January 01, 2004
GAME #10
Texas A&M Aggies
(5-4, 0-0 Big 12)
vs.
Louisiana-Monroe Indians
(4-9, 0-0 Southland)
7 p.m. (CST)
Saturday, Jan. 3, 2004
Ewing Coliseum (8,000 cap.)
Monroe, La.
RADIO:
Texas A&M Sports Network
Dave South, play-by-play
Al Pulliam, commentary
Airtime: 6:40 p.m. (CST)
ONLINE: www.AggieAthletics.com
TELEVISION:
None
In their final non-conference road game of the season, the Texas A&M Aggies (5-4) play the Louisiana-Monroe Indians (4-9) on Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) at Ewing Coliseum (8,000 cap.) in Monroe, La. A&M beat the Indians, 107-66, last year in College Station. The Aggies have been idle since a disappointing 70-61 overtime loss at Houston last Saturday. The Indians Are coming off an 82-56 road loss to Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday. A&M is 1-3 in road games this season while ULM is 4-0 at home. All nine of the Indians' losses have come in road games. A&M's overall series against ULM is tied, 1-1. A&M has never played in Monroe.
About ULM
The Indians return four starters and nine lettermen from last year's team, which finished 12-16 overall and tied for fifth in the Southland Conference with a 10-10 mark. Louisiana-Monroe is in its 22nd season under head coach Mike Vining. The Indians lost their first five games, all on the road, falling to Bradley (73-65), Miami (Fla.) (78-60), Northeastern (81-65), Rhode Island (78-46) and LSU (96-65). Their other four losses also were on the road, including Mississippi State (76-52), Mississippi (66-64) and Baylor (85-79). No Indian player averages in double figures in scoring, but 10 average at least 4.0 points per game. The Indians are led by senior forward Larry Parker (6'7"), who averages 9.1 points and is making 80.6 percent from the free throw line. Senior center Chavis "Tank" Thompson (6'10") averages 8.9 points and 5.8 rebounds, while senior guard Mark Keith (6'5") adds 8.7 points and senior guard John Andrews (6'4") contributes 8.5 points. Andrews scored 17 points in the loss to Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday. Junior forward DeAndre Alexander (6'4") leads the team in rebounding with 6.8 per game and adds 6.3 points. As a team, Louisiana-Monroe averages 67.2 points per game while allowing 72.7. The Indians are making just 40.4 percent from the field, but are connecting on a solid 36.5 percent from three-point range. Defensively, ULM is allowing its opponents to make just 41.5 percent from the field and 28.0 percent from three-point range.
The Series
The series is tied 1-1, with A&M posting a 107-66 win last year in College Station and ULM posting a 76-61 victory two years ago at the Las Vegas Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. A&M is 104-36 against members of the Southland Conference while Louisiana-Monroe is 1-11 against teams from the Big 12 Conference.
TEXAS A&M vs. ULM
(Tied, 1-1)
Year Winner Site
2001-02 LMU, 76-61 Las Vegas, Nev.
2002-03 A&M, 107-66 College Station
The Coaches
TEXAS A&M
Melvin Watkins (UNC Charlotte '77)
58-95 at A&M (6th year)
100-115 overall (8th year)
1-1 vs. Louisiana-Monroe
1-1 vs. Mike Vining
LOUISIANA-MONROE
Mike Vining (Louisiana-Monroe '67)
374-257 at ULM (22nd year)
374-257 overall (22nd year)
1-1 vs. Texas A&M
1-1 vs. Melvin Watkins
Sidebars
A&M senior center Andy Slocum is from West Monroe, La., where he was a standout in basketball and baseball at West Monroe High School...senior forward Nick Anderson was runner-up for Louisiana Mr. Basketball in 2000 as a senior at Southern Lab High School in Baton Rouge...Former A&M athletic director John David Crow served as head football coach at Louisiana-Monroe (then known as Northeast Louisiana) from 1975-80...ULM head coach Mike Vining as an assistant basketball coach in Crow's last two seasons as athletic director...Louisiana-Monroe assistant coach Chris Oney played basketball at A&M in 1994-95 for coach Tony Barone before transferring to Mississippi...Oney played in 23 games as a freshman for the Aggies, averaging 1.6 points...A&M has won four straight games against teams from Louisiana, but all were played outside of Louisiana...A&M has lost 11 straight games played in Louisiana since an 84-77 win at Louisiana Tech in 1967-68...after A&M lost to Houston in overtime last Saturday, the Cougars turned around three days later and upset previously undefeated LSU, 60-52.
Tentative Starters
TEXAS A&M AGGIES (5-4)
No. Player P Ht. Cl. PPG RPG
50 Andy Slocum C 7-0 Sr. 9.8 8.8
3 Jesse King III F 6-7 Sr. 13.0 6.3
21 Antoine Wright F/G 6-7 So. 13.8 3.4
10 Leandro Garcia-Morales G 6-1 Sr. 4.2 2.9a
1 Acie Law IV G 6-3 Fr. 9.0 4.3a
Off the Bench
No. Player P Ht. Cl. PPG RPG
22 Kevin Turner G 6-2 Sr. 8.4 2.3
30 Bobby Leach G 6-0 Jr. 5.1 3.7a
32 Marcus Watkins G 6-4 So. 5.0 2.1
11 Luis Clemente F 6-8 So. 4.4 2.5
5 Nick Anderson F 6-6 Sr. 4.3 3.7
23 Keith Blanks F 6-5 Fr. 3.9 1.5
42 Marlon Pompey F 6-8 Fr. 2.8 1.0
12 Dylan Leal G 6-4 Sr. 1.0 0.2
33 Justin Loewe G 6-4 Fr. 0.7 0.3
Tale of the Tape
A&M ULM
Record 5-4 4-9
Conference 0-0 0-0
Ratings Pct. Index (RPI) -- --
Streak L1 L1
Field Goal Pct. .429 .404
Opponent FG Pct. .467 .415
3-Pt. Field Goal Pct. .364 .365
Opponent 3-Pt. Pct. .376 .280
3-Pt. Field Goal Avg. 6.6 5.9
3-Pt. FG Attempts Avg. 18.0 16.0
Free Throw Pct. .668 .607
Opponent FT Pct. .678 .674
Rebound Avg. 39.6 39.8
Offensive Reb. Avg. 15.9 14.1
Rebounding Margin +1.5 -1.4
Turnovers Avg. 13.8 20.1
Opp. Turnovers Avg. 16.8 16.9
Assists Avg. 17.7 13.6
Blocks Avg. 1.6 4.2
Steals Avg. 7.9 8.5
Scoring Avg. 79.8 67.2
Opponent Scoring 77.4 72.3
Scoring Margin +2.4 -5.1
Watkins Quoteboard
"We had Houston on the ropes and should have put them away, but we didn't. That game came down to where we needed to make plays and we just didn't finish. We became clumsy at the wrong time. I was pleased that we seemed to make some progress, for the most part, on defense because that's something we've spent a lot of time on. But we were a little sluggish offensively and just had too many turnovers down the stretch. Louisiana-Monroe is a very capable team that can give us problems. They are a very good defensive team and are very balanced on offense. They shoot it well from three-point range, but they can also score inside if we don't play sound defense. We need to win this one on the road and start to build a little momentum and confidence are we prepare for Big 12 play."
Houston Recap
HOUSTON (AP)-- Andre Owens scored a career-high 41 points to help Houston overcome a late double-digit deficit and beat Texas A&M 70-61 in overtime Saturday. A&M led by as many as 13 points in the second half and had a 49-39 lead with 6:30 left in the game. Owens scored a pair of 3-pointers and a driving layup in just over a minute to cut A&M's lead to 49-47 with 5:15 left. He tied the game at 51 with 2:30 to go with another 3-pointer and made four free-throws in the final minute. His final shot gave the Cougars a 3-point lead with 22 seconds left, but Antoine Wright's 22-foot 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining forced the game into overtime. The Cougars (5-3) went 8-for-8 from the line in overtime to seal the win. Jesse King led the way for A&M (5-4) with 19 points. Wright added 15, while Andy Slocum finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds after going scoreless in the first half. The double-double was Slocum's fourth of the season. The Aggies outrebounded Houston 42-39 but made just 4-of-20 from 3-point range.
Last Year vs. Louisiana-Monroe
COLLEGE STATION (AP, Dec. 22, 2002) -- Bernard King scored 17 points and took the bench with 15 minutes remaining as Texas A&M rolled past Louisiana-Monroe, 107-66. A&M (6-2) used a 3-pointer by Kevin Turner with three minutes remaining to become the first team to score 100 points in the five years A&M has played at Reed Arena. Turner finished with 15 points. The Aggies' 107 points was their most since the 1989-90 season. Louisiana Monroe (2-5) was led by Larry Parker and Kirby Lemons with 14 points each. A&M took a 60-27 halftime lead shooting 74-percent from the floor. Antoine Wright and King each scored 12 in the first half. King helped A&M work out to a 40 point lead, leading the Aggies on a 10-0 run early in the second half. A&M's starters took the bench with over 14 minutes remaining and never returned. A&M took the chance to send in center Andy Slocum for the first time this season. Slocum, who scored six points with three rebounds, sat out the first month of the season recovering from back surgery. A&M took 23 free throws in the second half alone and was 25-36 at the line for the game. The Aggies finished shooting 65-percent from the floor while Monroe committed 25 turnovers.
Quickie Notes
After averaging 40.1 bench points the first seven games, the Aggies have averaged just 15.5 points off the bench in the last two games.
Senior center Andy Slocum has had four double-doubles, tied for the most in the Big 12.
Jesse King has scored in double figures in seven of nine games this season.
Antoine Wright hass averaged 23.5 points in the last two games.
A&M freshman point guard Acie Law has started the last two games and leads the team in assists (4.3) and steals (2.1).
Leandro Garcia-Morales leads the Big 12 in assists-to-turnovers ratio (23-to-7).
As a team, the Aggies rank 11th nationally in assists-to-turnovers ratio (1.28) and are 25th in assists per game (17.7).
The Aggies have averaged just 13.8 turnovers per game, third fewest in the Big 12.
The Aggies rank second in the Big 12 in three-point percentage (.364) and in three-pointers made per game (6.6).
Kevin Turner's career three-point percentage of .430 ranks as the best in school history and is the fifth best in Big 12 annals.Turner ranks third in the league this season in three-point percentage (.515).
A&M ranks last in the Big 12 in scoring defense (77.4), field goal percentage defense (.467) and three-point percentage defense (.376).
A&M is averaging 15.9 offensive rebounds per game, fourth most in the Big 12 and tied for 13th nationally, but are averaging just 16.7 second-chance points.
The Aggies have forced an average of 16.8 turnovers per game but are averaging just 21.0 points off turnovers.
The Aggies are averaging 79.8 points per game, third in the Big 12. The last time A&M averaged more in a season was in 1989-90.
Junior point guard Bobby Leach ranks third in the Big 12 in assists-to-turnovers ratio (2.75) while freshman Acie Law ranks eighth (2.00).