Baylor 75, Texas Southern 49: Rico Gathers scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the host Bears cruised to the easy win.

Lester Medford scored 13 points, including 3-of-4 3-pointers, to go along with a game-high eight assists and three steals and Taurean Prince added 11 points and seven rebounds for Baylor (6-1), which bounced back from a 62-54 loss to Illinois on Friday in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational. The Bears dominated inside, finishing with a 47-30 rebounding edge and a 38-22 advantage in points in the paint.

Chris Thomas scored 15 points and Madarious Gibbs finished with 10 points and seven assists for Texas Southern (1-6). The Tigers shot 35.4 percent, including 4-of-21 from 3-point range, and had 15 turnovers that led to 23 Baylor points.

The Bears wasted little time taking control of the game, using a 16-2 run fueled by a 3-pointer and layup by Prince to take an 18-6 lead after seven minutes. Texas Southern, which came into the contest off a 71-59 victory over Lamar, cut the deficit to 10 on Nevin Johnson's jumper five minutes later but Baylor answered with a 19-8 run that featured eight points from Gathers en route to a 41-22 halftime edge.

Baylor started the second half with a 15-3 run to blow the game open 56-25 with 16:40 remaining. The Tigers never got closer than 20 points the rest of the way

GAME NOTEBOOK: Baylor starting PG Kenny Chery missed his third straight game with a foot injury. ... The Bears entered the contest leading the Big 12 and ranked eighth nationally in scoring defense (51.5). ... Prince has scored in double figures a career-high five consecutive games.