November 26, 2004
GAME #3
Texas A&M AGGIES
(2-0, 0-0 Big 12)
vs.
UT-Permian Basin FALCONS
(0-5, 0-0 RRAC)
3 p.m. (CST)
Saturday, Nov. 27, 2004
Reed Arena (12,500 cap.)
College Station, Texas
RADIO:
Texas A&M Sports Network
Dave South, play-by-play
Al Pulliam, commentary
Airtime: 6:45 p.m. (CST)
ONLINE: www.AggieAthletics.com
TELEVISION:
None
Postgame Satellite Highlight Feed
6-6:15 p.m. (Central)
Galaxy 3, Transponder 7
TICKETS:
Available at Reed Arena.
($12, $10, $6)
The Texas A&M Aggies (2-0, 0-0 in Big 12) battle the Texas-Permian Basin
Falcons (0-5, 0-0 in the Red River Athletic Conference) on Saturday at 3
p.m. (CST) at Reed Arena (12,500 cap.) in College Station. The Aggies are
2-0 at home after opening the season with consecutive wins against North
Carolina A&T 89-56) and Trinity (67-48). The Aggies have been idle since
beating Trinity on Tuesday. The Falcons, members of the National Association
for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), are coming off an 86-73 loss to Sul
Ross at home on Tuesday. UTPB is 0-3 in road games this season. The Aggies
and Falcons have never played before.
About UTPB
UTPB is in its third year of playing intercollegiate basketball. The Falcons
finished 4-25 last season, including a 4-15 mark in conference play. They
opened the season with three straight road games, losing to Wayland Baptist
(106-70), Lubbock Christian (107-73) and Texas-Arlington (77-63). UTPB then
lost consecutive home games to Lubbock Christian (83-53) and Sul Ross
(86-73). The Falcons' best performance may have been against UTA, when they
connected on 51 percent from the field and out-scored the Mavericks, 43-36,
in the second half. The Falcons are in the first season under coach Billy
Mims, who previously served nine years as a professional league head coach
in England. UTPB is led by junior guard Marlo Saunders (6'5"), who is
averaging 19.8 points and 6.8 rebounds. Saunders averaged 22.1 points last
season while making 38 percent from three-point range. Saunders scored 24
points against UTA. Sophomore guard Lamar Cannon (6'4") is adding 10.0
points per game and had connected 50.0 percent from three-point range
(10-of-20) and 100 percent from the free throw line (12-of-12). Cannon
scored 21 points and made five three-pointers against Sul Ross. Junior guard
Art Garcia (6'2") contributes 9.4 points and leads the team with 4.2 assists
per game, while junior center Lawrence Kingcade (6'8") adds 8.4 points and
has made 63.0 percent from the field.
The Coaches
TEXAS A&M
Billy Gillispie (Texas State '83)
2-0 at A&M (1st year)
32-32 overall (3rd year)
1-0 vs. UTPB
0-0 vs. Billy Mims
UTPB
Billy Mims (Bapt. College of Charleston)
0-5 at UTPB (1st year)
79-91 overall (7th year)
0-0 vs. Texas A&M
0-0 vs. Billy Gillispie
Sidebars
Last year at UTEP, Billy Gillispie led the Miners to a 109-49 victory
against UTPNB in El Paso, the largest margin of victory in his head coaching
career and the second largest margin in UTEP history...three UTPB players
are from Killeen High School, where Gillispie served as an assistant coach
from 1985-87...Gillispie later served as head coach at Killeen Ellison High
School from 1990-93.
Tentative Starters
TEXAS A&M AGGIES (2-0, 0-0)
No. Player Ht. Cl. PPG RPG Other
30 Joseph Jones 6'9" Fr. 10.5 7.0 1.0 blk
4 Edjuan Green 6'7" Jr. 7.0 5.5 1.5 stl
21 Antoine Wright 6'7" Jr. 18.5 7.0 85% FT
22 Dominique Kirk 6'3" Fr. 6.5 2.0 2.0 ast
1 Acie Law 6'3" So. 10.0 2.5 4.5 ast
Off the Bench
No. Player Ht. Cl. PPG RPG Other
42 Marlon Pompey 6'8" So. 8.5 4.5 7-7 FG
2 Marcus McIntosh 6'0" So. 7.0 2.0 1.5 ast
11 Luis Clemente 6'8" Jr. 2.5 0.0
23 Brian Gahan 6'4" Sr. 1.5 1.5 1.0 ast
15 Bobby Leach 6'0" Sr. 4.5 2.0 2.5 ast
33 Justin Loewe 6'4" So. 2.0 0.0 --
24 Stephen Davenport 6'3" Fr. 0.5 0.5 --
5 Kenneth White 6'1" Fr. 0.0 0.5 --
10 Chris Walker 6'5" Jr. 0.0 0.0 --
40 Slade Weishuhn 6'9" Fr. -- -- --
Gillispie Quoteboard
"I think there were a lot of good things that came out of the Trinity game.
We stuck together when it was tough and would not give in when we were
playing not very well. That's a positive. It's always nice to win. You can
learn a lot of lessons winning. People say you build character by losing,
but I don't believe in that. You can build character and those kind of
things with wins. You can only win one at a time and that's what we did. I
thought we were pretty persistent defensively. When we were clicking
defensively we were pretty good, but we made so many mental errors. Young
teams are going to do that. We have to pay more attention to detail and we
have to be a more mature group. We're still learning a lot of things."
Tale of the Tape
(2004-05 stat comparison)
A&M PB
Record 2-0 0-5
Conference 0-0 0-0
Ratings Pct. Index (RPI) -- --
Streak W2 L5
Field Goal Pct. .490 n/a
Opponent FG Pct. .309 n/a
3-Pt. Field Goal Pct. .321 n/a
Opponent 3-Pt. Pct. .323 n/a
3-Pt. Field Goal Avg. 4.5 n/a
3-Pt. FG Attempts Avg. 14.0 n/a
Free Throw Pct. .770 n/a
Opponent FT Pct. .615 n/a
Rebound Avg. 38.0 n/a
Offensive Reb. Avg. 11.0 n/a
Rebounding Margin +8.0 n/a
Turnovers Avg. 18.5 n/a
Opp. Turnovers Avg. 24.5 n/a
Assists Avg. 13.0 n/a
Blocks Avg. 2.0 n/a
Steals Avg. 9.5 n/a
Scoring Avg. 78.0 n/a
Opponent Scoring 52.0 n/a
Scoring Margin +26.0 n/a
Trinity Recap
COLLEGE STATION -- Antoine Wright scored 21 points and had nine rebounds to
lead Texas A&M to a 67-48 victory over Trinity Tuesday night. Joseph Jones
scored 11 points and Dominique Kirk added 10 for the Aggies (2-0). Senior
Jason Morris led the Tigers (1-2) with 14 points while Andy Bates scored 13
points. Division III Trinity kept it close for the first 30 minutes of play
but was outmatched by A&M's depth in the final minutes of the game. The
Aggies broke away from the Tigers in the final 10 minutes, going on a 19-6
run to close. The Tigers, who rely on their shooting, shot just 30 percent
from the field.
Keeping Up With Jones
Freshman Joseph Jones had an impressive college debut against North Carolina
A&T, scoring 10 points with 10 rebounds. It marked only the second time in
A&M history that a freshman had posted a double-double in his first game.
The other was Winston Crite, who had a 24-point, 15-rebound performance
against Texas Lutheran in 1983-84. Jones followed with an 11-point effort
against Trinity. Jones ranks second on the team in scoring (10.5) and is
tied for the team lead in rebounding (7.0) and blocks (1.0). Jones is tied
for the Big 12 lead in free throw percentage at 100.0 percent (11-of-11).
Pompey Pays Off
Sophomore Marlon Pompey played sparingly last year as a freshman because of
a nagging leg injury, but he still managed to make 9-of-11 shots from the
field. Against North Carolina A&T in the opener, he scored a career-high 12
points with five boards while making 6-of-6 from the field. He followed with
a career-high five rebounds, along with five points, against Trinity. Pompey
leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage at 100.0 percent (7-of-7). In his
career, Pompey has made an incredible 16-of-18 (.889) from the field.
A Record Crowd
The North Carolina A&T game attracted an attendance of 6,929, the best for a
home opener in school history. The previous best was 6,511 against North
Texas in the first game played at Reed Arena in 1998-99. The crowd also was
the third best for a non-conference home game in school annals behind the
record of 7,192 against LSU in 1981-82 (G. Rollie White Coliseum) and 7,075
against Long Beach State in 2001-02 (Reed Arena).
Gillispie's Big Debut
The 33-point margin of victory against North Carolina A&T was the best by
the Aggies in a season opener since 1981-82, when A&M beat St. Edwards,
104-57. The margin was the biggest by an A&M coach in his first game since
1942-43, when Manning Smith's Aggies beat Duncan Field, 60-21. A win against
UT-Permian Basin would Make Gillispie only the second coach since the
mid-1930s to start his A&M career with three straight wins.
The Wright Stuff
Junior Antoine Wright, a preseason All-Big 12 pick by the league's coaches
and media, leads the team in scoring with an 18.5 average and is tied for
the lead in rebounding at 7.0. Wright scored 21 points with nine rebounds
against Trinity, his best rebounding effort since he had 12 against Kansas
in the second Big 12 game last season. It was the 14th 20-point game of
Wright's career.
Stout Defense
Through two games, A&M has allowed just 52.0 points per game while limiting
its opponents to just 30.9 percent field goal accuracy, best in the Big 12.
In addition, A&M has forced a conference-best 24.5 turnovers per game.
Random Notes
Five Aggies scored in double figures and a sixth (Marcus McIntosh) scored
nine against North Carolina A&T...freshman Dominque Kirk scored 10 points
against Trinity after having just three in the opener...A&M has made a
blazing 77.0 percent from the free throw line so far, second best in the Big
12...A&M made 68.4 percent from the line last season...senior Bobby Leach
scored six points against Trinity, his most since he scored eight last
December against A&M-Corpus Christi.