January 30, 2004
GAME#17
Texas A&M Aggies
(7-9, 0-5 Big 12)
vs.
#16 Texas Longhorns
(13-3, 4-1 Big 12)
12:45 p.m. (CST)
Saturday, Jan. 31, 2004
Reed Arena (12,500 cap.)
College Station, Texas
RADIO:
Texas A&M Sports Network
Dave South, play-by-play
Al Pulliam, commentary
Airtime: 12:25 p.m. (CST)
ONLINE: www.AggieAthletics.com
TELEVISION:
ESPN Regional (regional)
Bill Doleman, play-by-play
Reid Gettys, commentary
Facing their third straight nationally-ranked team at home, the Texas A&M Aggies (7-9, 0-5) will be looking for their first Big 12 Conference win when they play the No. 16-ranked (AP; No. 18 by ESPN/USA Today) Texas Longhorns (13-3, 3-1) on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. (CST) at Reed Arena (14,092 cap.) in College Station. The game will be televised regionally by ESPN Regional. The Aggies have lost five straight to open Big 12 play and are coming off a tough 91-82 loss to Iowa State on Wednesday in Ames, Iowa. Texas is coming off a thrilling 62-61 overtime victory against Texas Tech on Monday in Lubbock. The Aggies are 5-3 at home this season but have lost two straight, while the Longhorns are an impressive 3-0 in true road games. Texas leads the series, 123-79, and has won three straight since the Aggies posted an 80-74 win in Austin two years ago. The Longhorns have won nine straight against the Aggies in College Station. Texas coasted to an 89-61 win last year in Austin, but escaped with a hard-fought 95-87 victory in College Station.
About the Longhorns
The Longhorns return four starters and six lettermen from last year's team, which finished 26-7 overall and placed second in the Big 12 with a 13-3 mark. Texas advanced to the NCAA Final Four, where they were eliminated by eventual national champion Syracuse, 95-84. The Longhorns are in their sixth season under head coach Rick Barnes. All three of Texas' losses have come at the hands of top 25-ranked teams as it fell to No. 9 Arizona (91-83), No. 3 Duke (89-61) and No. 24 Oklahoma State (72-67). The Longhorns also have beaten three nationally ranked teams in No. 25 Providence (79-77 in overtime), No. 4 Wake Forest (94-81) and No. 13 Texas Tech (62-61 in overtime). Texas is led by freshman forward P.J. Tucker (6'5"), who is averaging 12.5 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds, while senior guard Brandon Mouton (6'4") is adding 12.4 points. Senior guard Royal Ivey (6'3") is averaging 11.1 points and senior forward Brian Boddicker comes off the bench to contribute 9.7 points per game. Texas leads the Big 12 in scoring (84.2) and also leads the league in rebound margin (+10.4), offensive rebounds (15.9) and three-point field goals per game (7.3).
SERIES
Texas leads the series, 123-79, with a 5-0 record at Reed Arena, but the series is tied, 49-49, in all games played in College Station. Texas has won three straight in the series since an 80-74 A&M win in Austin two years ago. The Longhorns have won nine straight in College Station since an 85-84 A&M win at G. Rollie White Coliseum in 1994. Saturday's game will be the 203rd meeting between the schools, making the Longhorns A&M's most frequent opponent.
TEXAS A&M vs. Texas
(UT leads, 123-79)
Last 10 Games
Year Winner Site
1998-99 UT, 71-59 Austin
UT, 63-54 College Station
1999-00 UT, 78-51 College Station
UT, 85-58 Austin
2000-01 UT, 76-58 College Station
UT, 81-61 Austin
2001-02 A&M, 80-74 Austin
UT, 66-52 College Station
2002-03 UT, 89-61 Austin
UT, 95-87 College Station
COACHES
TEXAS A&M
Melvin Watkins (UNC Charlotte '77)
60-100 at A&M (6th year)
102-120 overall (8th year)
1-9 vs. Texas
1-9 vs. Rick Barnes
TEXAS
Rick Barnes (Lenoir Rhyne '77)
129-53 at Texas (6th year)
331-187 overall (17th year)
11-1 vs. Texas A&M
9-1 vs. Melvin Watkins
SIDEBARS
Texas Associate Head Coach Frank Haith served as associate head coach under Tony Barone at A&M in 1996-97 and was an assistant at A&M under Barone from 1992-95...A&M sophomore forward Luis Clemente and Texas sophomore guard Kenton Paulino were teammates at Maine Central Institute in 2001-02...the last time A&M beat Texas in College Station was in 1994, which was also the last time A&M advanced to postseason play (NIT)...A&M's Leandro Garcia-Morales and Texas' Brandon Mouton squared off at last summer's Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic...Mounton's U.S. team edged Garcia-Morales's Uruguay squad, 74-72...Rick Barnes twice coached Clemson to wins against the Aggies, including a 66-41 win at Clemson in 1994-95 and a hard-fought 76-64 victory for the No. 8-ranked Tigers at G. Rollie White Coliseum in 1996-97.
TENTATIVE STARTERS
TEXAS A&M AGGIES (7-9, 0-5)
No. Player P Ht. Cl. PPG RPG
50 Andy Slocum C 7-0 Sr. 9.8 9.4
3 Jesse King F 6-7 Sr. 13.2 5.8
21 Antoine Wright F/G 6-7 So. 14.6 4.6
10 Leandro Garcia-Morales G 6-1 Sr. 7.1 2.3a
30 Bobby Leach G 6-0 Jr. 4.2 3.9a
Off the Bench
No. Player P Ht. Cl. PPG RPG
1 Acie Law G 6-3 Fr. 7.9 3.7a
22 Kevin Turner G 6-2 Sr. 6.5 1.9
5 Nick Anderson F 6-6 Sr. 5.3 4.1
23 Keith Blanks F 6-5 Fr. 4.3 1.2
11 Luis Clemente F 6-8 So. 3.7 2.1
32 Marcus Watkins G 6-4 So. 3.2 2.2
42 Marlon Pompey F 6-8 Fr. 2.8 1.0
12 Dylan Leal G 6-4 Sr. 0.8 0.1
33 Justin Loewe G 6-4 Fr. 0.5 0.3
WATKINS QUOTEBOARD
"Texas is obviously one of the better teams in the Big 12, but we've got them at home and we hope to have a great crowd. Coming off a Final Four year, they have the confidence it takes to win ball games. We know they won't beat themselves. We've got to do a lot of things right for 40 minutes. We've got to continue rebounding the ball well and we've got to slow down their transition game. They are an oustanding rebounding team and they also have some capable three-point shooters who we can't lose sight of. It's like a broken record for us -- we've been in every game and have to find a way to get over the hump. Our spirits are good and we just have to go out and get a win. Jesse (King) is still not 100 percent (bruised toe) but he's playing well. Andy Slocum has given us quality minutes, but he got into foul trouble at Iowa State and that kind of took him out of the game."
TALE OF THE TAPE
A&M UT
Record 7-9 13-3
Conference 0-5 4-1
Ratings Pct. Index (RPI) 223 18
Streak L5 W1
Field Goal Pct. .435 .454
Opponent FG Pct. .471 .410
3-Pt. Field Goal Pct. .345 .366
Opponent 3-Pt. Pct. .385 .329
3-Pt. Field Goal Avg. 6.6 7.3
3-Pt. FG Attempts Avg. 19.0 20.0
Free Throw Pct. .689 .678
Opponent FT Pct. .681 .742
Rebound Avg. 39.8 44.1
Offensive Reb. Avg. 15.9 18.9
Rebounding Margin +5.4 +10.4
Turnovers Avg. 14.8 13.0
Opp. Turnovers Avg. 14.9 16.4
Assists Avg. 17.2 13.5
Blocks Avg. 1.5 4.0
Steals Avg. 7.0 8.6
Scoring Avg. 77.8 84.2
Opponent Scoring 76.3 69.8
Scoring Margin +1.5 +14.4
Iowa State Recap
AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Will Blalock scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half Wednesday night as Iowa State came from behind to defeat Texas A&M, 91-82. Jared Homan and Jake Sullivan scored 20 points each and Curtis Stinson added 14 as the Cyclones ran their home-court winning steak to 11 games. A&M was led by Jesse King's 21 points. Homan, who missed last Saturday's loss at Baylor with an ankle injury, added 10 rebounds and seven blocks while playing 38 minutes. Iowa State set a Big 12 record by attempting 53 free throws (making 37) in conference game after 36 A&M fouls. Iowa State was 28-of-42 at the line in the second half as A&M was whistled for 25 fouls. Iowa State attempted just two field goals in the last 5˝ minutes and kept the Aggies at bay by making 14-of-15 free throw attempts in the last two minutes. Iowa State trailed by as many as eight points in the first half and was down 36-29 before scoring the last four points of the half to cut the deficit to three, 36-33, at halftime. Blalock scored eight points as Iowa State opened the second half with a 14-3 run and never trailed the rest of the way. A&M, which got 17 points from Antoine Wright, 14 in the first half, and 13 by Acie Law, trailed 87-82 after a 3-pointer by Wright with 14 seconds to play, but Iowa State put the game out of reach on a pair of free throws by Homan with 14.8 seconds remaining.
Last Year vs. Texas in College Station
COLLEGE STATION (AP, Feb. 8, 2003) -- T.J. Ford scored 19 points and Royal Ivey helped put the clamps on Bernard King as the third-ranked Texas Longhorns held on for a 95-87 Big 12 Conference victory over Texas A&M. Sydmill Harris added 17 points off the bench for Texas. Ivey, who finished with 16 points, drained two free throws with 11:41 remaining to give Texas the lead for good, 69-67. The lead was still two points after Bradley Jackson split a pair from the line with just under six minutes left to get A&M within 80-78 but A&M never goit closer than four the rest of the way. The Longhorns shot 80 percent at the free-throw line as they drained 32 of 40 attempts.Freshman Antoine Wright matched a season high with 25 points to lead A&M, which lost consecutive games for the first time in 2002-03. Leandro Garcia-Morales added 15 points for the Aggies. The game was played before a school-record crowd of 12,633.
Last Year vs. Texas in Austin
AUSTIN (AP, Jan. 18, 2003) -- T.J. Ford scored a career-high 25 points to lead No. 4-ranked Texas to an 89-61 win over Texas A&M. The Longhorns broke a 2-point game open early with a 16-1 run inside a 3-minute span of the first half. Ford scored seven consecutive points, followed by a Brandon Mouton jumper, to put Texas up by 17 with six minutes to go before halftime. A&M, which committed 15 first-half turnovers, shot just 35 percent in half but took a bit of momentum into the locker room when Bernard King sank a half-court shot at the buzzer to make the score 43-28. King scored the Aggies' first seven points in the second half to cut the UT lead to nine with 17 minutes to go. Texas responded with a 15-4 run capped by a Royal Ivey layup to go up 59-39 with 11:20 left. The Longhorns led by as much as 32 on the night. A&M was paced by King's 16 points while Antoine Wright added 11 points and 6 boards. Jason Klotz was the only other Longhorn in double figures with a career-best 15 points. James Thomas tied a season high with 16 rebounds while scoring 9 points, while Brad Buckman scored 8 points and grabbed 12 boards. A&M shot a season-low 30 percent on the night and was outscored in the paint 34 to 16.
QUICK NOTES
*Senior center Andy Slocum has had six double-doubles, second most in the Big 12, and is averaging 10.9 points and 10.6 rebounds in the last nine games. Slocum is tied for the Big 12 lead in rebounding in conference play (10.8).
*Jesse King, A&M's second leading scorer and rebounder, missed the Kansas game with a bruised toe but has bounced back to averaged 14.0 points in the last three games, including a 21-point, 11-rebound performance at Iowa State, despite being less than 100 percent.
*Leandro Garcia-Morales has averaged 10.3 points and made 62 percent from the field and 56 percent from three-point range (14-of-25) in the last seven games. Garcia-Morales scored a career-high 17 points at Kansas State.
*Nick Anderson has averaged 8.0 points and 7.2 rebounds as a starter in the last four games.
*Acie Law has averaged 13.5 points in the last two games.
*The Aggies have posted a rebounding margin of +10.5 in the last seven games. The Aggies have outrebounded 13 of 16 opponents, including eight straight, and have outrebounded their opponents on the offensive boards in every game.
*While Texas leads the Big 12 in rebounding margin for the season (+10.4), A&M leads the league in conference play (+6.2). The teams are tied for the lead in offensive rebounds in league play (16.4).
*The Aggies rank 11th nationally in season offensive rebounding (15.9) while Texas ranks No. 1 (18.9).
*The Aggies rank second in the Big 12, and 32nd nationally, in assists (17.2) and also rank third in the league in assists-to-turnovers ratio (1.16).
*A&M is the only team in the Big 12 to have all of its conference games to this point decided by single digits. For the season, A&M has had 10 games decided by 10 points or less (with a 3-7 record), second most in the league behind Missouri's 12.
*A&M ranks last in the Big 12 in scoring defense (76.3), field goal percentage defense (.471) and three-point percentage defense (.385).