November 15, 1999
The Texas A&M basketball team closes its 1999-2000 exhibition schedule on Tuesday against the Global Sports Next-Level All-Stars at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.
The Aggies beat the California South All-Stars, 69-58, on Thursday in their first exhibition game. A&M was led by the all-freshman backcourt tandem of Jamaal Gilchrist and Bernard King, who combined for 31 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and eight steals. Gilchrist led the team in scoring (17), rebounding (7) assists (6) and steals (6), while King added 14 points. Senior center Aaron Jack chipped in nine points with six rebounds while senior forward Jerald Brown added eight points and six boards.
"We have eight new people on this team and it's tough," Jack said. "We have some young guys, but we are really talented. We are going through some growing pains, but we have some great guys on this team with some great attitudes. JB (Jerald Brown) and I don't have many games left here, so we're trying to win as many as we can."
The Global Sports Next-Level All-Stars were 4-5 going into Monday night's game at Texas Tech. The All-Stars have beaten Alabama (87-85 in 2 OT), Tulane (84-77 in OT), Old Dominion (76-68) and Troy State (88-81), with losses against UNC Charlotte (90-80), South Alabama (70-58), LSU (78-70), New Orleans (86-84) and Auburn (82-62).
Former All-American Litterial Green (6-1), Georgia's all-time leading scorer, leads the All-Stars with a 13.7 average, while former Oral Roberts standout Ray Thompson (6-6) is adding 10.9 points and 6.6 rebounds. The team also features Clifton Cook (6-2), the 1999 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year from Texas A&M, who is averaging 5.7 points per contest.
Center Rodney Odom (6-11), played at UNC Charlotte in 1991-93. A&M coach Melvin Watkins was an assistant coach and A&M assistant Bobby Kummer was a guard for those UNCC teams. Torrey Harris played at Tennessee while H.L. Coleman and Jevon Roberts were All-WAC players at Wyoming.
"I was pleased in a lot of areas in Thursday's game," A&M coach Melvin Watkins said. "We knew coming in we had a lot of areas to work on with all the new faces. I was pleased for Jamaal and Bernard to give us that type of leadership. There was some hesitancy to shoot the ball, but that's why we play these exhibition games. We believe our offense has to start with inside touches. That will open up our perimeter game."