December 28, 2004
The Texas A&M Aggies (9-0, 0-0 in Big 12) end the longest home stand in school history when they play the Houston Cougars (8-4, 0-0 in Conference USA) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. (central) at Reed Arena (12,500 cap.) in College Station.
The Aggies are playing their 10th straight home game. A&M is off to its best start since the 1959-60 team began the year with a 10-0 mark and was ranked No. 8 nationally, the highest in school history. The Aggies have been idle since a 97-66 win against Grambling State at home on Dec. 22, while the Cougars are coming off a 110-63 loss at No. 12-ranked Washington on Dec. 24, which ended a four-game winning streak.
First-year coach Billy Gillispie is off to the best coaching start in Aggieland since Tubby Graves began his career with an 11-0 mark in 1915-16. The Aggies are 9-0 at home this season, their longest home winning streak since the 1985-86 team won nine straight at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
Houston is making its first appearance in College Station since the final year of Southwest Conference play in 1996. The Cougars are 1-3 in true road games. Houston leads the series, 53-29, including a 70-61 overtime win last year in Houston.
GAME #10
Texas A&M AGGIES
(9-0, 0-0 Big 12)
vs.
Houston COUGARS
(8-4, 0-0 C-USA)
7 p.m. (central)
Wednesday, Dec. 29, 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. (central)
ONLINE: www.AggieAthletics.com
TELEVISION:
None
Postgame Satellite Highlight Feed
9:45-10 p.m. (Central)
Galaxy 3, Transponder 7
TICKETS:
Available
$12, $10, $6
PROMOTION:
*"Holiday Hoops 2-for-1"
Fans can purchase two tickets for the price of one for any men's or women's
game through Jan. 5.
About Houston
The Cougars return seven lettermen and three starters from last year's team that finished 9-18 overall and finished 13th in Conference USA with a 3-13 mark. Houston is in its first season under coach Tom Penders, who coached at the University of Texas from 1988-98. The Cougars losses have been on the road to Missouri (77-61), Ohio State (78-61), Rice (74-73) and No. 12 Washington (110-63). They have beaten Missouri (57-55) and Sam Houston State (72-69) at neutral sites and won five home games, including an 81-72 win against LSU on Dec. 21. UH is led by senior guard Andre Owens (6'4"), who is averaging 18.8 points and scored 41 points against the Aggies last season. Sophomore guard Lanny Smith (6'3") adds 14.0 points and 4.2 assists, while junior forward Ramon Dyer (6'7") is contributing 9.3 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds.
The Series
Houston leads the series, 53-29, and has won four straight, including a 70-61 overtime win last year in Houston. A&M leads in games played in College Station, 21-15, although the teams have never played in Reed Arena. A&M's last win in the series came in 1995, when the Aggies posted a 73-68 win at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The last time they played in College Station, UH won, 86-80 at GRW.
TEXAS A&M vs. Houston
(UH leads, 53-29)
Last 10 Games
Year Winner Site
1992-93 Houston, 81-69 College Station
Houston, 78-51 Houston
Houston, 84-68 Dallas
1993-94 A&M, 67-60 Houston A&M, 93-87 College Station
1994-95 A&M, 73-68 College Station
Houston, 86-80 Houston
1995-96 Houston, OT 78-67 Houston
Houston, 79-75 College Station
2003-04 Houston, OT 70-61 Houston
The Coaches
TEXAS A&M
Billy Gillispie (Texas State '83)
9-0 at A&M (1st year)
39-32 overall (3rd year)
1-1 vs. Houston
0-0 vs. Tom Penders
HOUSTON
Tom Penders (Connecticut '67)
8-4 at UH (1st year)
535-365 overall (31st year)
21-3 vs. Texas A&M
0-0 vs. Billy Gillispie
Sidebars
A&M assistant coach Alvin Brooks was the head coach at Houston from 1993-98 and was an assistant there from 1986-93...Brooks was 6-3 against the Aggies...Brooks coached against Tom Penders many times when Penders was at Texas (1988-98)...Penders is 21-3 against the Aggies...the last time he faced an A&M team was in 2000, when his George Washington team beat the Aggies, 94-74, in the season opener in Washington, D.C....Billy Gillispie's UTEP team lost at Houston, 56-47, in 2002-03, but bounced back for an 88-61 win last year in El Paso...Gillispie was an assistant at Baylor from 1994-97 when Penders was head coach at Texas.
Tentative Starters
TEXAS A&M AGGIES (9-0, 0-0)
No. Player Ht. Cl. PPG RPG Other
30 Joseph Jones 6'9" Fr. 11.3 7.6 1.4 blk
10 Chris Walker 6'5" Jr. 4.9 2.1 72% FG
21 Antoine Wright 6'7" Jr. 17.8 6.9 55% FG
22 Dominique Kirk 6'3" Fr. 9.1 2.8 3.9 ast
1 Acie Law 6'3" So. 11.6 3.4 6.0 ast
Off the Bench
No. Player Ht. Cl. PPG RPG Other
4 Edjuan Green 6'7" Jr. 7.4 5.5 70% FG
15 Bobby Leach 6'0" Sr. 5.9 2.0 3.2 ast
42 Marlon Pompey 6'8" So. 4.7 3.8 58% FG
2 Marcus McIntosh 6'0" So. 2.9 0.9 --
5 Kenneth White 6'1" Fr. 2.7 0.9 --
33 Justin Loewe 6'4" So. 2.3 0.6 --
11 Luis Clemente 6'8" Jr. 2.9 2.3 --
24 Stephen Davenport 6'3" Fr. 0.4 0.4 --
3 Brian Blackburn 5'8" So. 0.0 0.0 --
25 Matt Koeneke 6'6" So. 0.0 0.0 --
Gillispie Quoteboard
"Houston is really a good team. Coach Penders has done as good a job as you could possibly do. He had some returning guards who have experience and that's a perfect situation for him to go into. They recruited well and recruited to the strength of his coaching ability. It'll be a very difficult challenge for us. They are playing extremely well right now. You can throw out the game at Washington. They didn't play all that poorly that game, either. Washington made everything they shot. They do a good job of scoring and playing to their strengths. They force help and when you help they end up getting easy baskets. They play with great purpose. We've defined ourselves as a team that's going to play hard and we're going to play to our abilities. Hopefully, that and the strengths we have will be good enough to win in conference. I don't know if it will or not. I know that for us, our margin of error is very small because of our lack of experienced players and because of our roster. But we won't let anyone define us. We defined ourselves a long time ago."
Tale of the Tape
(2004-05 stat comparison)
A&M UH
Record 9-0 8-4
Conference 0-0 0-0
Ratings Pct. Index (RPI) 190 95
Sagarin Rating 99 115
Current Streak W9 L1
Field Goal Pct. .531 .415
Opponent FG Pct. .324 .451
3-Pt. Field Goal Pct. .390 .347
Opponent 3-Pt. Pct. .273 .385
3-Pt. Field Goal Avg. 5.9 7.8
3-Pt. FG Attempts Avg. 15.1 22.6
Free Throw Pct. .623 .687
Opponent FT Pct. .629 .676
Rebound Avg. 42.3 34.5
Offensive Reb. Avg. 14.3 12.3
Rebounding Margin +12.2 -5.4
Turnovers Avg. 17.1 14.7
Opp. Turnovers Avg. 21.1 20.6
Assists Avg. 21.8 13.0
Blocks Avg. 4.4 4.7
Steals Avg. 8.9 10.8
Scoring Avg. 83.7 73.2
Opponent Scoring 53.7 71.8
Scoring Margin +30.0 +1.4
Grambling State Recap
COLLEGE STATION (AP) -- Antoine Wright scored 23 points and had a career-high seven assists to lead Texas A&M to a 97-66 victory over Grambling State last Wednesday night. The Aggies (9-0) jumped out to a 20-0 lead and shot 83 percent from the field for the first 12 minutes of play, increasing their lead to 38-12. They shot 57.6 percent from the field for the game. Joseph Jones scored a career-high 19 points while Edjuan Green added another 14 points and 11 rebounds for Texas A&M. Maurice Searight scored 16 points to lead Grambling. Andre Ratliff added 11. Grambling State (3-3) shot 34 percent from the field. A&M, under new coach Billy Gillispie, is off to its best start since the 1959-60 team began the year at 10-0.
Last Year vs. Houston
HOUSTON (AP, Dec. 27, 2003)-- Andre Owens scored a career-high 41 points to help Houston overcome a late double-digit deficit and beat Texas A&M 70-61 in overtime. A&M led by as many as 13 points in the second half and had a 49-39 lead with 6:30 left in the game. Owens scored a pair of 3-pointers and a driving layup in just over a minute to cut A&M's lead to 49-47 with 5:15 left. He tied the game at 51 with 2:30 to go with another 3-pointer and made four free-throws in the final minute. His final shot gave the Cougars a 3-point lead with 22 seconds left, but Antoine Wright's 22-foot 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining forced the game into overtime. The Cougars (5-3) went 8-for-8 from the line in overtime to seal the win. Jesse King led the way for A&M (5-4) with 19 points. Wright added 15, while Andy Slocum finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds after going scoreless in the first half. The Aggies outrebounded Houston 42-39 but made just 4-of-20 from 3-point range.
Looking Ahead to Penn State
The Aggies embark on their first road trip of the season on Sunday to meet Penn State of the Big 10 Conference at 1 p.m./Noon (Eastern/Central) in State College, Pa. The only other game between the schools came in 1972-73, when the Aggies posted a 62-55 victory at the All-College Classic in Oklahoma City. Penn State was 5-5 going into Tuesday's game against Valparaiso at the Arizona State tournament. They play another tournament game on Wednesday. The Nittany Lions, in the second year under coach Ed DeChellis, finishing 9-19 last year and finished 10th in the Big 12 with a 3-13 mark. They return six lettermen and two starters from that team, including sophomore guard Marlon Smith, who averaging 13.4 points as a freshman.
Big 12 Play Looms
A&M opens Big 12 play next Wednesday against No. 2-ranked Kansas in Lawrence, Kan. The Jayhawks are the only Big 12 team A&M has never beaten. Kansas coach Bill Self and A&M coach Billy Gillispie are close friends, Gillispie served as an assistant to Self for three years at Tulsa (1997-00) and for two years at Illinois (2000-02). Gillispie helped recruit many of the players now at No. 1-ranked Illinois, giving him strong ties to the top two teams in the AP rankings. After that, the Aggies take a week-long hiatus before returning home to play host to No. 15-ranked Texas.
Quick Notes
*A win against Houston would hand the Aggies a 10-0 start for the first time since 1959-60 and would match their longest winning streak since 1959-60.
*A win would give coach Billy Gillispie a 10-0 start, the second best in A&M history for a first-year coach behind Tubby Graves 11-0 start in 1915-16.
*A win would extend A&M's home winning streak to 10 games, its longest since it won 10 straight at G. Rollie White Coliseum from 1984-86.
*Junior Antoine Wright, a preseason All-Big 12 pick, has posted three double-doubles. He is one of only two Big 12 players to rank in the top 11 in the league in scoring (3rd, 17.8), rebounding (11th, 6.9) and field goal percentage (5th, .546).
*Freshman Joseph Jones has had two double-doubles and ranks sixth in the Big 12 in rebounding (7.6). He's the only Big 12 freshman to average at least 10.0 points and 7.0 rebounds.
*Sophomore Acie Law ranks second in the Big 12 in assists (6.0) and has averaged 13.0 points in the last four games.
*Junior Edjuan Green has averaged 12.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in the last two games.
*A&M leads the nation in field goal percentage defense (.324) and scoring margin (+30.0) and is fifth in scoring defense (53.7).
*The Aggies lead the nation in assists (21.8) and are second in field goal percentage (.531).
*The Aggies have out-rebounded all nine opponents and rank sixth nationally (first in the Big 12) in rebounding margin (+12.2).
*A&M is forcing an average of 21.1 turnovers per game, most in the Big 12.
*A&M has been out-scored in just one of 18 halves they've played this season.
*A&M leads the Big 12 in seven statistical categories and ranks in the top six in all but two.
*A&M is averaging 18.8 fast break points after averaging 7.8 last season.