Kansas St.-Baylor Preview

2/22/2008 4:34 PM

By JEFF MEZYDLO
STATS Senior Writer

Kansas State missed a chance at being part of a group tied atop the Big 12 standings its last time out.

The 24th-ranked Wildcats look to avoid slipping further back of the conference lead when they face a tough road test against struggling Baylor on Saturday night.

Kansas State (18-7, 8-3) lost for the second time in three games Wednesday, 71-64 at Nebraska. With conference co-leaders Kansas and Texas idle that night, the Wildcats failed to move into a three-way tie for first place in the Big 12. Instead, they are one game back of the fourth-ranked Jayhawks and the No. 7 Longhorns.

Winning at Baylor won't be easy for Kansas State, even with the Bears (17-8, 5-6) entering this contest on a season-high four-game skid. Baylor is 10-3 in Waco with the losses coming to then-No. 6 Washington State, Oklahoma and then-No. 11 Texas by a combined 14 points.

Kansas State, which is 2-4 all-time at Baylor, has dropped its last three Big 12 road games, allowing 77.3 points during the skid - 10.2 more than it gives up on average this season. The Wildcats are also scoring nine points fewer than their 80.1 season average in their last three contests.

On Wednesday, they allowed Nebraska to shoot 51.9 percent and hold the rebound advantage.

"It was the most embarrassing defensive performance of any team I've coached in 23 years, and I've coached 13 year olds," first-year Kansas State coach Frank Martin said. "I saw them shooting uncontested layup after uncontested layup after uncontested layup. And when they chose to miss one, they got the offensive rebound. They caught us, they punched us in the mouth and we ran away."

Freshman Michael Beasley, a candidate for national player of the year who averages 25.4 points and 12.5 rebounds, needed to work hard for his 17 points and 10 rebounds Wednesday. It marked the third straight road game he was held below his scoring average.

"Obviously, he's a key to their team, and when you take the key to the team out and make him frustrated and uncomfortable, it rattles the rest of the team," Nebraska forward Aleks Maric said.

The Wildcats committed 14 turnovers and struggled to even get Beasley the ball at times Wednesday. They'll look to remedy that if their star faces a variety of defensive sets again Saturday.

Without Beasley, Kansas State won 69-60 at home over Baylor on Jan. 17, 2007 in the teams' most recent contest.

The Wildcats could be catching the Bears at the right time.

Baylor lost 92-91 in overtime at Oklahoma on Tuesday when the Sooners' Tony Crocker converted a four-point play with 7.3 seconds left in the extra session.

It was the Bears sixth loss in seven games since starting 4-0 in the Big 12 and being ranked 25th in the nation.

"Any loss is difficult but this one, we knew it would mean a lot to us," said junior Curtis Jerrells, who had 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting. "It would have been nice if we'd have came up with the win."

Jerrells, who averages a team-leading 15.4 points per game, bounced back after scoring 24 combined in his previous two contests. He is averaging just 11.0 in two career games versus Kansas State.

Baylor is 1-4 against ranked opponents this season, beating then-No. 18 Texas A&M 116-110 in five overtimes on Jan. 23.