Box I just pulled this up from the BU website.
Bears take 1st road trip under Drew
After the tragic events of the summer, Baylor coach Scott Drew is glad that he got to play the first five games at the Ferrell Center.
Taking over a basketball program is hard enough, but it was especially difficult following the death of Baylor forward Patrick Dennehy, probation and the transfers of Lawrence Roberts, John Lucas and Kenny Taylor this summer.
The Bears needed time to pull things together without the distractions of the road. Baylor will hit the road for the first time this season against North Texas tonight at 7 at the Super Pit in Denton.
"We'd prefer to play them all at home," Drew said. "But now that we're going on the road we know we've got to be mentally tough and be ready to perform. We'll have to go out there and win it because no one's going to give it to you on the road."
Throughout this season, the Baylor players might have to deal with insults from road crowds following the events of the summer. Former Baylor player Carlton Dotson is currently in the McLennan County Jail awaiting trial after being charged with the murder of Dennehy.
"If you're out there competing, you shouldn't be worrying about what the crowd is saying," Drew said. "All you can do is put your faith in people and hope they'll be fair and use good judgment."
North Texas (2-2) could give Baylor problems because of its depth. The Mean Green uses 10 players who average double-figure minutes per game. The Bears will only have seven scholarship players since forward Harvey Thomas hasn't been cleared to play.
After losing consecutive games at Lamar and Southern, North Texas pounded Division III Hardin-Simmons, 109-49, Saturday night at the Super Pit.
"Playing so many guys isn't necessarily by design," said North Texas coach Johnny Jones. "A lot of them just haven't separated themselves yet. I think we're making progress, but we're still trying to find the right combinations."
The Mean Green's leading scorer is former McGregor High School star Michael DeGrate, who is averaging 12.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. DeGrate, a 6-8 senior forward, began his college career at Baylor in 2000 before transferring to McLennan Community College as a sophomore.
"Michael has been good for this program on and off the court," Jones said. "He's really a good senior leader for this team. He's a great athlete who can really run and shoot."
The Bears improved to 3-2 with Saturday's 97-72 win over Division II Midwestern State. The most encouraging sign for Baylor was the emergence of 6-10 center R.T. Guinn, who scored a season-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
"R.T. can be such an asset to this team because he's hard to match up against," said Baylor point guard Matt Sayman. "He's not your traditional center because he can shoot the three as well as post up inside."
The Bears shot a season-high 55.2 percent against Midwestern State, but continued their high turnover trend with 21.
"Any time you shoot such a high percentage, you're doing some things well," Drew said. "I'm pleased with our effort, but we need to improve our execution.
GL box
