Texas A&M
BAYLOR
Aggies Roll Past Baylor in Final Home Game of Year, 79-60
Mar 05, 2003 | Men's Basketball
March 05, 2003
Andy Slocum scored a season-high 18 points as Texas A&M ended a three-game conference losing streak with a 79-60 victory over Baylor on Wednesday night.
Forwards Antoine Wright and Keith Bean added 13 and 10 points respectively for A&M (14-12, 6-9 Big 12). The Big 12's all-time leading scorer, Bernard King, scored just three points for A&M but posted 10 assists.
Baylor (13-13, 4-11) scored just three field goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Aggies went on a 12-1 run as they held the Bears without a field goal for six minutes of play midway through the half. Baylor could get no closer than nine points in the second half and A&M led by as many as 31 points.
Lawrence Roberts and John Lucas, both averaging over 14 points per game, were held to a combined 10 points over the first 36 minutes of play for Baylor. Roberts finished with 12, scoring six in the final three minutes.
Slocum closed out the final minute of the first period with a pair of field goals to give A&M a 36-26 lead.
Slocum, who scored in double figures just once all season, came off the bench to score 15 in the first half alone.
Roberts was held to just two points while picking up three fouls in the first half.
R.T. Guinn picked up the slack, hitting his first three 3-pointers for the Bears and scoring 13 in the half. Guinn would not score in the second half, fouling out with five minutes remaining.
POSTGAME NOTES
- The Aggies 19-point margin of victory was its second biggest in Big 12 play behind a 21-point win (68-47) against Texas Tech at Reed Arena in 1999.
- Tonight's win assures A&M of its first .500 season since it finished 19-11 in 1993-94, which was also the last time A&M advanced to postseason play (NIT).
- A&M"s 14 wins are its most since it finished 14-17 in 1994-95. A&M is 6-9 in Big 12 play, its most conference wins since Big 12 play began in 1997. The last time A&M had more conference wins was in 1995, when it went 7-7 in the SWC.
- A&M finishes the regular season with a 10-4 home record, its best season at Reed Arena. The last time A&M had 10 home wins was in 1993-94, when it went 10-4 at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
- A&M's average attendance of 6,466 this season is the most in school history, breaking the old mark of 6,141 set at G. Rollie White Coliseum in 1980-81. In Big 12 play, A&M averaged a record 7,274, breaking the old mark of 7,145 set in 1974-75.
- Junior center Andy Slocum scored a season-high 18 points, the second-best game of his career (he had 22 at Oklahoma last season).
- A&M came into the game averaging just 20.0 frontcourt points, but scored a season-high 42 tonight (Slocum 18, Bean 10, Ress 8, Brookhart 4, Butterfras 2).
- Senior guard Bernard King scored a career-low three points, failing to make a field goal for the first time in his career. His two field goal attempts were a career low. However, Kind handed out 10 assists, one shy of his career high of 11. King now has 544 career assists and moves into second place on A&M's career list (David Edwards, 602 in 1991-94), passing Dave Goff (535 in 1976-80).
- King also had four rebounds to give him 493 in his career. He needs seven to become the first guard in A&M history, and the 18th player overall, to reach 500. He needs 47 points to reach 2,000 and become only the eighth Div. I player in history to reach 2,000 points with 500 rebounds and 500 assists. He would be only the fifth guard from any Big 12 school to score 2,000 career points.
- As a team, A&M had 25 assists, a season-high for conference play and its second best overall (28 vs. Louisiana-Monroe). A&M had just 12 turnovers for the second straight game.
- A&M made a season-low 3-of-12 three-pointers. The 12 attempts tied a season low.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Texas A&M Forward Andy Slocum: "It felt good to come out and play good for a change. I've had a lot going on and I've felt good lately. I've been sleeping well the past few nights and I felt good. The NIT is still deep in our mind. We think we need one more win to make it. Everyone wants to get in for the seniors. The Seniors went up before the game and told everyone that they enjoyed playing us."
Texas A&M Forward Keith Bean: "We felt like we needed to go right at them down low. We did that or went to the foul line. Coach wanted us to keep playing well and keep playing aggressive. (on NIT possibility) For me to leave winning 13-15 games would be great strides for the program. All season we had some play really good and someone play really bad. It's the sign of a good team when someone can come off the bench and score. (on scoring more in the paint) If we have the referees on our side and don't get in foul trouble, we can play well in the paint. (on POSSIBLY playing Baylor in first round of Big 12 tournament) I remember last year when they beat us by 52 points, so I would love to beat them again."
Head Coach Melvin Watkins: (on the blowout win) "You don't get these very often, especially in the Big 12 Conference. We were ready to play; it was Senior Night and the crowd was loud. If you were going to come out and play well, tonight was the night. (on going inside more tonight than in previous game with Baylor) We looked at the tape and saw we were relying too much on our jump shots. Then the long rebounds would start their transition game and we didn't happen. We concentrated our efforts on working the ball in to out rather than out to in. We did a good job of shot selection. We worked the ball around and were able to get inside. We knew if we got (Lawrence) Roberts in foul trouble, it would be to our advantage. We wanted to go inside at Roberts and if he got in foul trouble, great. (on Bernard King) He didn't force anything tonight. Sometimes it's tough to get a senior to do that. He played within himself and was critical to this win. He wasn't worried about scoring. You don't often say Bernard King played well when he scores only three points. (on the progress of this year's team) I think it's obvious that we have better players. I haven't coached any different, but the players are responding. We have players who have been in our programs and who have improved. We can go to our bench and know we're going to get some production. We're still building a program and have a long way to go."
