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KU vs. Baylor

For Chase Buford, Monday's Kansas University-Texas basketball game is not just a chance for him to play in his home state.

It's an opportunity for the San Antonio native to visit with his brother, Alexis Mang-Ikri Wangmene, a 6-foot-7, 241-pound UT freshman from Cameroon, located on the west bank of Africa.

"He's the nicest guy, like a teddy bear," freshman walk-on Buford said after KU's 100-90 victory over Baylor on Saturday.

Wangmene's legal guardians are Buford's parents, R.C. and Beth Buford.

Wangmene - he met San Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford during the NBA's Basketball Without Borders trip to South Africa when he was 15 - accepted Buford's invitation to move to the U.S. and live with R.C., his wife, Beth, and their children, Chase and C.C.

"We talked about it as a family," R.C. told Marc Rosner of the Austin American-Statesman. "We thought it would be great to give an opportunity to somebody who probably wouldn't have an opportunity otherwise. We hoped to find somebody who was similar in age to Chase."

To come to the U.S., Wangmene, who has averaged 2.4 points in limited duty for the Longhorns, left behind an opportunity to become chief of the Toupouri tribe in Cameroon. Wangmene told the American-Statesman his life would have been "free and easy" as a chief, a position that - believe it or not - comes with an allotment of five wives.

"He told me he didn't need five wives. One girl is all he can handle," Buford said with a laugh.

When he arrived, he spoke French as well as the African languages of Toupouri and Fulfulde, but almost no English.

Yet he picked it up quickly.

"Mostly from TV and books. I corrected him a lot," Chase said.

He indicated he and his 15-year-old sister, C.C., loved having Wangmene in the house.

"We're both laid-back," Chase said. "We looked at it like the brother we never had. I consider him my brother, and he considers me his brother."

Beth Buford joked to the American-Statesman that it was great having one big, happy family with their adopted son joining the mix.

"He was such a happy kid," Beth Buford, a former KU golf standout, said of Wangmene, who the American-Statesman said quickly became a fan of country pop band Rascal Flatts. "If a 6-8 kid can be adorable, he's adorable. He gave the kids a brother. He gave C.C. a brother who is nice to her."

"She's talking about me, right?" Chase joked on Saturday.

Chase is hoping to travel with his brother to Cameroon someday.

¢ Facts: Brandon Rush scored nine points with three assists in 31 minutes in playing his first game without his right knee brace. Coach Bill Self said the brace was no factor. Rush had practiced without it all week. : KU is 17-0 at home and has won 21 straight home games. : KU has won seven in a row versus BU. : KU scored 100 for the second time this season. The other was 107 in the opener against Louisiana-Monroe. : KU was held without a three for the first time in 271 games, since Feb. 28, 2000, at Texas.