Thanks to freshman Sebastian Rancik, Colorado may have finally found a good luck charm.

During a season in which the Buffaloes at one point lost six consecutive home games, the longest home losing streak in 39 years, the CU men’s basketball team has now won two consecutive home games after defeating Baylor 76-74 at the Events Center on Saturday.

There was one common denominator for CU’s two home wins that wasn’t part of the equation as the Buffs started 0-13 in Big 12 Conference play: the presence of Rancik’s mother, Bibiana.

The elder Rancik made the trip from Slovakia for last week’s home win against Central Florida and also was in attendance for the Buffs’ loss earlier this week at No. 8 Iowa State, where Rancik’s father played.

It is Bibiana’s first trip to see the Buffs in action, and she will be at the Events Center once again when CU hosts No. 23 Kansas on Monday. Rancik turned in another solid all-around game against Baylor, finishing with 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of assists without committing a turnover in nearly 28 minutes of action.

It was Rancik’s sixth double-digit scoring effort of the season and his third in the past four games.

“It’s always great to see her. She’s here for two weeks and I’m always happy to see her,” Rancik said. “I always tell her that she has to stay until the end of the year. Since she’s been here, we’re 2-1. She definitely brought us some luck from Slovakia.”

Setting the tone

Fifth-year senior Andrej Jakimovski did a little bit of everything for the Buffs in the win, hitting a season-high five 3-pointers before finishing with 17 pints, seven rebounds and a season-high five assists without recording a turnover. The five 3-pointers matched a career-high he reached earlier this season against Cal State Fullerton, and also three other times during his four-year career at Washington State.

Yet Jakimovski’s biggest contributions might have occurred at the other end of the floor.

Jakimovski led the defensive effort against Baylor freshman VJ Edgecombe, who is projected as a likely lottery pick in this summer’s NBA Draft. Edgecombe entered the game averaging 15.0 points with a .355 3-point percentage, and he was coming off a 24-point game against Arizona. Yet with Jakimovski leading the way, Edgecombe was limited to eight points, finishing 2-for-9 overall and 0-for-3 from long range.

“To hold VJ Edgecombe to eight points — he’s a future lottery pick — is an unbelievable job by (Jakimovski),” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “We talked about (trying) to be a team and be in the gaps, and I thought we did a pretty good job on that as well. But Andrej deserves a lot of credit.

“That’s what seniors do down the stretch of their senior year. And you need your seniors to play well.”

Notable

Buffs guard RJ Smith went 5-for-8 with 13 points, recording his first double-digit scoring game since scoring 14 points in the Big 12 opener on Dec. 30. … With three assists, CU guard Julian Hammond III broke a tie with Spencer Dinwiddie and also moved past Lynn Baker on the all-time assists list, taking over the No. 22 spot with 230 career assists. … Baylor’s .362 field goal percentage was the second-lowest by a CU foe in conference play. UCF shot .344 during its loss at the Events Center last week. … The Buffs had four players score in double figures for the just the third time this season, and the first time since Nov. 17 against Harvard.