January 05, 2004
Game notes for Tuesday's home non-conference finale against Long Island...
GAME #11
Texas A&M Aggies (6-4, 0-0 Big 12)
vs.
Long Island Blackbirds (4-6, 0-0 Northeast) 7 p.m. (CST)
Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004
Reed Arena (12,500 cap.)
College Station, Texas
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 game of the regular season, the Texas A&M Aggies (6-4) play the Long Island Blackbirds (4-6) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (CST) at Reed Arena (12,500 cap.) in College Station. The Aggies open Big 12 play against Missouri on Saturday (12:30 p.m., ESPN Regional TV) in Columbia, Mo. A&M is coming off a 75-67 road victory at Louisiana-Monroe last Saturday, while Long Island has been idle since a 72-68 win against Norfolk State last Wednesday in the consolation game of the North Charleston Shootout in Charleston, S.C. A&M is 4-1 at home while LIU is 1-4 in true road games.
ABOUT LONG ISLAND: The Blackbirds return three starters and six lettermen from last year's team, which finished 9-19 overall and tied for eighth in the Northeast Conference with a 7-11 mark. Long Island is in its second season under head coach Jim Ferry. The win against Norfolk State ended a three-game losing skid for the Blackbirds. Long Island is led by senior forward Raymond Edwards (6'7"), who is averaging 12.2 points and 6.6 rebounds. Edwards scored 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting in the win against Norfolk State. Guard James Williams (5'10"), a freshman from DeSoto, Texas, adds 10.4 points and leads the team in assists (4.1) and three-pointers per game (1.6), while freshman forward Esa Maki-Tulokas (6'7") contributes 10.0 points and a team-best 7.2 rebounds. Rounding out the starting lineup are freshman forward Eugene Kotorobai (6'5), who averages 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds, and sophomore guard Aubin Scott (6'2"), who adds 6.6 points and 3.2 assists. As a team, the Blackbirds are averaging 68.1 points per game and are making just 39.8 percent from the field and 32.2 percent from three-point range. Long Island also is averaging 19.5 turnovers per game. Defensively, LIU is allowing 73.6 points per game on 42.1 percent field goal shooting and have limited their opponents to 28.0 percent on three-pointers.
THE SERIES: The series is tied 1-1, with A&M posting a 99-96 win the last time they met in the first round of the 1989 Lobster Shootout in Bangor, Maine. Long Island won the first meeting between the schools with a 66-52 victory at New York's Madison Square Garden in the 1949-50 season opener. A&M is 1-2 overall against current members of the Northeast Conference.
TEXAS A&M vs. Long Island (Tied, 1-1) Year Winner Site 1989-90 A&M, 99-96 Bangor, Maine 1949-50 LIU, 66-52 New York City
THE COACHES
- TEXAS A&M: Melvin Watkins (UNC Charlotte '77)
- 59-95 at A&M (6th year)
- 101-115 overall (8th year)
- 0-0 vs. Long Island
- 0-0 vs. Jim Ferry
LONG ISLAND: Jim Ferry (Keene State '90)
- 13-25 at LIU (2nd year)
- 117-44 overall (5th year)
- 0-0 vs. Texas A&M
- 0-0 vs. Melvin Watkins
SIDEBARS: Long Island has four Texas high school players on its roster -- sophomore forward Brandon Thomas (Converse Judson HS, San Antonio), sophomore guard Morgan Williams (Plano East HS, Plano), freshman guard James Williams (Desoto HS) and freshman forward Chris Barksdale (Clear Brook HS, Friendswood)...in high school, James Williams' DeSoto team faced off against Acie Law's Kimball HS team several times... A&M's New York connection is Associate Head Coach Lew Hill, who was an all-state guard in the early 1980s at Mount Vernon HS in Mount Vernon, N.Y....A&M trainer Shone Gipson worked for the NFL's Buffalo Bills in 2002-03 before coming to A&M...the last time A&M played a team from the state of New York was at the 2000 Rainbow Classic in Hawaii, when they beat Manhattan, 72-64, in a second-round consolation game...Long Island may be the first men's basketball team from the state of New York ever to play in College Station (records are sketchy prior to 1950)...A&M coach Melvin Watkins is 2-0 in his career against teams from New York, beating Canisius, 54-51, as head coach at Charlotte in 1996-97, and downing Manhattan, 72-64, as head coach at A&M in 2000-01...in the last 18 years, A&M is 3-15 in non-conference games played prior to conference openers.
WATKINS QUOTEBOARD: "I was pleased with our defensive effort against Louisiana-Monroe. I thought we had great weakside help and did a good job of pressuring the ball. We also did a great job of rebounding, particularly on the defensive boards. I was really pleased with what we did on the defensive end because we caused them to miss shots and we limited their offensive rebounds. But at the same time, we had way too many turnovers and that's something we've got to fix. Defensively, we've improved quite a bit the last couple of weeks but we've got to continue to improve. And we still have to learn how to finish games. We had Houston on the ropes and let them get back up, and also had a big lead against Monroe. We need to get the win against Long Island as we head into conference play. They are another solid defensive team that will help us evaluate where we are right now."
LOUISIANA-MONROE RECAP: MONROE, La. -- Jesse King and Antoine Wright scored 19 points apiece to lead Texas A&M to a 75-67 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night. A&M (6-4) built a 19-point lead early in the second half and withstood a rally in the final minutes from Louisiana-Monroe (4-10). ULM used a 14-3 run to pull to within 52-44 with 8:18 left, but the Aggies stretched the lead to 15 points and the Indians never got closer than seven points with 18 seconds left. The Aggies outrebounded the Indians 43-16 with Wright, Andy Slocum and Acie Law each grabbing eight. John Andrews sparked the Indians in the second half, scoring 11 of his team-high 17 points in the second half. Aaron Branch added 11 points for the Indians, all in the final 20 minutes. In the opening minutes, A&M hit its first four 3-point shots and jumped to a 16-3 lead. The Aggies were 54.2 percent in shooting for game. Wright was 6-of-13 from the field, 3-of-8 from the 3-point range and 4-of-6 from the line. King was 6-of-8 from the field, 1-of-3 from the 3-point range and 6-of-6 from the line. Leandro Garcia-Morales added 14 points for A&M, hitting all four 3-point attempts. ULM forced the Aggies into 28 turnovers, while the Indians committed 11.
REED ARENA: The Aggies are 4-1 (.800) at Reed Arena this season and 14-5 (.737) in the last two years. A&M has an overall home record of 40-33 in the six years since the facility opened in 1998, including three wins against top 25-ranked teams from Oklahoma (1999), Oklahoma State (2000) and Missouri (2003). Prior to that, the Aggies had not defeated a ranked opponent at home since beating No. 11-ranked Arkansas, 74-69, at G. Rollie White Coliseum in 1978-79. The Aggies finished 10-4 at home last season,their best home record in the five-year history of the facility. The last time A&M won more home games was in 1985-86 (11-1) at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The Aggies also went 10-4 at GRW in 1993-94. A&M has won more than 10 home games just six times in school history.
2-FOR-1 TICKETS: Tuesday's game against Long Island is the final opportunity for fans to take advantage of Texas A&M's two-for-one holiday ticket special. The offer is good for all seating sections, including courtside and mezzanine. Tickets must be purchased at the Reed Arena Ticket Office (979-862-7333).
QUICKIE NOTES
- After averaging 40.1 bench points the first seven games, the Aggies have averaged just 14.0 points off the bench in the last three games.
- Senior center Andy Slocum has had four double-doubles and is averaging 12.7 points and 10.7 rebounds in the last three games.
- Jesse King has scored in double figures in five straight games, averaging 15.4 points and 6.6 rebounds in that span.
- Antoine Wright has averaged 22.0 points in the last three games.
- Leandro Garcia-Morales scored a season-high 15 points and made 4-of-4 three-pointers against Louisiana-Monroe.
- As a team, the Aggies rank 31st nationally in scoring (79.3), 18th in offensive rebounding (15.5) and are 31st in assists (17.4).
- Prior to the Louisiana-Monroe game, the Aggies averaged just 13.8 turnovers per game, but had a whopping 28 turnovers against the Indians.
- The Aggies rank third in the Big 12 in three-point percentage (.374) and are second in three-pointers made per game (6.7).
- 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 fourth in the league this season in three-point percentage (.515).
- A&M ranks last in the Big 12 in scoring defense (76.4), field goal percentage defense (.460) and three-point percentage defense (.371), but has allowed just 68.5 points and 39.5 percent shooting (.313 on three-pointers) in the last two games.
- The Aggies have forced an average of 16.2 turnovers per game but are averaging just 20.2 points off turnovers.
- Junior point guard Bobby Leach ranks fifth in the Big 12 in assists-to-turnovers ratio (2.38) while freshman Acie Law ranks 11th (1.73).
- The Aggies had a huge 43-16 rebounding edge against Louisiana-Monroe, one of the most dominating rebounding performances in school history.