Texas A&M
TEXAS SOUTHERN
Texas A&M 81, Texas Southern 56
Dec 27, 2005 | Men's Basketball
December 27, 2005
Joseph Jones had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Acie Law also scored 15 in Texas A&M's 81-56 victory against Texas Southern on Tuesday night.
The Aggies (9-0) made seven of their first nine shots to take a 16-6 lead and used their size advantage to score 26 of their 44 first-half points inside. Texas A&M outscored Texas Southern 42-16 inside for the game.
The Tigers (2-10) were led by Justin Wilson's 15 points. Sean Walker scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half.
Texas A&M's Antanas Kavaliauskas came off the bench with 13 points, 11 in the first half, and seven rebounds. Law added four assists and four steals for the Aggies, who scored 29 points off 26 Texas Southern turnovers.
Postgame Quotes
Texas A&M junior Acie Law:
"We were sloppy with the ball tonight. Hopefully we can get a lot better. At least we got the 'W'. We have to get better tomorrow at practice.I was able to read their passes weel and get a few easy baskets. Our defensive plays helped us get some easy baskets on offense tonight. At half time coach stressed them scoring so much, and we came out and tried to shut them down. They still got 27 points in the second half, which I think is too many, but the most important thing is that we got the 'W'.
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Gillispie:
"It was a good win for us. We are still making a lot of mistakes. Hopefully at some point we will start to play smarter. We are still having one half where we just don't shoot well. That is going to come back and bite us if we keep that up. Part of that has to do with taking poor shots. We need to start playing inside-out if we want to have a chance for success. We still are not making good decisions. We threw the ball away too many times when we were trying to get it to Joseph (Jones). We can't make those mental errors. We had 12 turnovers at the half, and we can't do that. They are not forced turnovers either, we are creating them ourselves. We have to get much better at playing smart, but we will. We are still searching for our rotation of players. We have eliminated some guys, we need more guys to come to the forefront. We are an immature group right now, who do some good things, but there is no consistency. That immaturity will drive you crazy as a coach. We have a lot to work on before conference, it is coming on us quickly. We have ten days. Joseph Jones is carrying us right now. He is the only one who has been playing up to his full potential for us. He has responded well to the responsibility we have put on him to lead us. I don't doubt the rest of the team will be performing above their expectations before too long."
A&M NOTES:
*A&M has won 22 straight regular-season non-conference games.
*A&M is 9-0 at home this season and 26-3 at home the last two years.
*A&M is 9-0 for the season straight season. Prior to last season, the last time A&M had a 9-0 start was in 1959-60.
*Joseph Jones scored 15 points with 10 rebounds, his second double double of the year and the ninth of his career. Jones played only 20 minutes because of illness.
*Acie Law scored 15 points and tied his career high with four steals. Law has scored in double figures in all but the Grambling game, when he scored eight points in eight minutes before suffering a concussion early in the second half.
*Antanas Kavaliauskas scored 13 points with a career-high seven rebounds. He has scored in double figures in three of the last four games.
*A&M committed 19 turnovers, its second most of the season (22 vs. North Texas).
*TSU made just 32.7 percent from the field, a season-low for an A&M opponent.
*TSU had 26 turnovers. Six of nine A&M opponents have had at least 20 turnovers.
*A&M posted a +14 rebounding margin, its best of the year.
*Martellus Bennett scored nine points and tied his career-best with six rebounds.
*The Aggies had six blocked shots, tying their season high (Savannah State).
