Waco, Texas ? Scott Drew quickly launched into a laudatory spiel about Kansas University point guard Aaron Miles.

Minutes after the Jayhawks had buried Drew’s Baylor basketball team under an avalanche of three-point goals, the Bears’ coach gushed about Miles’ shooting.

“He’s a great point guard, but I’ll bet he’s never gone 5-for-5 from three-point range before,” Drew said.

Uh, coach … that wasn’t Miles who went 5-for-5. It was reserve guard Jeff Hawkins.

Surprised, Drew looked down at the box score of KU’s 86-66 thrashing and recovered from his gaffe by quipping: “Miles was 3-for-4, so he and Hawkins were 8-for-9. Even if we opened the gym and left them out there, it’s hard to go 8-for-9.”

Then, asked about Hawkins’ unconscious three-point shooting, Drew wondered if the KU junior guard ever had had a night like that before.

Told by the media that Hawkins had made five three-pointers last year in a game at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, less than an hour and a half north of Waco, Drew responded to the geographic similarity by quipping with a smile: “He’s not invited back.”

Kansas won’t play at Baylor again until 2007, and Hawkins will have used his eligibility by then, so the question of inviting him to the Ferrell Center is moot.

So, apparently, was the question many KU and Baylor fans must have been asking as the Jayhawks drained a school-record 16 three-pointers.

Kansas' Sasha Kaun, lower left, and Jeff Hawkins, second from left, fight Baylor's Aaron Bruce for a possession as Jayhawks Wayne Simien (23) and Aaron Miles await the outcome of the scrum.

Why in the heck didn’t Drew take his team out of that zone?

“We didn’t have a lot of options,” the Baylor coach replied. “We tried a triangle-and-two, and Miles hit a three.”

What happened Tuesday night may have sent chills down the spines of 10 other Big 12 Conference coaches, because Drew defended Kansas the same way most of them would have.

Zoning the Jayhawks limits the number of times Wayne Simien touches the ball inside, and a zone defense prevents Keith Langford, KU’s other primary offensive weapon, from slashing to the basket. In other words, the most logical strategy is to make Kansas beat you with the three-point goal.

Heck, prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Baylor had a slightly better three-point-shooting percentage than the Jayhawks. The Bears were hitting 36.9 percent of their treys, while Kansas was at 36.4 percent.

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So who would have believed the Jayhawks would drain 16 of 27 long-rangers and the Bears just six of 20?

No doubt the three-point goal is a powerful weapon. Villanova surely wouldn’t have railroaded Kansas, 83-62, Saturday in Philadelphia if the Wildcats hadn’t made 12 of 19 three-pointers. Those dozen treys electrified the partisan crowd of nearly 14,000 at the Wachovia Center.

In the Ferrell Center, however, electricity kept the lights and scoreboard working, but that was about it. BU officials announced a crowd of 7,280 — largest of the season — and I’ll bet at least 3,000 of them were cheering for the Jayhawks. Rarely do you see as many empty seats when Kansas plays basketball as there were in Baylor’s roundhouse this night.

What did KU’s win mean in the big picture? Obviously, it was a game the Jayhawks had to win. You don’t lose to Baylor and win championships.

Also, the satisfying triumph wiped out the bad taste of the Villanova embarrassment. Truly, the Jayhawks were fortunate they didn’t have to wait a week before playing again.

At this stage, Kansas is 5-0 in conference games and tied for the league lead, but whom have they beaten? Baylor, Iowa State, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas A&M. Not a contender in the bunch.

That string will end Saturday when Texas comes to Allen Fieldhouse in a game so big that ESPN is using it as the focal point for its College Game Day hoopla.

Don’t expect Kansas to make 16 three-point goals in that one, but do expect the most meaningful game the Jayhawks have played at home this season.