By Gio Gennero | Sports Writer

No. 9 Baylor men’s basketball’s head coach Scott Drew will face his old friend, Jerome Tang, once again on Tuesday. Tang and the No. 14 Kansas State University Wildcats got the better of the Bears in Waco on Jan. 7, and Drew said he expects a challenge.

“[Tang’s] done a great job getting students out and they really have shown out, really support the team,” Drew said. “I think the community has done a great job, his staff and his players are to be commended for their hard work with it. Most of all, they’ve played well on the court, makes it easy to cheer for them.”

Baylor (20-7, 9-5 Big 12) has its sights set on the 6 p.m. tip-off against KSU (20-7, 8-6 Big 12) on Tang’s turf in the Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan.

The Bears and the Wildcats are currently sitting at third and fourth, respectively, in the Big 12 standings separated by just a game. For the second-straight meeting, the defending Big 12 champs are coming into this after suffering a loss to a ranked conference opponent. Drew said it’s important for the team to not allow momentum build in a bad way.

“T​​here’s certain things you can control and certain things you can’t. The key in any game is what you can control,” Drew said. “So focus on that stuff, and we’ll try to improve that as much as we can. At the end of the day, experience is always a great teacher.”

Despite starting off conference play 0-3, the Bears haven’t lost many back-to-back games. In that winless stretch at the beginning of Big 12 play, the final defeat came at the hands of Kansas State. Freshman guard Keyonte George said it’s a tough opponent that Baylor is going to be up against.

“They have a great coaching staff, great head coach, they know the things we do,” George said. “They can be scary at times, so we have to make sure we take care of what we need to do and play Baylor basketball at the end of the day.”