Asked how he felt about losing back-to-back Monday night games to Missouri and Iowa State, Kansas senior Gregory was quoted as saying there was no need to panic, adding: “It’s not like we lost to Texas A&M and Baylor. We lost to two good teams.”

Baylor’s players, in the wake of Monday night’s 85-77 stunner over the Jayhawks, readily admitted they weren’t pleased about what Gregory had said.

“He pretty much dissed us and said they’d beat us,” senior guard DeMarcus Minor said. “We used that to give us some extra pep tonight. We didn’t need any extra motivation playing Kansas, but his comment kept popping into our heads.”

Minor, a 6-foot-4 native of suburban Dallas who played junior college ball at Barton County CC in Great Bend, Kan., figured the Bears turned the tables nicely on the Jayhawks.

“I think they can panic now,” he said, ” because they got beat by Baylor.”

Minor played 38 minutes, scored 15 points and was credited with nine assists. At least five of those assists were turned into crowd-inciting dunks by Terry Black, who scored 20 points and shared team scoring honors with Wendell Greenleaf, the Bears’ other guard.

“It’s something special,” said Black, a 6-5 senior from Milwaukee by way of an Iowa junior college. “This is one of the greatest games I’ve ever been a part of. I knew this morning today would be something special, and we just fed off the statement Kenny Gregory made.”

Baylor coach Dave Bliss conceded he had read Gregory’s remark, but downplayed its significance in the Bears’ first victory ever against Kansas.

“It made for a great day for Baylor tomorrow,” Bliss said, “but this isn’t going to change the face of mankind.”

Baylor had lost six of its previous nine games and all Monday’s victory did was boost the Bears’ Big 12 Conference record to 5-6.

“We’ve had our ups and downs,” Bliss said, “but tonight we played better than normal. We wanted to come out with some energy and we fed off our seniors.”

It’s safe to say Bliss in his wildest dreams never would have believed the Bears would fashion a 25-point halftime lead against the Jayhawks.

Yet the score was 47-22 and, Bliss said, “I didn’t think we were far enough ahead. I know what Kansas is capable of. I told the players Kansas is not 25 points inferior to us, so we know they’re going to make a comeback.”

Bliss was right on. Kansas sliced that halftime bulge to four points with about six minutes remaining and seemed to have all the momentum.

“In the second half, we couldn’t run anything because they were doubling us and daring us to go to the hole,” Bliss said. “That’s when the lead was dwindling right in front of my eyes.”

But Baylor righted the ship, hit some free throws down the stretch and win-starved students raced onto the floor. If there had been goal posts, they would have come down.

“People were having fun,” Bliss said. “We’ve had some real down moments, so I’m grateful people had some fun.”