November 17, 2003
Sophomore Antoine Wright scored 18 points and senior Andy Slocum added 14 points and 14 rebounds as the Texas A&M men's basketball team ended exhibition play with a 103-96 win over the EA Sports Midwest All-Stars Monday before 3,668 fans at Reed Arena.
The Aggies had a good night shooting the ball, connecting at 62 percent from the field and 46 percent from behind the arc.
Along with Wright and Slocum, three others scored in double figures. Senior guard Leandro Garcia-Morales scored 16 and dished out seven assists, senior forward Jesse King added 15 points and six rebounds, and freshman guard Acie Law scored 13 on 6-of-7 shooting.
EA Sports erased a 14-point A&M lead in the second half with a 16-1 run. Law answered with a jumper at the 7:19 mark to give the Aggies back the lead for good.
EA Sports, who finished its schedule at 3-9, also had five players in double figures and was led by Trevor Huffman's 20 points and six assists. EA Sports connected on 17 3-pointers on the night.
The All-Stars roster featured several former collegiate standouts, including Illinois' Lucas Johnson, Wake Forest's Robert O'Kelly, West Virginia's Mike Brownlee, Virginia Commonwealth's Alvin Mogley, Georgia's Anthony Evans and Western Carolina's Cory Largent.
The Aggies open the regular season on Monday, Nov. 24 when they host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Reed Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
Texas A&M Postgame Quotes
SENIOR CENTER ANDY SLOCUM: "These guys were a lot more physical than the team we faced last week. They hit a lot of threes, and they were pretty tough. Offensively, we played pretty well. Our defense is still struggling, but we can clean it up by Monday (when A&M opens its season against Arkansas-Pine Bluff). This year, our expectations are higher. We expect to win some games at the Big 12 Tournament and get to the NCAAs. We're more team oriented this year. We had several guys tonight in double digits. Last year, we would only have one or two doing it all. Coach will never be happy with our defense. That's the way coaches are. He knows we can do better."
SENIOR GUARD LEANDRO GARCIA-MORALES: "We played better toward the end of the game when they got tired. We made some mistakes on offense in the last few minutes that almost cost us the game, but we played much better than last Wednesday. We need to work on our overall play. We make too many mental mistakes."
HEAD COACH MELVIN WATKINS: "When you sub freely like that, you'll lose some consistency. I think we'll be able to use this tape as a teaching tool. The way I subbed broke our rhythm more than what they were doing to us. I'm pleased overall. This was a different kind of test. They went small, which we could handle on offense, but on defense it presented problems. That's where we need to improve because we will see some smaller teams. We're on pace to make progress. This gives us an opportunity to evaluate where we are. Once we get the right rotation down, we'll be better than some think. I know we can improve. We'll continue to work and get better."