with freshmen lacking collegiate experience (BU's top four freshmen play an average of 26.9 minutes between them).

BAYLOR LED BY ITS FRESHMAN QUARTET
Four of Baylor's six freshmen (Mamadou Diene, Henry Dugat, Curtis Jerrells, and Kevin Rogers) are playing significant minutes and have made an immediate impact on this year's team. Through four games, the freshmen have combined for 54 percent of the team's points, 58 percent of the rebounds, 63 percent of the assists and 54 percent of the minutes played.

HALF A SEASON
Due to unprecedented NCAA sanctions brought on by the previous coaching staff, Baylor did not play any regular-season non-conference games this season. Baylor will play a minimum of 17 games this season (16-game Big 12 schedule plus at least one game in Big 12 Championship). The last time the Bears played fewer than 21 games in a season was 1944-45, when Baylor finished 0-17. [NOTE: Baylor is eligible for postseason play]

BAPTISM BY FIRE FOR BAYLOR'S CUBS
Rarely have collegiate freshmen been thrust into NCAA Division I play as emphatically as Baylor's cubs. The Bears rookies, without the benefit of exhibition contests or non-conference games, jumped right from the high school ranks into Big 12 play. Additionally, the freshmen are playing substantial minutes against experienced opponents in mid-season form.

NATION'S SECOND-TOUGHEST SCHEDULE
Baylor's lack of non-conference games has left a schedule filled solely with Big 12 opponents. The result is an extremely high schedule difficulty, and the nation's second-toughest schedule strength (CBSSportsLine.com RPI), behind only Duke.

BAYLOR VETS NOT CARRYING THE LOAD
Baylor's four returning starters haven't carried the team as much as most Bears fans might have expected heading into the season. The quartet (sophomores Aaron Bruce and Richard Hurd, junior Tim Bush and senior Tommy Swanson) is averaging just 16.3 points and 9.0 rebounds per game combined; in comparison Baylor's four freshmen are averaging 27.8 points and 17.8 rebounds combined.

BRUCE TRYING TO AVOID SOPHOMORE SLUMP
The Bears leading scorer, second-year guard Aaron Bruce, has experienced a drop in production from his sensational rookie year in which he led the nation's freshmen in scoring (18.2 ppg) and earned All-Big 12 and Freshman All-American accolades. Bruce, who is coming off a career-low two-point outing vs. Texas Saturday, is averaging 10.5 points through four games season. He has been held scoreless in the first half in each of the last three games. Bruce is ninth in the Big 12 in 3-point percentage (32.1%) and fifth in 3-pointers made (2.25 3pg).

BAYLOR'S THREE TRUE FRESHMEN REMINISCENT OF `01-02 TRIO
Baylor's three true freshmen - Henry Dugat, Curtis Jerrells and Kevin Rogers - have made an immediate impact this season; an impact that is reminiscent of another trio of Bear cubs that made a big splash in 2001-02. This year's freshmen are putting up numbers comparable to the previous trio of John Lucas III, Lawrence Roberts and Kenny Taylor. [Lucas and Roberts were eventual All-Americans and both played in the NBA].

BAYLOR TRUE FRESHMEN            MPG PPG RPG APG'05-06 True Freshman (Dugat, Jerrells & Rogers) 78.4    22.9    10.9    5.5'01-02 True Freshman (Lucas, Roberts & Taylor)  69.3    33.7    11.4    5.5

EMERGENCE OF "THE MAYOR"
Mamadou Diene, a seven-foot redshirt freshman from Senegal, has made his presence felt early in his young career. Diene, referred to as "The Mayor" by the Baylor coaching staff due to his huge popularity across campus, has averaged 5.0 points, 7.0 rebounds (10th in the Big 12) and 1.8 blocks (fourth in the league) per game in his first four games played. Diene ranks second in the Big 12 in offensive rebounds, averaging 4.0 per game. Last game Diene held Texas' LaMarcus Aldridge to 2 points in 27 minutes. The 18-year-old Diene has gained more than 40 pounds since his arrival in the United States in Jan. 2005 weighing 197 pounds.

BAYLOR'S THIRD HANDICAPPED SEASON
For the third straight year, Baylor enters the season without its full allotment of scholarships. The Bears have 12 available scholarships (only 10 filled). During head coach Scott Drew's first two seasons, Baylor dressed seven or fewer scholarship players in every game.

WINLESS STREAK
The Bears have lost 18 straight games dating back to the 2004-05 season, the school's longest losing streak since a school-record losing skid of 23 games spanning the last six games of 1943-44 and the entire 17-game schedule in 1944-45 (interestingly, that streak was followed by a 25-5 season in 1945-46 in which Baylor won the Southwest Conference and qualified for the NCAA Tournament under new head coach Bill Henderson).

BEARS vs. NATIONALLY RANKED FOES
Wednesday's matchup vs. No. 22 Oklahoma is Baylor's second game against a ranked opponent this season (0-1). The Bears are 2-31 over the last five seasons vs. ranked teams and have lost 18 straight since knocking off No. 13 Oklahoma State 74-72 in Stillwater on Feb. 15, 2003.

THE LAST MEETING: No. 22 OKLAHOMA 103 - BAYLOR 60 [Feb. 26, 2005]
Shorthanded Baylor ran into a buzz saw in Norman as No. 22 Oklahoma shot a school-record 66.1 percent from the floor en route to a 103-60 win over the Bears at the Lloyd Noble Center. The Bears were limited, down to just five active scholarship players with Tommy Swanson out with injury and leading scorer Aaron Bruce playing sick. Baylor lost its 11th straight game and suffered its most lopsided defeat since a 91-42 loss at Oklahoma on Feb. 8, 2003. The Sooners extended a 16-point halftime lead by hitting their first seven shots of the second half. Up 48-33 a minute and a half into the second OU went on a 26-3 run that ended any chance of a comeback by Baylor. The Bears, who last beat Oklahoma on Dec. 6, 1977, were outrebounded 16-4 in the first half and trailed 44-28 at the break. Oklahoma hit its first 10 shots of the game and took a 28-10 lead on Terrell Everett's layup after Taj Gray stole a Baylor inbounds pass.

LAST TIME OUT: No 5 TEXAS 66 - BAYLOR 47
Improved play from Baylor's freshmen and 20 points from Patrick Fields was buried under nine 3-pointers by Texas' Daniel Gibson as Baylor lost 66-47 to the fifth-ranked Longhorns at the Ferrell Center. Down 45-24 with 15 minutes to play, an Aaron Bruce layup sparked a 15-0 Baylor run. Fields' 3-pointer at the 9:43 mark pulled the Bears to within 45-38. Gibson answered with another 3-pointer and the Longhorns never looked back. Fields led Baylor with 20 points on five 3-pointers, two of them in Baylor's scoring spurt that did plenty to make UT coach Rick Barnes uncomfortable on the bench. But Gibson then hit four 3-pointers in 12-1 spurt. Gibson finished with a career-high 37 points but Texas' leading scorers, LeMarcus Aldridge and P.J. Tucker -- both averaging almost 18 points a game -- were each held to a single field goal. Up 35-22 at the break, Texas opened the second half with a 10-2 run. Bruce, the nation's top-scoring freshman last season, had a career-low 2 points on 1-of-7 field goals and missed all five of his 3-pointers. He had three fouls and missed his only two shots before halftime. The Longhorns lead 147-75 in the overall series, the longest for both schools that are this season celebrating 100 years of basketball. Baylor was playing just its fourth game after being banned from non-conference games because of NCAA violations under its previous coaching staff.

VERY YOUNG CUBS
Baylor has six freshmen on its roster (5 true, 1 redshirt), the school's highest such total in 28 years (7 frosh on '78-79 squad) and the most of any Big 12 team. BU's roster boasts two seniors, two juniors, three sophomores and six freshmen.

BEARS REACH NEW HEIGHTS... LITERALLY
Unlike last season when Baylor's roster had a noticeable lack of height - with only two players taller than 6-6 (one a walk-on) - the 2005-2006 roster boasts five such players: Kevin Rogers (6-9), Mark Shepherd (6-9), Tommy Swanson (6-10), Jari Vanttaja (6-10) and Mamadou Diene (7-0).

PRESEASON HONORS
Aaron Bruce is rated the eighth-best point guard nationally by CBSSportsline.com and No. 12 in Lindy's preseason publication and is also honored with the league's "Best Instincts" by Street & Smith's magazine. The sophomore was also projected an All-Big 12 honoree by Lindy's and Athlon. Baylor freshman Kevin Rogers was named the Big 12's "No. 1 Signing Coup" by Lindy's and Rivals, as well as being tabbed a "Top 100 College Freshman by Street & Smith's.

SWANSON'S SENIOR EXPERIENCE A RARITY
Fourth-year senior Tommy Swanson entered the season as not only the most experienced member of the Bear squad - he's also a rare veteran in BU's recent basketball history. Swanson was just the second BU player in the last six years to enter his senior season with more than 60 career games played as a Bear (73 prior to season); former teammate Matt Sayman had 89 entering senior year.

INTERNATIONAL ROSTER
Baylor's 13-man 2005-2006 roster boasts 10 Americans and three players from overseas. The three, all signed by Scott Drew in the last two years, include sophomore Aaron Bruce (native of Australia), redshirt freshman Mamadou Diene (native of Senegal) and freshman Jari Vanttaja (native of Finland).

DEPARTED PLAYERS
Baylor lost four lettermen from it's 2004-05 roster: three walk-on guards (freshman Hall Henderson, sophomore Turner Phipps and senior Ryan Pryor) and sophomore guard Roscoe Biggers.

PLENTY OF NEWCOMERS
Baylor's 2005-2006 roster lists five newcomers and a redshirt who has yet to dress for a game. The six rookies include five true freshmen [Henry Dugat, Curtis Jerrells, Kevin Rogers, Carl Sims and Jari Vanttaja] and one redshirt freshman [Mamadou Diene].

RECRUITING CLASS RATED 11th NATIONALLY
Baylor's 2005 signee class was rated the nation's 11th-best class by Rivals and No. 17 according to HoopScoop. The class includes three national Top-100 freshmen and a top international signee. The signees include four prep seniors, Henry Dugat of Dayton (Texas) High School, Curtis Jerrells of Del Valle High School in Austin, Texas and Kevin Rogers of South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas; as well as Jari Vanttaja of Oulu, Finland.

100th SEASON OF BASKETBALL
The 2005-2006 season marks the 100th season of collegiate basketball at Baylor. Baylor's Centennial, which is presented by H-E-B, will be celebrated by a season-long series of events, culminating with a basketball lettermen reunion the weekend of Feb. 24-25. The highlight of the weekend's events will be the announcing and honoring of the 15-man Baylor All-Centennial Team during the Bears home game vs. Iowa State Saturday, Feb. 25. Baylor basketball officially began in 1906-07 with a seven-man squad that won its first two games and finished 5-6. The Bears' storied history includes Final Four appearances in 1948 and 1950, a national runner-up finish in 1948, five conference championships as well as the heroic tragedy of the 1927 Immortal Ten team.

ALL-CENTENNIAL TEAM
Baylor's season-long series of Centennial events is highlighted by the selection of an All-Centennial Team. The team, selected by a combined fan vote and expert panel, will represent the 15 greatest players in Baylor basketball history. Baylor fans can vote online at www.BaylorBears.com and at Central Texas H-E-B stores. Additionally, ballots will be published in the Waco Tribune-Herald and available at Ferrell Center voting booths during Baylor's men's games. Voting will conclude Feb. 1 and the team will be unveiled and honored during the Bears home game vs. Iowa State Saturday, Feb. 25.

BIG 12 10th ANNIVERSARY VOTING NOW OPEN
The Big 12 is celebrating its 10th anniversary this season and is selecting special teams to honor the top players in the first nine years of the conference. Followers of the Big 12 can vote for the top five men's basketball players in league annals by visiting the conference web site at www.big12sports.com/10th-anniversary/. Winners will be announced live on the ESPN Plus Studio 66 halftime show in early February.

BAYLOR'S EARLY SIGNING CLASS RATED 21st NATIONALLY
Baylor's two-man early signing class was rated 21st nationally by Rivals.com, the second-highest national ranking for a class of two or fewer players. The signees include two consensus Top 100 recruits, guard Demond "Tweety" Carter and center Josh Lomers. Carter, a 5-10 point guard for Reserve Christian from LaPlace, La., is one of the most prolific scorers in high school basketball history. His national rankings include No. 45 HoopScoop, No. 47 CSTV.com, No. 61 Rivals.com, No. 82 Hoopmasters and No. 87 Scout.com. Carter is rated a Top-10 point guard recruit nationally by both Rivals.com and Hoopmasters. Carter, whose nickname is "Tweety," has scored more than 6,000 career points and been a varsity starter since the seventh grade. He is a four-time all-state selection and has led Reserve Christian to three state championships, including the school's first-ever title in 2002 as an eighth grader when he was honored as the tournament MVP. Lomers is rated the No. 6 center nationally by Rivals.com. Overall he is rated nationally by CSTV.com (No. 39), Rivals.com (No. 43), Hoopmasters (No. 64), and Scout.com (No. 88). Lomers is also the third-rated recruit in Texas according to Rivals.com. A 7-foot, 1-inch center, Lomers plays for Boerne (Texas) High School and was named to the 2005 TABC 4A All-State team as a junior last season after averaging 22 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7 blocks per game at Boerne.

BAYLOR EARLY SIGNEES:Name        Pos.    Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown (Schools)Demond "Tweety" Carter  G   5-10    170 Fr. LaPlace, La. (Reserve Christian School)Josh Lomers C   7-1 250 Fr. Boerne, Texas (Boerne HS)

FERRELL CENTER'S 18th YEAR
The Bears are in their 18th season in the beautiful Ferrell Center this year. Baylor is 0-2 at home in 2005-06 and owns a 150-111 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.

NEXT UP...
Baylor travels down Highway 6 for the first of its two annual Battle of the Brazos matchups against Texas A&M Saturday, Jan. 28, in College Station. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. CST at Reed Arena. The game will be telecast live on FSN Southwest.