February 12, 2004
GAME #21
Texas A&M Aggies
(7-13, 0-9 Big 12)
vs.
Oklahoma Sooners
(15-5, 5-4 Big 12)
12:47 p.m. (CST)
Saturday, Feb. 14, 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
Fred White, play-by-play
Reid Gettys, commentary
Still looking for their first Big 12 win of the season, the Texas A&M Aggies (7-13, 0-9 in Big 12) will battle the Oklahoma Sooners (15-5, 5-4 in Big 12) on Saturday at 12:47 p.m. (CST) at Reed Arena (12,500 cap.) in College Station. The game will be televised regionally by ESPN Regional. The Aggies have had second-half leads in six of their nine conference games and are coming off a disappointing 83-77 loss to Nebraska at home on Wednesday. Oklahoma has won five of its last six games and is coming off an impressive 63-48 win against No. 18-ranked Texas Tech at home on Wednesday. The Aggies are 5-6 at home this season, losing five straight (four to nationally-ranked teams) while the Sooners are 2-3 in true road games. Oklahoma swept the Aggies last season, winning by scores of 75-68 in Norman and 69-64 in College Station. The Sooners lead the series, 19-1, and have won eight straight against the Aggies.
About Oklahoma
The Sooners return two starters and four lettermen from last year's team, which finished 27-7 overall and finished third in the Big 12 with a 12-4 mark. Oklahoma advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, losing to eventual national champion Syracuse, 63-47. The Sooners are in their 10th season under head coach Kelvin Sampson. Oklahoma started the season 10-0, then lost four straight, including three straight to start Big 12 play. Since then, they have won five of six games. The Sooners were ranked as high as No. 6 nationally earlier this season. Oklahoma is led by sophomore guard De'Angelo Alexander (6'4"), who is averaging 10.5 points and 4.8 rebounds, while freshman guard Drew Lavender (5'7") also is averaging 10.5 points and ranks seventh in the Big 12 with 3.8 assists per game. Senior guard Jason Detrick (6'5") is averaging 10.3 points, freshman guard Lawrence McKenzie (6'1") is adding 8.3 points and senior Jabahri Brown (6'10")is contributing 7.8 points and a team-best 5.4 rebounds. The Sooners lead the Big 12 in steals (9.3) and turnover margin (+4.7) and rank second in scoring defense (59.8). OU ranks 11th in the league in scoring offense (66.9) and is 12th in field goal accuracy (.410).
SERIES
Oklahoma leads the series, 19-1, and has won eight straight since a 74-72 A&M victory in the first meeting at Reed Arena in 1998-99. Since then, OU has won four straight in College Station. In all games played in College Station, OU leads, 7-1. The last three meetings have all been decided by seven points or fewer. Four of the five games played at Reed Arena have been decided by single digits.
TEXAS A&M vs. Oklahoma
(OU leads, 19-1)
LAST 10 GAMES
Year Winner Site
1998-99 Oklahoma, 64-59 Norman
A&M, 74-72 College Station
1999-00 Oklahoma, 78-53 Norman
Oklahoma, 77-59 College Station
2000-01 Oklahoma, 78-65 Norman
Oklahoma, 72-63 College Station
2001-02 Oklahoma, 89-63 Norman
Oklahoma, 68-64 College Station
2002-03 Oklahoma, 75-68 Norman
Oklahoma, 69-64 College Station
COACHES
TEXAS A&M
Melvin Watkins (UNC Charlotte '77)
60-104 at A&M (6th year)
102-124 overall (8th year)
1-9 vs. Oklahoma
1-9 vs. Kelvin Sampson
OKLAHOMA
Kelvin Sampson (Pembroke State '78)
229-86 at Oklahoma (10th year)
405-234 overall (21th year)
14-1 vs. Texas A&M
9-1 vs. Melvin Watkins
SIDEBARS
A&M guard Leandro Garcia-Morales and Oklahoma center Jabahri Brown were high school teammates at Champagnat High School in Hileah, Fla....former A&M forward Tomas Ress, now playing professional basketball in Italy, also was a member of that same prep team...Oklahoma assistant coach Jimmy Tubbs is a former head coach at Dallas Kimball High School (1982-90), where A&M freshman guard Acie Law later starred.
TENTATIVE STARTERS
TEXAS A&M AGGIES (7-13, 0-9)
No. Player P Ht. Cl. PPG RPG
50 Andy Slocum C 7-0 Sr. 9.1 9.7
3 Jesse King F 6-7 Sr. 13.3 5.7
21 Antoine Wright F/G 6-7 So. 13.2 4.2
10 Leandro Garcia-Morales G 6-1 Sr. 7.8 2.3a
1 Acie Law G 6-3 Fr. 7.5 4.0a
Off the Bench
No. Player P Ht. Cl. PPG RPG
22 Kevin Turner G 6-2 Sr. 6.3 1.6
5 Nick Anderson F 6-6 Sr. 6.0 4.3
23 Keith Blanks F 6-5 Fr. 4.4 1.3
30 Bobby Leach G 6-0 Jr. 3.8 3.5a
11 Luis Clemente F 6-8 So. 3.4 1.9
32 Marcus Watkins G 6-4 So. 3.1 2.3
42 Marlon Pompey F 6-8 Fr. 2.9 1.0
12 Dylan Leal G 6-4 Sr. 0.8 0.2
33 Justin Loewe G 6-4 Fr. 0.5 0.3
WATKINS QUOTEBOARD
"We foul too much, we are not playing as well defensively as we should be and our execution is going down. We are playing hard, but we have mental breakdowns where we turn the ball over and make mistakes. I thought our starters' energy level was not what it should be. No one deserves to play if they don't play hard. I didn't think (Antoine Wright) was playing with the energy he needed to play with. Kevin Turner didn't play at all for reasons I am not going to discuss. Guys have to understand you have to come in and play hard no matter who you are. They have to play hard and within the game plan. I looked out there at one point and we had three freshmen on the floor. It doesn't matter who is out there if they are playing hard. We rebound the ball well, maybe the best in the conference, but we aren't making the plays down the stretch to get us over the hump. Oklahoma struggled a bit at the start of conference play, but they have really come on. They are a young team but they play hard and are very well coached. "
TALE OF THE TAPE
A&M OU
Record 7-13 15-5
Conference 0-9 5-4
Ratings Pct. Index (RPI) 226 36
Streak L9 W1
Field Goal Pct. .424 .410
Opponent FG Pct. .471 .410
3-Pt. Field Goal Pct. .335 .325
Opponent 3-Pt. Pct. .391 .352
3-Pt. Field Goal Avg. 6.5 6.3
3-Pt. FG Attempts Avg. 19.4 19.3
Free Throw Pct. .685 .665
Opponent FT Pct. .703 .696
Rebound Avg. 40.1 35.5
Offensive Reb. Avg. 16.6 14.1
Rebounding Margin +6.2 +0.3
Turnovers Avg. 14.8 14.4
Opp. Turnovers Avg. 13.8 19.1
Assists Avg. 16.5 13.0
Blocks Avg. 1.4 5.2
Steals Avg. 6.2 9.3
Scoring Avg. 76.2 67.0
Opponent Scoring 76.8 59.9
Scoring Margin -0.6 +7.1
Nebraska Recap
COLLEGE STATION (AP) -- Nate Johnson hit four free throws in the final minute of play and scored 19 points to lead Nebraska to an 83-77 victory over Texas A&M. Nebraska only hit two field goals in the last 14 minutes of play, but hit 25-of-26 free throws over the same stretch to outlast A&M. A&M lost its ninth straight game. The Aggies were led by Jesse King's 18 points and seven rebounds. A&M opened the game 0-of-6 from the field, allowing Nebraska to get out to an early 8-1 lead. Back-to-back scores from Acie Law along with just three Nebraska points in the final five minutes of the first period opened the door for the Aggies. A last second shot by Bobby Leach gave A&M a 33-32 halftime edge. The lead was shortlived as the Huskers' opened the second half on an 18-3 run to take a 50-36 lead. Nebraska's fast start hit a road block midway through the second half, as the Cornhuskers could not get any open looks and kept heading to the line. A&M trailed by as little as three with 1:04 remaining, but Nebraska hit all eight of its free throws in the final minute to hold on to the win.
Last Year vs. OU at Reed Arena
COLLEGE STATION (AP/March 1, 2003) -- Hollis Price scored 23 points and led a strong three-point shooting effort as No. 3-ranked Oklahoma held on for a 69-64 Big 12 Conference victory over Texas A&M. A senior point guard, Price has been a steady influence all season for the Sooners, who entered off of Wednesday's 67-52 loss at Missouri which coach Kelvin Sampson said he had no explanation for the poor performance. Price led the way again Saturday, scoring 14 points in the opening half for the Sooners, who remained tied with Texas in the conference standings, one game behind first-place Kansas. Price hit four of the Sooners' nine 3-pointers. Ebi Ere added 12 points for Oklahoma, which led by as many as 17 points in the second half before the Aggies crawled to within three in the waning seconds. But Price made two foul shots with 7.3 seconds remaining to seal the victory. Bernard King netted 17 points and Tomas Ress 11 for the Aggies.
Last Year vs. OU in Norman
NORMAN, Okla.(AP/Jan. 28, 2003)- Bernard King became Texas A&M's all-time leading scorer and the Aggies fought back from a 19-point second-half deficit but fell just short in a 75-68 loss at No. 6 Oklahoma.
King moved past Vernon Smith, who scored 1,778 points for the Aggies from 1977-81. Hollis Price scored 24 points and Ebi Ere had 18 for the Sooners, who extended the nation's longest home winning streak to 33 games. The Aggies got 21 points from King. Oklahoma put together a 14-0 run in the first half to get control after a listless start in which it committed six of its 11 turnovers. The Aggies led 13-9 before Price made a 3-pointer and followed with a short bank shot. Ere added a short jumper and two free throws in the spurt. The Aggies, meanwhile, went scoreless for nearly seven minutes. Oklahoma scored the first seven points of the second half to build a 48-29 lead. Texas A&M gradually chipped away and got within 68-61 with 3:44 left. The Aggies nearly cut the margin to four, but a 3-point try by Kevin Turner with 2:55 remaining rimmed out. White then hit a jumper in the lane to make it 70-61, and after an A&M turnover, Kevin Bookout scored on a pass from Price for an 11-point lead with 1:51 to play.
Quick Notes
*Senior center Andy Slocum has had seven double-doubles, second most in the Big 12, and leads the league in rebounding in conference play (10.8). For the season, Slocum's 9.7 average ranks second in the Big 12 and 19th nationally.
*Senior forward Jesse King leads the team in scoring for the season (13.3) and in conference play (13.5).
*Leandro Garcia-Morales has averaged 10.3 points and made 49 percent from the field and 46 percent from three-point range in the last 11 games. He has scored in double figures in eight of nine Big 12 games.
*The Aggies rank third nationally in offensive rebounding (16.6), second most in the Big 12. In league play, A&M leads the conference in offensive boards (17.7). However, the Aggies are averaging just 16.7 second chance points overall and only 17.1 in conference play.
*The Aggies have posted a rebounding margin of +10.0 in the last 11 games. The Aggies have outrebounded 17 of 20 opponents, including 12 straight, and have outrebounded their opponents on the offensive boards in all but one game.
*A&M leads the Big 12 in rebounding in conference play (+7.6), more than double the margin of the No. 2-ranked team. A&M's season margin of +6.2 ranks second in the Big 12 and 18th nationally.
*The Aggies rank second in the Big 12 in assists in league play (14.7), but rank 11th in turnover margin (-3.8).
*A&M is 1-10 when it commits 15 or more turnovers and it is 2-10 when it allows 14 or more points off turnovers.
*A&M is the only team in the Big 12 to have all of its conference games to this point decided by 12 points or fewer. The Aggies have led in the second half in six games and have been within four points in the final two minutes of six games.
*A&M ranks last in the Big 12 in scoring defense (76.8) and is 11th in three-point percentage defense (.391) and field goal percentage defense (.471).