August 03, 2001
Road trips to North Carolina and the Las Vegas Classic, along with 16 home games, highlight Texas A&M’s 2001-02 men’s basketball schedule, announced by the school on Friday.
After a pair of home exhibition games on Nov. 8 and Nov. 14, the Aggies open the regular season at home on Nov. 19 against George Washington. The Aggies other non-conference home games are against Davidson (Nov. 26), Long Beach State (Nov. 30), Loyola Marymount (Dec. 2), Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 5) and Miami (Fla.) (Dec. 8).
The Aggies’ non-conference road schedule consists of Lamar in Beaumont, Texas (Nov. 24), Tulsa in Houston as part of the Houston Charity Classic (Dec. 14), Southwest Missouri State in Springfield, Mo., in the first round of the Las Vegas Classic, three more games at the Las Vegas Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. (Dec. 20-22), perennial power North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. (Dec. 30) and Centenary in Shreveport, La. (Jan. 3).
In Big 12 play, the Aggies will play Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor twice each on a home-and-home basis, while facing Missouri, Iowa State and Kansas State on the road and Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado at home. The Aggies open Big 12 play against Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., on Jan. 5, then play their conference home opener against Texas Tech on Jan. 9. The Big 12 Tournament will be March 7-10 in Kansas City.
“Anytime you have the likes of Miami at home, North Carolina on the road, George Washington at home, and the Las Vegas Tournament, it will definitely be a challenge -- and that’s just in non-conference,” A&M coach Melvin Watkins said. “But playing good teams makes you better. Those tough non-conference matchups will help prepare us for a tough schedule down the road. We know what the Big 12 represents and I happen to think this will probably be one of the better years for the league from top to bottom because of all the talent returning.”