Texas A&M
COLORADO
Aggies Fall to Colorado
Feb 28, 2004 | Men's Basketball
February 28, 2004
Blair Wilson scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half, including three straight 3-pointers that put Colorado ahead for good, as the Buffaloes beat Texas A&M 76-70 Saturday.
David Harrison had 21 points and eight rebounds to lead Colorado (17-8, 9-5 Big 12). Michel Morandais scored 12 points with nine assists.
Texas A&M (7-18, 0-14) lost its 14th straight and wrapped up its home schedule without a conference victory. The Aggies' only chances for a conference win are at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State next week. Kevin Turner led Texas A&M with 21 points.
The Aggies led 42-36 at halftime on 50 percent shooting. But A&M was held to just 29 percent in the second half (7-of-24).
Colorado used a 9-2 run early in the second half to cut the A&M lead to two points. A layup by Lamar Harris tied the game at 49-49. Harris scored six points in a row during the stretch and finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
Three of A&M's seven field goals in the second half came in the final minute after Colorado already had built a double-digit lead.
With the game tied at 51, Wilson hit the 3-pointers, separated only by a pair of free throws by Harrison as Colorado jumped out to a 62-55 lead.
Three of A&M's seven field goals in the second half came in the final minute after Colorado had already built a double-digit lead.
Wilson hit 6-of-6 at the free-throw line in the final 1:05.
Postgame Notes
- Kevin Turner scored a career-high 21 points. His previous best was 18 last year against Princeton in the Cable Car Classic. Turner tied his career best with five three-pointers (eight attempts). He also made five earlier this year against UTSA and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Turner has made 39-of-98 three-pointers this season (.433) and is challenging the school record of .427 shared by Tracey Anderson (1996-97) and Lynn Suber (1989-90). Turner's career percentage of .417 (83-of-199) is the best in A&M history.
- Antoine Wright scored 16 points, his fifth straight game in double figures. In the last five games, he's averaged 14.8 points and made 49 percent from the field (24-of-49) and 50 percent from three-point range (9-of-18).
- A&M entered the game as the top rebounding team in the Big 12 in conference play with an average margin of +6.4, but was out-rebounded by Colorado, 38-30, the biggest margin posted on the Aggies this season. A&M had been out-rebounded just four times in the first 24 games and only once in Big 12 play (at Texas).
- A&M led at halftime for the fifth time in Big 12 play. 12 of A&M's 14 conference games have been within six points at halftime. Of the Aggies 25 games this season, 16 have been decided by 10 points or fewer. 12 of A&M's 14 league games were decided by 12 points or fewer. A&M has had a second-half lead against nine Big 12 opponents.
- Colorado made .491 from the field, the sixth straight opponent to make at least 49 percent from the field against the Aggies. 11 of 14 Big 12 opponents have made at least 48 percent from the field against the Aggies.
- After playing sparingly in the last three games because of a stomach virus, Leandro Garcia-Morales scored 10 points in 23 minutes of play. He played just 29 minutes in the previous three games combined.
- Andy Slocum scored 11 points, his most since he had 11 against Texas Tech at Reed Arena on Jan. 24. However, Slocum had just four rebounds, a season low for league play and his fewest since he had two in just seven minutes of play at Oakland on Dec. 6. Slocum has posted 541 career rebounds, 16th most in A&M history.
- Dylan Leal's late three-pointer was the 27th of his career and his fourth of the year.
Postgame Quotes
TEXAS A&M SENIOR GUARD LEANDRO GARCIA-MORALES: "We were trying to give effort. It was a special day for the seniors and with our families in attendance. Things just haven't gone our way this year."
TEXAS A&M SENIOR GUARD KEVIN TURNER: "The first half we came out with more energy. We didn't make as many mistakes. In the second half we seemed to make one pass and shoot. We had more mental mistakes. We've seen it the whole year, we seem to have a let down at some point. We're fortunate we have two more games left on the schedule and everyone is disappointed in the season but we will not quit."
TEXAS A&M COACH MELVIN WATKINS: "It seemed to be the same story with mental mistakes. I appreciated the effort of the players. I thought we got some good looks but did not knock them down. Colorado is playing good basketball right now. (What did CU do in the second half) Colorado wanted to make the shooters dribble and not just take the pass and shoot. Much like we wanted to do to their shooters. Kevin had some good looks (in the second half) but they didn't go down. At halftime I wanted to stop the game. We felt good, but we knew they would not quit. I thought we played hard and I can live with that. Sometimes the other team is just better. I have a better feeling today than the Baylor game. We gave great effort, but we were not quite smart enough. We made too many mental mistakes. The seniors are special and you get attached to them and they become part of your family. We've got a couple of more games to play. I was proud of the crowd. They showed great Aggie Spirit coming out to support our seniors and I appreciate them coming out. (CU) Harrison is an NBA player in a college uniform."
COLORADO HEAD COACH RICARDO PATTON: "We had the right mental mindset in the second half. We shot 54% in the first half and yet we were down six. We needed to come out and play better defense. Blair Wilson stretched the lead with some threes and Michel Morandais is very unselfish and did a good job of creating some open shots.The perimeter game opens up the game down low. We've got some very unselfish players and they came out and gritted their teeth and played defense. We didn't guard anyone in the first half. There is a very thin line between Texas A&M and us and a thin line between success and failure. I respect Melvin Watkins and I hope he is given more time."
COLORADO JUNIOR CENTER DAVID HARRISON: "We came out and had the mind set they had to score through us or over us. Garcia (Leandro Garcia-Morales) had an amazing first half. We boxed out and tried to limit them to one shot. I thought our guards rebounded well."
