Baylor and TCU square off in Big 12 fracas

Jan 10, 2015 - 3:42 PM Fort Worth, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of Big 12 Conference teams from the state of Texas get together on Saturday afternoon, as the 21st-ranked Baylor Bears come calling on the TCU Horned Frogs.

Both teams have logged double-digit wins to this point in the campaign, with Baylor coming in at 11-3 and TCU 13-2. However, neither has put a tally in the win column against a fellow Big 12 squad, with each losing its first two conference bouts.

Baylor took on a pair of ranked foes in Oklahoma (73-63) and Kansas (56-55) to open its league ledger, with the former putting an end to the Bears' six-game win streak. BU is 2-1 in true road games this season, 3-2 outside of Waco all told when you factor in its 1-1 mark in neutral-site affairs.

TCU had opened the season with 13 consecutive victories, but has come back to reality after dropping decisions to both West Virginia (78-67) and Kansas State (58-53) since the start of the new year. The loss to WVU was the Horned Frogs' first in 11 home games this season.

Baylor owns a 92-81 lead in the all-time series with TCU, and the Bears won all three meetings last season. The last time the Horned Frogs defeated Baylor was back in 2002 (72-64).

Kenny Chery poured in a game-high 25 points, but he was pretty much it in terms of offensive producers for Baylor, which came up a point shy in its recent clash with Kansas. Chery drained four 3-pointers in the game, helping the Bears go 8-of-15 from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, they shot just 34 percent from the field overall. BU did outscore KU at the foul line, 11-3, and outrebounded the visitors, 36-28, but couldn't make an outstanding defensive effort in the first half stand up, as the Jayhawks responded to a dreadful 27.6 percent shooting performance over the initial 20 minutes by hitting an eye-popping 72.7 percent after the break.

Baylor is scoring just 68.9 ppg, doing so on the strength of its 38.2 percent effort from beyond the arc. The team has only two double-digit scorers in Taurean Prince (11.7 ppg) and Johnathan Motley (10.2 ppg), although three others net between 9.6 and 9.9 ppg. Where the team really earns its merit is at the defensive end, as foes are generating only 56.1 ppg, and the Bears own a sizable edge on the glass (+10.4), with Rico Gathers leading the way with 10.9 rpg.

Trey Zeigler was the only player for TCU to reach double figures in the team's recent loss to Kansas State, as he knocked down 7-of-14 field goal attempts and 5-of-6 free throws to finish with 19 points. The Horned Frogs missed all but one of their nine 3-point tries, and went just 14-of-24 at the charity stripe. K-State went 22-of-29 at the line, but shot just 38.1 percent from the floor. A 33-27 rebounding advantage helped the Wildcats earn the narrow victory.

TCU doesn't have any bona fide superstars, instead relying on a balanced attack to do its damage at the offensive end. Kyan Anderson is the only double-digit scorer for the Frogs, as he nets 13.4 ppg to go with his team- high 4.1 apg. TCU puts up 73.2 ppg, but it too plays very stingy defense in permitting only 55.2 ppg. Opponents are hitting just 34.9 percent of their field goal attempts, while being outrebounded by 8.4 rpg. TCU has blocked nearly twice as many shots as has its enemies (94-48).