No. 6/7 Kansas to Host No. 16/13 Texas in Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2005
No. 6/7 Kansas returns home from a two-game road trip to face No. 16/13 Texas Saturday at 8 p.m. on ESPN2 in a battle of nationally ranked Big 12 foes. After its 86-66 win at Baylor Tuesday, KU is 5-0 in conference play and looking to go 6-0 for the first time since the 2001-02 Jayhawks became the first team in league history to go undefeated during the Big 12 regular season. Texas (15-4, 4-2) has won three of its last four games after its 80-73 victory against Texas Tech Tuesday. This contest is a battle of heavyweights. Texas has finished no lower than third in the Big 12 race in each of the last six seasons under head coach Rick Barnes. Included was the 1999 league title. Kansas has won four Big 12 championships including two in the last three years. KU has finished either first or second in seven of the eight Big 12 seasons.
ESPN in the House
Besides the normal ESPN2 HD broadcast, ESPN is making numerous other appearances in Lawrence for the game. It starts with ESPN2’s Cold Pizza on Friday, Jan. 28, from 7-9 a.m. Cane Peterson is the host and KU broadcaster Max Falkenstien, Coach Bill Self and senior Wayne Simien will be guests on the show from the floor of Allen Fieldhouse. ESPN Gameday will be making its second trip of the year in Lawrence and will do three shows on Saturday at 10 a.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, Digger Phelps and Andy Katz are hosts for the day-long show and Barry Sacks is the producer.
About Kansas
Kansas bounced back from its first defeat of the season with an 86-66 win at Baylor on Tuesday. The Jayhawks made a school-record 16 three-pointers in the game. Ranked in the top 10 all season, Kansas’ 86 points at Baylor were the most in 10 games for the Jayhawks dating back to December 11th’s 96 points scored versus Louisiana-Lafayette. Senior Wayne Simien paces KU with a 16.9 scoring and 11 rebounding per game averages. Simien is the only Big 12 player to average a double-double. Senior Keith Langford is next in scoring at 14.1 points per game followed by sophomore J.R. Giddens’ 10.5 scoring average. Senior Aaron Miles is scoring 8.6 points per game and leads the Big 12 in assists with a 7.1 average. Junior Christian Moody rounds out the starting five for KU, is averaging six points and 4.7 rebounds per game.
Kansas Head Coach Bill Self
Kansas coach Bill Self is 39-10 in his second season at KU and 246-115 in his 12th season overall. Last year, KU posted a 24-9 record and finished tied for second in the Big 12 race at 12-4. KU advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year, falling to Georgia Tech in overtime, 79-71. Self’s 24 victories tied Dick Harp for the most wins by a KU coach in his debut season at Kansas. Prior to KU, Self led Illinois to two Big Ten titles and three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Before Illinois, he guided Tulsa to two WAC championships in 1999 and 2000 and was The Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 2000. A four-time Naismith Coach of the Year Award finalist, Self began his coaching career at KU in 1985-86 and was an assistant at his alma mater – Oklahoma State – from 1986 until 1993. His first head coaching stint was at Oral Roberts where he guided the Golden Eagles to the NIT in 1996-97, their first postseason appearance since 1983-84. Self is 0-4 against Texas including 0-2 while head coach at KU.
About Texas
Texas (15-4, 4-2) also bounced back from a road loss with an 80-73 win against Texas Tech Tuesday. Like KU, the Longhorns have been ranked all season and enter the game No. 16 by the Associated Press and No. 13 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls. Texas is outscoring opponents by 14.5 points per game and outrebounding by 6.7 per contest. UT is led by freshman guard Daniel Gibson who is averaging 13.6 points per game. Gibson also paces the Longhorns in assists with a 4.3 average. Junior forward Brad Buckman (10.9 ppg), senior Kenny Taylor (10.5 ppg) and senior Jason Klotz (10.3 ppg) are also averaging double figures. Buckman leads the Longhorns in rebounding with a 6.9 average.
Texas Head Coach Rick Barnes
Texas head coach Rick Barnes is in his seventh season at UT where he has a 156-62 record. Overall Barnes is in his 18th season with a 358-196 mark. Barnes has twice been named Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2003. He guided UT to the 2003 Final Four which was the school’s first Final Four appearance since 1947. Barnes is 3-4 against Kansas.
Series History
Kansas leads the all-time series with Texas, 10-4… The last meeting saw the Longhorns defeat the Jayhawks, 64-60, on March 13, 2004, in semifinal round of the Big 12 Tournament at American Airlines Center in Dallas… UT is on a two-game winning streak against KU… Kansas is 6-0 versus the Longhorns in Lawrence, including a 4-0 mark at Allen Fieldhouse… KU coach Bill Self is 0-4 against UT, while Texas coach Rick Barnes is 3-4 versus the Jayhawks… Three of the last four meetings between KU and UT have been decided by seven points or less… Since 1997, Kansas is 30-4 (88.2 percent) in Big 12 regular season play against the league schools from the state of Texas – 8-1 vs. Baylor; 6-2 vs. Texas; 9-0 vs. Texas A&M; and 7-1 vs. Texas Tech. Counting the Big 12 Tournament, KU is 31-5 (86.1 percent) against the Lone Star Big 12 members… The Jayhawks lost the first-ever meeting with Texas, 36-34, on Dec. 16, 1938, in Austin.
Up Next
The Border Showdown continues as Missouri visits Allen Fieldhouse for an ESPN Big Monday contest Jan. 31. Tip is set for 6 p.m. Last season Kansas won all three meetings with Missouri and the Jayhawks have defeated the Tigers in eight of their last nine meetings and nine of the last 11 dating back to the 2000 season.
