GAME NOTES: The Baylor Bears put their unblemished mark on the line in a Thanksgiving night clash with the Memphis Tigers as part of the Las Vegas Invitational at Orleans Arena.

Baylor is a perfect 4-0 to start the season thanks to wins over McNeese State (80-39), South Carolina (69-65), Prairie View A&M (60-45) and Stephen F. Austin (67-51), the latter two coming as part of this event.

Memphis is playing only its third game of the season here, and the team has split its first two in dropping a 71-56 decision to Wichita State in the opener, and following that up with a 77-49 rout of visiting Prairie View A&M on Monday.

Memphis leads the all-time series with Baylor, 6-1, and this is the first meeting between the two since the Tigers claimed a 75-60 win during the 1988 NCAA Tournament.

Both teams will be back in action on Friday to conclude this tournament, taking on either Illinois or Indiana State, depending on the outcomes of Thursday's games.

Baylor's strength in the early going has been its play on defense, as opponents are scoring only 50 ppg in hitting a mere 32.1 percent of their total shots, which include a 21.3 percent effort from 3-point range. The Bears have controlled the glass as well, logging a +12.3 rebounding margin, but they are in the red when it comes to turnover differential (-2.0). Offensively, BU is netting 69 ppg thanks to several double-digit scorers and a team field goal percentage of .470. Despite coming off the bench, Taurean Prince paces the team with 11.7 ppg, while starters Kenny Chery, Lester Medford and Johnathan Motley each add 10.3 ppg. Forwards Royce O'Neal and Rico Gathers aren't usually big-time scorers, but both average more than nine caroms per contest.

Monday's rout of Stephen F. Austin saw the Bears knock down 46.2 percent of their 3-point attempts (6-of-13) while getting double-digit scoring efforts from O'Neal, who actually had a monster game with 19 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals, Prince (15 points) and Medford (12 points). Gathers grabbed 11 boards to help BU claim a 43-32 edge on the glass. SFA managed just a 33.3 percent shooting effort, which included a dismal 5- of-26 performance from long range.

While its only been two games, Memphis has yet to find its offensive rhythm as it averages just 66.5 ppg in hitting 45.4 percent of its field goal attempts, which includes a 29.2 percent showing from 3-point land. The team's defensive effort has been solid, as foes are generating only 60 ppg behind typical shooting outputs of .375 overall and .206 from beyond the arc. The Tigers are +8.5 in rebounding margin, but they have had all kinds of trouble with ball control, turning it over an average of 20 times per game. Nick King (11.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg), Trahson Burrell (10.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg) and Shaq Goodwin (10.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg) have been the team's top performers thus far.

Goodwin was the only one to hit for double figures in Monday's win over Prairie View A&M, as he tallied 16 points thanks to a perfect 6-of-6 shooting effort. A total of 10 different players scored for Memphis, which connected on half of its 48 field goal attempts, and went 24-of-32 at the free-throw line. Prairie View countered with a 34.5 percent shooting effort, which included makes on only 3-of-18 long-range launches.

The Tigers are going to have to ratchet up the offense at some point, but not sure this is the game it's going to happen. Expect the two teams to trade blows throughout, but for the Bears to prevail nonetheless.