Texas A&M
LOUISIANA-MONROE
A&M Goes to 7-0 with Big Win over Indians
Dec 15, 2004 | Men's Basketball
December 15, 2004
Texas A&M shot 56 percent from the floor and took advantage of 30 Louisiana-Monroe turnovers as the Aggies improved to a perfect 7-0 with a 78-36 win over the Indians Wednesday night before 4,579 fans at Reed Arena.
A&M set the tone early with an 18-4 run off the opening whistle, before ULM bounced back to pull within six at 23-17 with 7:42 left in the half. The Aggies, however, allowed just three more points the rest of the period and took a 40-20 lead into the locker room.
The solid play by A&M continued in the second half as the Indians were able to manage just five points through the first 10 minutes after the break. By that time Texas A&M held a 37-point lead.
The Aggies were led by Antoine Wright's 21 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Acie Law added 15 points, seven assists and three steals. Dominique Kirk was also in double-figures for Texas A&M with 12.
No Louisiana-Monroe players reached double figures. Three players-DeAndre Alexander, Darien Bynum and Bryan native Daryl Mason-all scored eight points on the night.
Louisiana-Monroe's 36 points were the third fewest in the school's history. A&M has held three opponents to 40 points or less this season and is allowing just under 50 points per game this year.
Texas A&M returns to action Sunday at 7 p.m. when the Aggies host Chicago State at Reed Arena.
Postgame Quotes & Notes
ULM Head Coach Mike Vining:
"In our preparations we talked about how A&M was going to get up and over play, they were going to contest the pass. We were going to have to back-door cut and set good screens. After is started it looked like maybe we psyched them out. They did exactly what we thought they'd do, they did a great job of it, and we had 30 turnovers. We could never get anything going offensively, and that took us away defensively. I've always said if you want to take somebody's heart out, you do it with defense, not with offense, and that's what they did to us. We made a run, but it wasn't out of our offense. It was more one-on-one stuff. Even though we hit a couple of shots, thats not the way we play, that's not the way you have to play to win. They were a little more physical than some we've faced, and they got up into the passing lanes more. A lot of people get up even with you, but they overplayed us and it seemed like it just blew some of our guys' minds. They played with an awful lot of confidence, and they challenged us."
Texas A&M Sophomore Acie Law:
"There really wasn't too much to complain about. Coach still finds things to get on us about because you can't be perfect. All in all I think we came out and gave a great performance tonight. After last Saturday's performance against Alabama A&M the team wanted to come out and turn it around and get a good win."
Texas A&M Junior Antoine Wright:
"Coach is a firm guy and he's not going to bend of break for anybody. if you don't have a good week in practice, you can expect to come off the wood. However you practice is how he's going to trust you in the game. I didn't have a good week in practice and coach didn't know how I was going to be mentally coming off the game Saturday. But I came off the bench and had a good attitude, so coach played me. I didn't really play as good as I could have in the last game. I didn't come out agressive and it carried over into practice. It kind of got in my head and I wanted to come out today and be more aggressive. Much respect to this team, they have a lot of great athletes and they play really hard. Tonight we just played good defense. Coach had a lot of respect for this team coming in, and we expected it to be a lot tighter. Confidence comes from our defense."
Texas A&M Coach Billy Gillispie:
"I was really proud of their effort. Everyone really went out and played hard. We're still making way too many careless turnovers and we've got to cut those things out. Free throws are becoming a concern but its not something I really like to talk about a lot. We made 9 of 21 so maybe we should start talking about it. It's like an epidemic. When you start missing them, everyone sort of follows suit and that's not very good. We've got to do much better. You can't win close games, or conference games, if you don't make free throws. But I'm hopeful we'll start making them, and I'm hopeful we'll stop turning the ball over. But I'm also hopeful that we'll keep guarding like we're guarding. I've got unbelieveable respect for coach Vining -- he's one of the best coaches around. They've got a nice team. Because of our defense, we were able to make them not play as well as they normally do. It was a fun win for us tonight. Our defensive positioning is getting better, we're contesting shots and we're doing a lot of little things, but we've still got a long way to go. I want a perfect defensive game every day in practice, but that's not possible because it's a game of mistakes. But when they makes mistakes, they understand what they should have done so now it just takes repetition. I'm proud of this team so far because they're trying to do what I'm asking them to do. Even when we don't play well -- and we made a ton of mistakes tonight -- we just try to get better. Monroe is a much better team than they played tonight."
A&M Notes:
*The Aggies are 7-0, their best start since the 1980-81 team started 7-0. It's the best start for a first-year coach at A&M since Tubby Graves went 11-0 in 1915-16.
*ULM's 36 points were the third fewest in the school's history.
*This is the second time this season A&M has allowed just 36 points (the other was UT-Permian Basin). Before this season, the last time A&M allowed fewer points in a game was in 1958-59, when the Aggies beat Texas, 73-29.
*A&M entered the game leading the nation in scoring margin (+29.5) and defensive field goal percentage (.309) and improved on both those numbers tonight, winning by 42 points and sllowing the Indians to make just .264 from the field.
*A&M came in ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense (51.8) and improved that considerably by allowing just 36 points.
*The 42-point margin tied for the 10th largest in school history. Three of the 10 largest winning margins in school history have been posted this season, including a record 62-point (98-36) win against UT-Permian Basin.
*A&M has out-rebounded all seven opponents.
*ULM had 30 turnovers. The last time an opponent had more was Prairie View A&M with 31 in 1983-84.
*Senior Bobby Leach had a career-high 5 steals.
*Junior Antoine Wright had 21 points with 9 rebounds. Wright has had two double-doubles this season and missed two more by just one rebound.
*Sophomore Acie Law had 15 points and 7 assists with no turnovers. Law came in ranked second in the Big 12 in assists with 5.7 per game.
*This was the fifth game this season in which A&M has made at least 50 percent from the field.
*This is the sixth time this season A&M has held its opponent under 40 percent from the field and the thrid time its been under 30 percent.
