Texas A&M
SAINT JOSEPH'S
Aggies' Historic Season Ends with 58-51 Loss to St. Joe's
Mar 23, 2005 | Men's Basketball
March 23, 2005
Pat Carroll scored 22 points and Dwayne Lee added 13, including a big 3-pointer with 76 seconds left, to lead Saint Joseph's to a 58-51 win over Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of the NIT on Wednesday night.
Lee drilled a 3 from the corner that gave the Hawks a 51-46 lead, then he made two free throws. Carroll added four straight free throws to clinch the victory.
Saint Joseph's (23-11) advanced to the NIT semifinals in New York and will face either Memphis or Vanderbilt next Tuesday night.
Antoine Wright led A&M with 21 points in what could have been his final college game. The 6-foot-7 junior will seriously consider an early jump into the NBA draft.
Playing their fourth game in eight days and seventh in 14, the Hawks managed to hold off the Aggies with another smothering defensive effort and some timely baskets by Carroll.
Saint Joe's, holding NIT opponents to just 51 points, hardly ever gave A&M an open look at the basket. The Hawks banged around Wright and freshman center Joseph Jones throughout the game and relied on their defense because their offense never got on track.
They had as many field goals as turnovers (6) in the unsightly first half, shooting just 26 percent and making only one field goal from inside the 3-point arc. But Saint Joe's still went into the break with a 27-19 lead, mostly because A&M shot only 32 percent, and Jones and point guard Acie Law got in early foul trouble.
Early in the second half, Law started an 11-0 run with a layup. Marlon Pompey ended the spurt with a short jumper, giving A&M its first lead at 32-31 and rousing the school-record crowd of 13,151.
In between, Wright took control on both ends of the floor, making a deep 3 over Carroll and then forcing Carroll to shoot an airball as the shot clock expired on the next possession. Wright later poked away a pass and drove in for a three-point play, cutting Saint Joe's lead to 40-39.
But Carroll recovered to keep the Hawks from collapsing down the stretch, coming off a screen for a 3 and snaking his way into the lane for jumper.
Saint Joe's center Dwayne Jones broke open the game by making a thunderous two-handed slam despite being fouled. He made the free throw to complete the three-point play, giving the Hawks a 48-44 lead with 2:25 left.
Jones finished with seven points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, and totally frustrated his counterpart, Joseph Jones.
Joseph Jones, who had been averaging 19.5 points in the previous two NIT games, had only eight points on 2-of-10 shooting.
The Hawks came up with a dramatic end to an improbably successful first season by A&M coach Billy Gillispie. The Aggies made the nation's biggest turnaround with a 14-game improvement from the 7-21 finish last season that got Melvin Watkins fired.
A&M hadn't advanced so far in the postseason since 1982, when they also lost in the NIT quarterfinals.
The Aggies dropped to 17-3 at Reed Arena this season, with its only other losses coming to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
Notes
*A&M finishes the season 21-10, tying for the third most wins in school history (21-6 in 1975-76). The only seasons A&M had more wins was in 1978-79 (24-9) and 1979-80 (26-8).
*Tonight.s attendance of 13,151 was the largest in school history, the fourth time the record has fallen this year. A&M's four sellout tie for the third most in the Big 12 with Oklahoma State (Oklahoma had seven and Kansas had 16). A&M's season average of 8,148 was the best in school history.
*A&M's 14-win improvement is the best in the country this season and is the best in A&M history.
*Billy Gillispie's 21-10 record is the best by a first year coach in A&M history. Shelby Metcalf has the previous best inaugural season with an 18-7 mark in 1963-64.
*St. Joe's made just 34.1 percent from the field, the lowest percentage ever allowed by the Aggies in postseason play (.352 by Nevada in the 1979 NIT).
*A&M's season defensive field goal percentage of .394 tied the school record set in 1961-62. Only one opponent (Oklahoma) in 31 games shot better than 48 percent against the Aggies.
*A&M came into the game ranked 12th nationally in three-point percentage (.395), but made just 4-of-15 (.267) tonight.
*A&M's season three-point percentage of .389 is the best in school history.
*A&M had just eight turnovers, its second fewest of the year. A&M had seven in the loss to Kansas State at the Big 12 Tournament.
*St. Joe's made more three-point field goals (8) than two-point field goals (6).
*Antoine Wright scored 21 points, giving him 1,338 in his career and moving him into ninth on the A&M career chart.
*Wright made 3-of-6 three-pointers, improving his season percentage to .447 (71-159) an A&M record. The 71 three-pointers is the third most in school history.
*Billy Gillispie had an 18-win improvement at UTEP last year and a 14-win improvement this year at A&M. No coach in the history of college basketball has had two teams lead the nation in improvement in consecutive seasons.
QUOTES
St. Joseph's Senior Guard Pat Carroll:
"Antoine Wright was without a doubt one of the best defenders I faced the whole entire season. Sometimes I tire myself out a little bit running off of all those screens. Usually the defenders get tired up there, but he was an amazing defender. He was with me the whole entire game. He never seemed to get tired. He's a great defender. Dwayne Lee and the other guards did a great job of controlling the tempo of the game and not letting it get into a running match. Usually we win our games from our defense. Whenever we didn't let them score, we were able to slow the game down. That allowed it not to get out of hand. Its important to get out to a fast start, especially on the road. We knew we were going to have to do that in order to win this game. This crowd was unbelievable. Like Coach was saying, I was happy to hear them cheer so much for their team. When things get loud, it does give the other team momentum."
St. Joseph's Head Coach Phil Martelli:
"For those that have seen us for the first time, that's the way we play. We really try to control tempo, knowing that if we let people get a run and be free-wheeling we're going to be in a little bit of trouble. I think offensively we certainly looked for more balance and it's unusual for Chet Stachitas to go 0 for 8. I don't think Pat (Carroll) shot particularly well, other than the foul line. That is a tribute to the way they were guarding. On the defensive end of the floor we wanted Wright to be alone. Knowing that Law, Jones and Leach have hurt other teams and knowing that the atmosphere would be that way, we really wanted to concentrate on making it just Wright as often as we could. We threw a couple different defenders at him. Chet Stachitas did a nice job as did John Bryant. We mismatched their four-man. We put Pat (Carroll) on Pompey and Walker. It was a great atmosphere. I salute the people here. I think that Billy Gillispie is going to do some unbelievable things here. He's always been a guy that I have found does things with integrity and class. I knew that we would come in here and be treated well. The fans were great, they cheered for their team. It's not like that at a lot of places that we go. The administration here at Texas A&M can be proud because they didn't treat us like visitors. They treated us appropriately because it was a post season game. I want to thank all of them. I really feel for this group. We were 3-6 on January 1 and were kind of kicked to the side. To win 20 games since then and be one of the last eight teams practicing come Sunday is really a tribute to the inner character of these players."
Texas A&M Senior Bobby Leach:
"I'm happy that we won all these games and we made it this far. I'm real upset that we lost this game. I wanted to win this game bad. I know they're going to have more seasons like this. Being a part of this team meant a lot to me. We did a lot of things that nobody thought we were going to do. I was real happy with the season we had."
Texas A&M Junior Antoine Wright:
"We all expected to keep playing hard. Like coach said, we couldn't get our shots to fall. I think we got good looks, but we couldn't put it in. They kept getting offensive rebounds. We could have done a better job, including myself, at trying to get some of those rebounds. They take a lot of long shots and the ball bounces long. We knew that coming into the game and they were ready to go after those balls. Like coach said, he came (to A&M) yelling. I don't think he's going to stop yelling. Coach is a winner. He knows what it takes to win. Most of the year we did a good job of listening and trying to figure out what it took to win. All year long he told us it was going to come down to making plays and finishing layups. As crazy as it sounds, we didn't think we'd be layups away from getting into the final four of the NIT. He was right, as much as I hate to say. He was right again. Coach is a winner and he brought a winning attitude to our team. I think there's still a lot of things left to be done, but we did a great job this year. We started two freshmen and a walk-on. I can't say how much every person on our team did every day. This year shows that each day counts. We just did a good job of playing together. Next year we'll know what it takes to go on further."
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Gillispie:
"It was a tough game. Even though we lost, what a great way to end your season, right here in front of as many fans who had ever seen a game here, especially a post-season game. Great effort by both teams, defensively especially. We couldn't make enough shots to win. We just couldn't get over the hump, but we never quit trying. I'm so proud of my team, not only about tonight, but about everything we've accomplished. Thanks to every single fan who showed up. They tried to do everything they could to help us, we just couldn't help ourselves enough to win. Give St. Joe's a lot of credit. They're a really good team and they played great on the road to win. I think the fan support was there, but I didn't think that we provided enough for them to get going as well as they could. Again, give St. Joe's credit. They played the game exactly the way they needed to. They hit big shots when they needed to, they made all their foul shots. I think that had we played like we played against Texas Tech and some other places, this would have been by far the best crowd. They tried their hearts out just like our team did, but we just didn't give them enough. We never had a great run during the game. I hope it's just the start. I hope we have another team as close as this and as tough as this. I hope every team has all the intangibles that this team has. I'm not saying that because it's over. I've been saying this for the last two months. I've never seen a tougher team, I've never seen a closer team, I've never seen a more giving team. We weren't the best team in the country as far as beating other teams, but I don't think anybody played the game as hard as us or played together as well as we did. We made the most out of what we had. I think that's the greatest accomplishment. These guys gave maximum effort. They got every single thing they could out of their abilities. It was a fun year. Everybody has to lose their last game except two teams. We got beat and I'm sorry we let our fans down. They've been fantastic all year long. If we can move forward from here, we're definitely heading in the right direction."
