While No. 7 Baylor is battling for a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, unranked Texas is struggling just to stay alive on the bubble.
At 13-7 and only 3-4 in conference, the Longhorns are running out of chances to boost their resume before March, endangering coach Rick Barnes' streak of 13 consecutive Tournament appearances at Texas.
The Bears, after a dominant 17-0 start to the season, have showed some cracks in their armor, dropping two of their last three games.
Not only did they lose handily at the Allen Field House, they let Missouri come into Waco and impose their will last week, something Texas hopes to replicate on Saturday.
The Longhorns will need big games from their guards, in particular the trio of J'Covan Brown, Sheldon McClellan and Julien Lewis, to shoot Baylor out of their 1-3-1 zone.
The Bears, meanwhile, have a huge edge on the interior, as all five of their front-court rotation players would start for Texas while none of the Longhorn big men would see the floor in Waco.
If Baylor can feed Perry Jones III and Quincy Miller the ball and limit their turnovers, they have the decided talent edge over the Longhorns, but if they let Texas control the tempo of the game and get comfortable from the perimeter, the Bears could be in line for another home upset.
The 12:00 PM game will be televised nationally on CBS.
For more news and notes on Baylor basketball, head over to Our Daily Bears while Burnt Orange Nation has you covered for all the pre-game analysis from Austin.