Waco, Texas ? Thirty-one hours after he was having his appendix removed in non-invasive surgery, Baylor University basketball coach Scott Drew was back on the bench for Wednesday’s tipoff against Kansas University.

Drew went to the hospital at 3 a.m. Tuesday and had the surgery nine hours later, according to assistant coach Matthew Driscoll, who handled the huddles, the hollering and the pacing duties while Drew stayed in his chair throughout the game.

The Jayhawks didn’t do anything to make Drew feel better, beating his Bears, 82-56.

“Coach has medication he’s taking for his pain,” Driscoll said after the game. “Coach was tremendous before the game. He sat in the locker room on the chair and listened intently, gave some suggestions as we went through the pregame ritual, and when he got to the bench he did the same thing. He just left now with his family. He was pain-free in the sense that his abdomen was pain-free, but his heart’s killing him because obviously losses are losses. No matter how much pain coach has in his abdomen, the loss in his heart is what’s really important. The eighth-best team in the nation came here, and we didn’t perform the way we wanted to perform early, and we couldn’t overcome it in the end.”

Drew could be seen talking into Driscoll’s ear frequently.

“Coach Drew was very involved in what was going on,” Driscoll said. “If not for a couple of stitches maybe that he couldn’t get up for, he was fine on the sideline and gave some great suggestions and some great changes. I was really just a puppet out there.”

Drew’s players were impressed.

“It shows coach’s commitment,” Australian guard Aaron Bruce said. “He wanted to be there, and not even surgery could stop him from being there. We need to take a leaf out of his book and fight and work as hard as he does.”

Bruce, who averaged 11.4 points per game coming into the game, was held to eight points by Brandon Rush, who blocked one of his shots.

“I think they played excellent defense,” Bruce said of the Jayhawks. “They are long and athletic, which makes it tough. : (Rush) is very athletic and long. I think it’s always tough if a 6-3 guard is going up against a 6-6 guy. He gets his hands to shots guys my height can’t get to.”

KU’s advantage, according to Bruce, extended beyond physical attributes.

“I think we got caught up in the moment playing Kansas,” Bruce said. “They have a big support group following them. It’s always a big occasion when Kansas is playing. We got caught up a little bit in the hype of that maybe.”

Said sophomore forward Kevin Rogers, who had 11 points and 16 rebounds: “They’re a great team. Everyone knows they have great inside players. They have great outside players. When both parts of that are clicking, they’re going to be tough to stop.”