Texas A&M
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(#2) KANSAS
No. 2 Kansas Too Much for Texas A&M, 86-74
Jan 26, 2002 | Men's Basketball
January 26, 2002
Drew Gooden had 22 points and 13 rebounds for his 15th double-double of the season and No. 2 Kansas defeated determined Texas A&M 86-74 Saturday.
Kansas (17-2, 6-0 Big 12) won its fourth straight game since its second loss of the season to UCLA on Jan. 12.
The Aggies (8-12, 2-4) were riding a two-game winning streak that included an 80-74 upset of No. 24 Texas and they stayed with the more talented Jayhawks through much of the first half.
Then the Aggies went cold and Kansas, No. 2 in the nation in scoring, used a 10-1 run over the final 3:29 of the first half for a 43-31 lead.
The Jayhawks stretched the run to 16-1 with the first three baskets of the second half to keep control of the game.
Kansas pulled ahead 74-51 with 7:47 to go but the Aggies used an 11-2 run to pull within 76-62 and kept up the battle until the end.
Nick Collison added 19 points for the Jayhawks and Aaron Miles added 18.
Bernard King led Texas A&M with 22 points, the most ever scored by an Aggie against a Kansas team.
Gooden has had a double-double in 45 of his last 47 games.
The Jayhawks broke from a 33-30 lead with eight straight points starting with a layup by Collison and a 3-pointer by Kick Hinrich. A&M's only point in the run came on a free throw by Bradley Jackson with 53 seconds left in the half.
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Postgame Quotes
KANSAS COACH ROY WILLIAMS: "We feel good about our win to say the least. We're not ecstatic about the way we played at times, but other runs were very good. We had two or three really good stretches in the second half, then we had four turnovers in five possessions. We felt good about the way we guarded, but we were not as sharp in the second half. A big part of our games is rebounds, inbounds and steals. Making free throws is also important. Boschee and Langford didn't have good games tonight, but four of our guys had really good games. Our whole program has been based on defense. We take pride in our guarding and forced turnovers. I was very pleased with our defense in the first half. What A&M has done in the last 10 days is very impressive. Melvin has to feel good about it. They've had problems with players on the team and some injuries, but the rest have banded together and are playing good team basketball."
KANSAS FORWARD DREW GOODEN: "We were definitely not at our top level, but it was a good road win for the team. Keith Bean plays extremely physical, but Nick (Collison) and I just had to step it up, especially in our transition game. It really helped when Bean left with the injury. We have to get better than this to beat Missouri, so by no means are we satisfied."
TEXAS A&M GUARD BERNARD KING: Some of it was us, but most of it was them. They're good and they deserve to be No. 2 in the country. They made strong runs and we kept playing. Losing Keith (Bean) hurt a lot. He was our most aggressive forward. They have a lot of talent and are good at getting inside and getting open outside. We thought we could have made some more stops to stay in the game, but we never quit. That was the best part of our game tonight -- we kept playing. Even though we lost, we played well. Three weeks ago, we couldn't even have competed."
TEXAS A&M COACH MELVIN WATKINS: "You saw what kind of team they were, but our guys really fought. They have too many weapons. They've got good players in the starting five and then can go to the bench and the talent doesn't drop off. We went to our bench and did the same and kept playing. Keith (Bean) has really stepped up his game. They all have. I'm proud of our team right now. Unfortunately, we played a team who is just better than we are. You have to give them credit for that. We got off track for awhile because of their pressure, but in the second half, we didn't panic and were able to handle it better. We're playing better for longer periods of time. We still have a lot of games left and hopefully we'll play the rest of the season like this. Kansas is one of the best teams on the transition. Now we've got to go play another Big 12 team on the road and see if we can get it right again. We didn't quit tonight, we kept going."
Postgame Notes
Today's attendance of 10,706 was the third largest in A&M history and the second largest of the season (10,723 attended the Tech game on Jan. 9).
Bernard King's 22 points were the most ever by an A&M player against Kansas.
Bradley Jackson posted a season-high seven assists. His career-best is 11 during his freshman season at San Diego State.
Keith Bean scored 9 points with 10 rebounds, the third time in the last five games he's been in double figures in rebounding. A&M's candidate for Big 12 player of the week, King in two games this week against nationally ranked teams averaged 26.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and made 15-of-33 from the field, 6-of-9 from three-point range and 16-of-18 from the free throw line.
A&M had 21 team assists, the third time in five games it had more than 20. Before that stretch, A&M had not had more than 13 assists since the fifth game of the season. A&M had more than 20 assists in four of the first five games.
The Aggies tied their season high with 11 three-pointers (22 attempts), their most since the season opening win against George Washington, when they also made 11-of-22. The 11 treys ties for the fifth most in school history.
