Game Primer: How to Watch, Key Players and Important Information for Kansas Jayhawks at Baylor Lady Bears

Here's everything you need to know before tonight's road game.

The Kansas Jayhawks got a big victory on Sunday to get back to .500 in the conference when they defeated the Kansas State Wildcats by a score of 85-72. And much like the men's team yesterday, up next is a chance for revenge against the team that gave them their first loss in conference play. What's different this time is that they need to travel on the road in order to do it.

The Baylor Bears have matched the Jayhawks since that game and are looking to string together a couple wins before hitting a brutal stretch in their schedule. To prepare for tonight's important matchup, here are the essentials:

The Numbers

Editor's Note: Unless otherwise noted, all stats are provided by CBB Analytics. CBB Analytics is a new stats website in college hoops, covering both men and women's basketball in D-I, D-II and D-III. You can follow them on Twitter @CBBAnalytics

Kansas: 14-5 (4-4 Big 12): CBB Analytics Net Rating - 45th overall, 74th offense, 42nd defense

Baylor: 14-6 (5-3 Big 12): Net Rating - 20th overall, 55th offense, 15th defense

Line: BAY -6.5

O/U: 133.5

How to Watch

Wednesday, February 1st, 7:00 p.m. CST

Waco, TX: Ferrell Center

TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+

- John Morris (Play-by-Play), Jim Haller (Analyst)

Radio: IMG Jayhawk Radio Network

- Steven Davis (Play-by-Play)

Webcast: Kansas Online Radio

Game Coverage

Follow along during the game for live updates on Twitter.

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Opponent Team Form

Since the last meeting between these two teams, the Bears have gone 2-3, with losses to Oklahoma State and Texas and at West Virginia. They have won big against Kansas State and Texas Tech. 

A lot has changed for the Bears since the last time we previewed this team. In the five games since these two teams matched up, Baylor has seen dips in most of their main statistics. They have shot 38.3% overall and just 25.8% from three, bringing their totals down to 43.7% and 31.7%. The free throw percentage has come up, but only to 67.5%. And to further mitigate the impact, they are averaging 2 less free throw attempts per game in that stretch. They have slightly picked up the pace on their play, but not as much as the sport as whole has recently, meaning that they are even slower compared to the rest of the nation. And they have shifted their shots out from the paint and more to the perimeter, which hasn't helped as their percentages have tanked.

Their game averages have been down significantly in the last five, averaging just 66.6 points, 39.8 rebounds, 17.8 assists and 5.4 steals per game. Overall, they have struggled recently and could use a big bounceback game.

Players to Watch

Not much has changed since last time, as Sarah Andrews continues to be the unquestionable leader of the squad, She is the main scoring option and the team needs here to score effectively to have success. Dariana Littlepage-Buggs is still the leading rebounder, but Bella Fontleroy has come back to the rest of the team in terms of three-point percentage.

Jaden Owens still leads the team in assists and steals, and has been a huge defensive presence, while Caitlin Bickle has remained the steady post presence for the squad.

Matchups to Watch

The big story in the last game was how well Baylor was able to frustrate senior center Taiyanna Jackson and keep her from being effective. Ioanna Chatzileonti was ineffective in the last game, but she isn't expected to be available for this one. And that means that Nadira Eltayeb and Chandler Prater will need to step up and help shore up the post play. They have both been playing better inside of late and will be needed to shut down drive into the paint and work to stop Bickle.

And the recent success of the Jayhawks has depended heavily on Wyvette Mayberry, who has served as the primary ballhandler and leading scorer for the Jayhawks. Her play has done a lot to free up shots for both Holly Kersgieter, and Zakiyah Franklin, and getting them involved early will be important. 

Prediction

As much as the Bears have struggled recently, the Jayhawks have had similar issues against the upper level opponents. If you are looking for reasons to be optimistic, it is that Eltayeb has been much better in the last couple of games, and Jackson has somewhat figured out how to play against the completely different looks that opponents have been throwing at her.

But the big worry is that Mayberry has a tendency to get in foul trouble, and Kersgieter has been very streaky recently. It seems like if things get out of hand early, this team has a really hard time pushing their way back into the game, which is much different than what we saw repeatedly last season. I worry that they will get down early in this one and never recover, but will be able to keep it close.

Baylor 71, Kansas 66.

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