WACO — Two seasons ago, the Sugar Bears followed up a season-opening win over Hendrix with a trip to No. 4 Tennessee, the highest-ranked opponent in program history.

Until now.

This year, after beginning the season with a 79-22 win over Hendrix in the Farris Center on Friday, the Sugar Bears once again hit the road to take on one of the nation's elite – this time in the form of the 3rd-ranked Baylor Lady Bears, a program that has won a pair of national championships and made 8 Elite Eight trips under head coach Kim Mulkey, who has compiled a 508-96 record in her 18 seasons in Waco.

While the Sugar Bears are 1-0 following their blowout win over the Division III Warriors, Baylor comes in with two games under its belt – having blasted Southland Conference preseason favorite Lamar 121-62 on Friday before dismantling Coppin State 100-54 on Sunday. The Lady Bears also easily topped the century mark in their two exhibition games, beating Division II foes Tarleton State and Washburn 122-44 and 117-33, respectively.

The Lady Bears are led by 6-foot-7 junior all-american forward Kalani Brown, the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, who averaged 15.4 points and 8.2 rebounds with a .679 field goal percentage last season. Brown had a career-high 35 points last season against a Texas team that ended the Sugar Bears' season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in March. Through two games this season, Brown is averaging 25 points and 16.5 rebounds per game, and is shooting .778 (21 of 27) from the field.

Baylor also boasts another pair of preseason All-Big 12 honorees in Lauren Cox and Kristy Wallace. Cox, a 6-4 forward, was the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year last season and named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team after earning four Big 12 Freshman of the Week accolades. Wallace, a 5-11 guard, was second in the Big 12 last season with 208 assists (5.6 per game), the fifth-highest total in Baylor history.

Tuesday's game will be the first of three against ranked opponents during the non-conference slate this season for the Sugar Bears, as visits to No. 13 Tennessee and No. 19 Texas A&M await on Nov. 30 and Dec. 9. Following Tuesday's game, the Sugar Bears will return to the Farris Center for four of their next five, beginning with Alcorn State on Monday.

FOLLOW
• Tuesday's game will be televised on Fox College Sports
• Radio broadcast with Steve Owens on The Bear 91.3 & streaming online, with pregame beginning at 6:40
• Live stats available via GameTracker on BaylorBears.com
• Follow @ucasports, @ucascoreboard and @ucawbb on Twitter

GAME NOTES
• The Sugar Bears are 0-7 all-time against Big 12 teams, having gone 0-2 against both Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, with one loss apiece to Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas.
• Tuesday's game will be the Sugar Bears' 9th against a Top 25 opponent since moving to Division I in 2006. The Sugar Bears are 0-8 in those games, with an average margin of loss of 45.4 points – though the last three, to Texas and Texas A&M last season and Louisville in 2016, have been by 26.7 per game.
• The Sugar Bears' two most lopsided losses came to ranked Big 12 teams when they lost by 73 to No. 5 Oklahoma and by 71 to No. 20 Oklahoma State two days apart on Dec. 20 and 22, 2007 under then-head coach Checola Seals-Horton.
• The Sugar Bears' slimmest margin of defeat to a Big 12 foe was 21 in a 72-51 loss at eventual champion Oklahoma State in the opening round of the 2012 WNIT
• Though they have yet to defeat a Big 12 team, the Sugar Bears own three wins over teams from Power 5 conferences with wins at Ole Miss (66-63 on 11/10/13), and at home against Indiana (58-46 on 11/11/11) and Alabama (58-46 on 11/15/11).
• The Sugar Bears will suit up four players 6-foot or taller, averaging 6-0.75, and have an overall average height of 5-9. Baylor has five players 6-1 or taller with an average height of 6-3, and an overall team height of 6-0.

SUGAR BEARS SUCCESS
• In the past two seasons the Sugar Bears were a combined 54-9 (.857) overall and 36-4 (.900) vs Southland teams – the highest win total in consecutive seasons for a Southland team since Stephen F. Austin's 56 from 1990-92.
• Won back-to-back Southland Conference tournament titles, earning berths to their first two Division I NCAA tournaments
• Became the first team to earn the No. 1 seed in the Southland tournament in consecutive seasons since Stephen F. Austin in 2001 & 2002
• Set a Southland Conference record by holding SFA to a tournament championship low 35 points in last season's title game, winning 60-35
• 28-5 away from home overall in last two seasons, 21-1 (.955) in road/neutral games vs Southland opponents
• Since 2009-10, have averaged 21.3 wins per season – tops in the Southland – and have eclipsed the 20-win plateau in 5 of the past 8 seasons
• Last season allowed just 53.1 points per game, ranking 4th in the nation.
• Ranked 13th nationally last season in scoring margin at +15.4
• Ranked 10th nationally in field goal percentage at 46.9