The Bears should also have plenty of motivation after losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament the last two seasons to lower seeded teams. In 2015, No. 14 Georgia State went on a late run to pull off a 57-56 win over Baylor in Jacksonville, Fla. Last year, No. 12 Yale stunned the No. 5 Bears, 79-75, in Providence, R.I.

Wainright said the Bears haven’t focused on those two losses as they’ve prepared for New Mexico State.

“What happened the last two years?” Wainright said. “We haven’t really talked about it. We know what we need to do. This is a new season and New Mexico State is a great team.”

Unranked in the preseason polls, the Bears caught the attention of the college basketball world by beating four Top 25 teams, including No. 4 Oregon, No. 24 Michigan State, No. 10 Louisville and No. 7 Xavier.

But since improving to 15-0 after winning the first three Big 12 games, the Bears have gone 10-7 including a 70-64 loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 tournament.

Stepping outside of conference play again, the Bears hope to go on another big run. If Baylor beats New Mexico State (28-5), it will play again Sunday against the winner of Friday’s first-round game between sixth-seeded SMU and No. 11 seed USC.