Kansas @ Baylor preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 11, 2020 ) Baylor 67, Kansas 55

The Big 12 boasts one national champion, three national runners-up and 10 Final Four teams in its 24-year history, but no program in the league has enjoyed a longer run of success in a single season than Baylor owns after its most recent victory. After making conference history earlier this week by extending their winning streak to 23 games, the top-ranked Bears look to take a huge step toward securing their first regular-season Big 12 crown Saturday when they host No. 3 Kansas.

Baylor maintained its one-game lead over Kansas in the conference race following Tuesday's 65-54 win at Oklahoma, breaking the tie it had with the 1996-97 Jayhawks for the longest winning streak in league history. "You don't have a lot of opportunities to make history, and that's what we had tonight. … When you've been in the league for 17 years, you can appreciate the history. For what these guys have been able to accomplish with all the great teams and great coaches, to be in the record books is special," coach Scott Drew said. Kansas is on an impressive run of its own, having won 11 in a row since suffering a 67-55 loss at home to Baylor on Jan. 11, but it needs a victory this weekend in order to keep the Bears from opening up a two-game lead with four games remaining. The Jayhawks topped their best offensive showing in league play this season - an 87-70 triumph over Oklahoma last Saturday - with Monday's 91-71 rout of Iowa State.

TIME: Noon ET. TV: ESPN

ABOUT KANSAS (23-3, 12-1 Big 12): Devon Dotson (league-high 18.4 points) became the fourth Jayhawk this season to bury at least six 3-pointers in a game Monday - part of a 11-for-14 effort from the field - en route to a 29-point performance, two shy of matching a career high. Marcus Garrett (9.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.9 steals) tallied only five points after erupting for a career-high 24 versus the Sooners, but he contributed eight rebounds, six assists and three steals; the junior guard is averaging 3.8 steals over his last five outings. Udoka Azubuike (12.8 points, Big 12-best 9.8 rebounds, 2.6 blocks) committed a career-high six turnovers in only 24 minutes against Iowa State, but he recorded a career-high seven blocks in last month's loss to Baylor.

ABOUT BAYLOR (24-1, 13-0): The Bears played a second consecutive game without second-leading scorer MaCio Teague (wrist) on Tuesday, and Jared Butler stepped up in his absence for the second straight time with five 3-pointers; Butler has topped 20 points in his last two games after failing to do so once in his previous nine. Baylor also got an unexpected boost from junior forward Tristan Clark, who provided six of his eight points during a 13-2 run in the second half that turned a one-point lead into a 12-point edge and effectively put the game away. "(In the) second half, he really got us some big rebounds, had some big baskets and really played good defense," Drew said of Clark, who was 4-of-6 from the floor.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Baylor's five-week run as the AP No. 1 team is tied for the nation's longest streak since Kentucky in 2015 and the longest by a team from the state of Texas since 1968.

2. The Jayhawks (84.0) and Bears (84.9) rank second and third, respectively, in the country in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.

3. Dotson was limited to 28 minutes in last month's meeting after suffering a hip pointer. His nine-point effort versus the Bears in that game is the only time he has failed to reach double figures this season.

PREDICTION: Baylor 67, Kansas 63