Waco, Texas ? Aaron Bruce hasn’t seen many college basketball teams, but Baylor University’s freshman standout has Kansas University at the top of at least one list.

“I think they’re the classiest group I’ve seen,” said Bruce, a 6-foot-3 guard from Australia. “They were so professional. They didn’t show a lot of emotion. We made runs, and it didn’t faze them.”

Bruce, who scored a game-high 23 points in Tuesday night’s 86-66 loss to the Jayhawks, played all 40 minutes and was feeling it afterward.

“I can’t think of a body part that doesn’t hurt at this moment,” he said with a grin.

Bruce was hurting mentally, too, after suffering back-to-back bashings by two of the Big 12 Conference’s best teams. Baylor bowed to Oklahoma State, 82-53, Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.

“It does hurt to have losses like the last two,” the young Aussie said. “But it just makes us hungrier. It shows us what we have to do to get better.”

More horses would help. Coach Scott Drew didn’t figure he had enough bodies to guard the Jayhawks man-to-man, so he opted for a zone that KU destroyed with 16-of-27 three-point accuracy.

“Our strategy is very simple,” Drew said. “We can take away the inside, or we can take away the outside. You saw what happens when a team is on fire. Everyone who was shooting it was feeling it tonight.”

Although Kansas had been only an average three-point shooting team until Tuesday night, Bruce said the Jayhawks’ uncanny outside shooting didn’t catch him off guard.

KU's Keith Langford (5) gets tangled with Aaron Bruce on a rebound in the first half.

“I wasn’t so much surprised,” Bruce said. “They’re a great club, and I’m sure they shoot them in practice.”

Junior center Tommy Swanson, who contributed 17 points, also said he wasn’t surprised by the Jayhawks’ deadly downtown shooting.

“Not really,” Swanson said. “I know they’re a confident team from the perimeter. We probably should have done a better job of contesting those shots.”

Still, the game plan was to neutralize KU’s 6-foot-9 Wayne Simien.

“You can only put so much energy into guarding one aspect,” Bruce said. “We put too much focus on Simien in the high post, and the credit goes to them for finding it out.”

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Baylor did make some noise at the free-throw line. KU had difficulty guarding Bruce, Swanson and Tim Bush, the Bears’ other inside player. The trio combined to make 26 of 31 free-throw attempts.

The Bears shot much better at the foul line than from the field, where they made only 35.4 percent (17 of 48).

Coincidentally, that percentage is very close to what foes have shot against the Jayhawks all season (36.4 percent).

“What are they … third in the nation in field-goal defense?” Drew said. “They play great defense, and our early turnovers compounded the situation.”

Baylor coughed up the ball on its first three possessions and finished with 15 turnovers overall, two fewer than Kansas.

All in all, Bruce conceded Villanova did Baylor no favors by flogging the Jayhawks, 83-62, Saturday in Philadelphia.

“We knew they’d be ready,” BU’s freshman guard said. “We had a couple of lapses, and obviously a great team will take advantage of that.”

Baylor (9-7 overall, 1-4 Big 12), will travel Saturday to Texas A&M.