Down, 48-37 with 11:43 to play, No. 1 Baylor put on a furious rally at the end. However, Jared Butler's game-tying 3-pointer bounced off as time expired as No. 3 Kansas escaped the Ferrell Center, 64-61 Saturday afternoon before a record-tying crowd of 10,627.
The Bears (24-2 13-1) saw their record 23-game Big 12 winning streak end. They are also now tied for the Big 12 lead with the Jayhawks (24-3, 13-1). Kansas has won 12 straight. The uniqueness of this series is that each team won in the other's building. Baylor won in Lawrence, KS. 67-55 on Jan. 11.
Kansas big Udoka Azubuike was the difference. He finished with 23 points, 19 rebounds and three blocks. Baylor just didn't have an answer for him.
The Bears trailed 62-55 with less than 30 seconds to play when Butler hit a 3-pointer to narrow it to 62-58. Kansas turned it over on the inbounds pass and MaCio Teague dropped another 3-pointer to cut it to 62-61 with 18 seconds remaining.
Kansas' Isaiah Moss hit two free throws with 7.9 seconds to play before Butler's miss.
After Baylor opened with a quick 5-0 lead, Kansas answered with nine to straight to lead 9-5. From there, the Bears played uphill. They used a 6-0 run in latter stages of the first half to cut the lead to 34-31 at the half.
But Kansas used a quick 6-2 burst in the first 2:28 of the second half to keep the Bears at arms length. Kansas became just the third opponent to shoot better than 50 percent from the field against the Bears. The Jayhawks finished 50.9 percent.
Butler led all Baylor scorers with 19. Freddie Gillespie and Matthew Mayer each had 10. Devon Dotson followed Azubuike with 13 points followed by Moss with 11.
The Bears play host to Kansas State Tuesday.