November 09, 2006
The No. 13-ranked Texas A&M men's basketball team opens the 2006-07 season against the Prairie View A&M Panthers on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. at Reed Arena.
The game is part of a double-header with the A&M women's team, which plays Pepperdine at 6 p.m. One ticket is good for admission to both games. Tickets range from $10-$24 and can be purchased at The 12th Man Foundation
Ticket Center at Kyle Field and online at 12thmanfoundation.com.
The Aggies are ranked in the preseason for the first time since 1980-81, when they were ranked No. 15 in The Associated Press poll and No. 12 in the UPI Coaches' poll.
A&M is 7-1 in home openers at Reed Arena and has won six straight. The Aggies have won 22 straight regular-season non-conference home games.
A member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Prairie View has not beaten the Aggies in seven previous meetings. The teams last met in 2004-05, when A&M posted an 82-40 victory at Reed Arena in Coach Billy Gillispie's first season.
The Panthers are in their first season under coach Byron Rimm II, who served as an assistant at the school last year.
Prairie View A&M returns three starters from last season's team, which finished 5-24 overall and placed 10th in the SWAC with a 2-16 mark. The team welcomes a whopping 10 newcomers, including eight junior college transfers.
Senior guard Chris Gaines (6-5) leads the returners with 8.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, while senior forward Dominique Sharpe (6-4) added 6.9 points and 4.4 rebounds.
A&M won its two exhibition games, posting a 79-54 victory against Midwestern State and a 113-74 win against Lithuanian Academy. Senior Antanas Kavaliauskas (6-1) led A&M with back-to-back double-doubles, averaging 25.5 points and 11.0 rebounds.