Texas men’s basketball faces No. 6 Baylor

By Riley Zayas

For Texas men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart the new year brings with it a whole lot of “new.” At the top of that list is the new segment of the season, Big 12 play, set to start Saturday against the Big 12-leading Baylor Bears.

“It’s a new year, it’s a new conference season, it’s a new segment of our season,” Smart said Thursday.

The Longhorns (10-2) will travel up to Waco to face No, 6-ranked Baylor in front of a nationally televised audience at 7 p.m. Saturday evening in a game that very well could be[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] a major résumé booster in March when the NCAA tournament rolls around.

“We open up playing against one of the best teams in the country in Baylor,” Smart said. “They’re playing really really well, and have won a ton of games in a row. It’s exciting for us.”

Baylor is ranked No. 6, ahead of other teams like Louisville and Villanova, for good reason. Baylor has a record of 10-1, and the Bears have had little trouble in the majority of their non-conference games. The only blemish came at the hands of the Washington Huskies, a 67-64 loss in Anchorage, Alaska. That early loss proved to be the motivation for the Bears’ current winning streak, which now stands at nine games and includes victories over No. 10 Villanova, Butler and Arizona. Interestingly, each of those games was decided by 10 or fewer points, which shows Baylor’s ability to edge out the win in close contests.

The Bears’ unquestioned leaders on offense have been guards Jared Butler and MaCio Teague, each of whom averages double figures in scoring, Butler with 17.6 points per game and Teague with 14.6. If the Longhorns get into a situation in which they have to foul, Butler and Teague are not the guys they want to send to the line. Each has been nearly perfect from the free-throw line: Butler has hit 91 percent from the line, while Teague has converted 81 percent of his shots from the line.

While their offense has been important, it has been their play on defense that has helped the Bears achieve such a high national ranking. Baylor is second in the Big 12 in scoring defense, allowing an average of just 60.3 points per game. This is one of the biggest reasons why they’ve been able to prevail in close contests, such as the 53-52 win over Butler.

There also is a bit of history involved in this matchup. The Longhorns and Bears met 93 years ago, Jan. 22, 1927, these same two teams were preparing to face off on the court in Austin. While en route to the game, the Bears’ bus was rammed by a train going full speed, killing 10 members of the team, who became known as the Immortal Ten. The tragedy left a lasting impact that still remains today. Just a few years ago, the overpass that was constructed in Round Rock, the site of the disaster, was renamed the Immortal Ten Bridge and serves as a memorial for those players who lost their lives back in 1927.

The Longhorns will be the underdog Saturday, but an upset is not out of the question.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and on the radio on 104.9.
[/s2If] [s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] [habeabk] [/s2If]