March 03, 2006
The Texas A&M men's basketball team closes the regular season against the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday at 12:47 p.m. at the United Spirit Arena. Game notes:
The Coaches
| GAME INFO |
| Saturday, March 4, 12:47 p.m. (CST) United Spirit Arena (12,500), Lubbock, Texas |
| RECORDS |
| Texas Tech: 14-15, 6-9 Big 12 (T-7th) Texas A&M: 19-7, 9-6 Big 12 (4th) |
| RANKINGS |
| Neither team is ranked. |
| RADIO |
| (KAGG-FM 96.1 in Bryan/College Station) Dave South, play-by-play Colin Killian, commentary |
| TELEVISION |
| Bob Carpenter, play-by-play Reid Gettys, commentary |
| SATELLITE RADIO |
| Sirius Channel 117 |
| INTERNET |
| Live Stats: (texastech.com) Live Audio: (aggieathletics.com-subscription service) |
| SERIES |
| Texas Tech leads, 60-52 In Lubbock: Tech leads, 34-14 at United Spirit Arena: Tech leads, 4-2 Last Meeting: (1/7/06) |
| UP NEXT |
| Big 12 Tournament Quarterfinals Friday, March 10, 2 p.m. (CST) American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas TV: ESPNU/ESPN Plus/ESPN Full Court |
- Record: 70-49 (4th year)
- at Texas A&M: 40-17 (2nd year)
- vs. Texas Tech: 2-3
TEXAS TECH: Bob Knight (Ohio State '62)
- Record: 868-348 (40th year)
- at Texas Tech: 104-59 (5th year)
- vs. Texas A&M: 10-4
TEXAS A&M: Billy Gillispie (Texas State '83)
Key Game Notes
- A&M has won six straight games, the longest current winning streak in the Big 12. The Aggies' last loss was to Texas in Austin on Feb. 4 (83-70).
- The Aggies are 9-6 in Big 12 play, their most wins since conference play began in 1996-97. A&M will be the No. 4 seed at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament, its highest seeding in the league's 10-year history.
- A&M is coming off a dramatic 46-43 win against No. 6-ranked Texas at home on Wednesday.
- Texas Tech has lost three straight and is coming off a 77-66 loss at Baylor on Wednesday.
- The Aggies are 3-5 in road games (3-4 in Big 12), but have won two straight. A&M has had close road losses at Pacific (63-56), Oklahoma State (79-77), Kansas State (58-54), Oklahoma (71-63) and Texas (83-70).
- Tech is 12-3 at home (5-2 in Big 12) with a narrow 71-70 loss to Oklahoma in its last home game on Feb. 20.
- A&M is 8-3 in the last 11 games.
- A&M opened Big 12 play with a 63-55 win against Tech on Jan. 7 in College Station. Tech won last year's game in Lubbock, 70-56.
About Texas Tech
- The Red Raiders have advanced to postseason play four straight years, including three NCAA appearances.
- Tech went 22-11 last year and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 with wins against UCLA and Gonzaga.
- Two of the Red Raiders' last four losses have been by two points or fewer.
- Tech coach Bob Knight needs just 12 victories to pass North Carolina's Dean Smith as the winningest coach in college basketball history.
- The Red Raiders are led by junior guard Jarrius Jackson, who leads the Big 12 with a 20.2 scoring average.
- Tech leads the Big 12 in three-point percentage, making 38.8 percent.
Sidebars
- A&M's Joseph Jones and Tech's Darryl Dora were AAU teammates with Houston Select.
- A&M coach Billy Gillispie began his college coaching career as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at South Plains College in Levelland in 1993-94.
- Tech basketball trainer Jon Murray is a 1997 graduate of Texas A&M.
Projected A&M Starters
| No. | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Class | PPG | RPG | APG |
| 1 | Acie Law IV | 6-3 | 185 | Jr-2L | 16.1 | 2.8 | 3.8 |
| 22 | Dominique Kirk | 6-3 | 180 | So-1L | 6.7 | 3.3 | 2.7 |
| 10 | Chris Walker | 6-5 | 210 | Sr-1L | 4.0 | 2.4 | 1.4 |
| 42 | Marlon Pompey | 6-8 | 225 | Jr-2L | 5.3 | 3.3 | 0.9 blk |
| 30 | Joseph Jones | 6-9 | 250 | So-1L | 15.7 | 6.7 | .527 FG% |
Projected Texas Tech Starters
| No. | Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Class | PPG | RPG | APG |
| 22 | Jarrius Jackson | G | 6-1 | 185 | Jr-2L | 20.2 | 4.1 | 3.0 |
| 20 | Alan Voskuil | G | 6-3 | 165 | Fr-HS | 3.4 | 1.6 | 0.9 |
| 3 | Martin Zeno | G | 6-5 | 200 | So-1L | 13.9 | 5.3 | 2.9 |
| 32 | Jon Plefka | F | 6-8 | 241 | Jr-TR | 6.4 | 4.3 | 0.7 |
| 44 | Darryl Dora | F | 6-9 | 245 | Jr-2L | 7.3 | 4.4 | 3.0 |
Earlier this Year in College Station
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COLLEGE STATION (AP/1-7-06)- Acie Law scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half as Texas A&M overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to beat Texas Tech 63-55 on Jan. 7 in the Big 12 Conference opener for both schools. With Aggies leading scorer Joseph Jones on the bench for more than half the game with foul trouble, Law recovered from a poor shooting first half to lead the A&M comeback. A&M went on a 15-2 run to open the second half on the strength of tough defense and hot shooting by Law and Dominique Kirk. Kirk made two 3-pointers in that span and Law's bucket with just under 14 minutes remaining put A&M ahead 37-36. The win breaks a streak of 10 straight losses in conference openers dating back to 1995 for the Aggies. The Aggies have won 11 home games in a row and their home record for the last two seasons is 28-3. Jarrius Jackson led Tech with 21 points, and Martin Zeno had 18 points and eight rebounds. Tech led by as many as 14 and owned a 34-25 halftime lead.
Last Year in Lubbock
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LUBBOCK (AP/1-15-05)- Ronald Ross scored 27 points as Texas Tech beat Texas A&M 70-56 on Jan. 15, 2005. Tech never trailed and was aided by a cold-shooting Aggie team. A&M made just 22 percent from the field in the first half and didn't climb into double digits until nearly 14 minutes into the game. Despite the poor shooting, the Aggies crept back in the second half and pulled within 46-41 on a jumper by Dominique Kirk with 9:52 left. Tech countered with a 14-4 run to go up 60-45 with 5:19 to go. The Aggies got no closer. Martin Zeno added 18 points for Texas Tech. Antoine Wright scored 18 points and had 12 rebounds for A&M, while Joseph Jones added 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Red Raiders took a 31-21 lead into halftime.
Texas Recap
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COLLEGE STATION (AP/3-1-06)- Acie Law made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Texas A&M a 46-43 victory over No. 6 Texas on Wednesday night, the Aggies' sixth straight win. The Longhorns intentionally fouled Law and after a timeout, he got the inbounds pass and pulled up for a long 3 which swished as the buzzer sounded. It was the second straight year the Aggies beat the Longhorns at home. The Longhorns were held to their fewest points since 1987. They were uncharacteristically sloppy, committing 18 turnovers. A&M led 41-39 with about 4 minutes left when Chris Walker got a steal and Law followed with a layup to give the Aggies their biggest lead of the game. It was a defensive battle throughout with both teams going without a basket for about 5 minutes early in the second half. The drought was finally broken for the Longhorns when LaMarcus Aldridge made the second of two free throws with about 11 minutes left, giving Texas a 34-32 lead. Paulino added a layup to stretch the lead to 36-32. It would be 2 more minutes before A&M would score on Josh Carter's 3-pointer. A short jumper by Antanas Kavaliauskas with about 8 minutes remaining gave the Aggies their first lead of the second half, 37-36.
Who's Hot?
- Sophomore Joseph Jones has been named First-Team All-District by the NABC while junior Acie Law is a second-team selection. Jones also was named second-team Academic All-Big 12.
- Law had just eight points against Texas, but made the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer. He has scored in double figures in all but three games. He ranks fifth in the Big 12 in scoring in league play with 17.5 per game.
- Plagued by early foul trouble in some games, Jones is averaging 18.7 points and 7.6 rebounds in games in which he plays at least 25 minutes. He's the only Big 12 player to rank in the league's top 10 in both scoring and rebounding while averaging fewer than 30 minutes.
- In the six games (all wins) since he received seven stitches over his left eye after the Feb. 4 Texas game, senior Chris Walker has averaged 7.0 points and 4.0 rebounds while making 40.0 percent (10-25) from three-point range. Walker is a first-team Academic All-Big 12 pick.
- Junior Antanas Kavaliauskas has averaged 10.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in the last two games. A&M is 10-0 when he scores at least seven points.
Aggie Angles
- The crowd of 13,176 that saw the Texas game on Wednesday as an A&M record, the fifth time the record has been broken under Billy Gillispie. A&M's season average (8,133) and conference average (10,731) were just shy of the school record marks set last season.
- A&M is 9-6 in league play, its most conference wins since Big 12 play started in 1996-97. A&M's six game-winning streak is its longest in Big 12 play and its three road wins are also its best.
- In three of A&M's six Big 12 losses (Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Kansas State), the Aggies missed potential game-winning shots in the final five seconds. Ten of A&M's 15 league games have been decided by four points or less or in OT. The Aggies are 7-3 in those games, winning seven straight.
- A&M has trailed by double digits in eight games and rallied to win four of them. The Aggies came back to beat Tech (from 14 points down), Iowa State (10 points), Colorado (10 points) and Missouri (10 points). A&M came back to tie Kansas State (from 14 points down) in the final minute. A&M trimmed 14-point deficits to four against Kansas and Oklahoma and came within six of Texas after falling 18 points behind with 12 minutes left.
- In the six-game winning streak, A&M has held its opponents to 51.8 points, .371 from the field, .337 from three-point range and forced 18.7 turnovers per game. Through the first nine league games, Jones and Law were combining to score 55.2 percent of the team's points. In the winning streak, they have scored 46.6 percent.
- A&M is forcing an average of 19.4 turnovers per game, tied for most in the Big 12. The Aggies rank second nationally in defensive turnover percentage (turnovers per 100 possessions) at 28.9 percent and are averaging 20.0 points off turnovers per game. The Aggies rank 2nd in the Big 12 in TO margin (+5.42) and are 3rd in assist/TO ratio (1.18).
- A&M is sixth nationally (third in the Big 12) in defensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions) at 86.2. Kansas (81.9) and Texas (84.2) are ranked first and third nationally.
- A&M is allowing just 5.4 fast break points and 13.1 points off turnovers per game.
- A&M has scored 22.7 percent of its points from the FT line, most in the Big 12 and 45th nationally. The Aggies rank 35th in the nation in free throw rate (free throws made divided by field goal attempts) at 29.7. A&M leads the Big 12 in free throws attempted (23.3) and made (15.5) per game. However, in the six-game winning streak, A&M is averaging just 9.7 free throws and 16.1 attempts.
- A&M averages 21.9 personal fouls per game, most in the Big 12 and 15th most nationally. Opponents have scored 27.3 percent of their points from the line, the fourth-highest rate in the nation. However, in the six-game winning streak A&M has averaged just 18.3 fouls and opponents have scored 22.8 percent of their points from the line.
- The foursome of Law, Jones, Kirk and Walker have started 31 straight Big 12 games together. Acie Law and Marlon Pompey are the only players who were on the roster two years ago.
- A&M's largest margin of defeat this year has been 13 (83-70) at Texas, the Longhorns' smallest winning margin at home in Big 12 play this year. Every conference team except A&M has had at least one 20-point loss this season. A&M's average margin of defeat has been just 6.4 points.
- A&M leads the conference in fewest opponents field goals made (19.2) and attempted (45.8) per game, ranking fourth nationally in fewest field goals allowed and attempted.