Texas A&M
LOUISIANA TECH
Texas A&M 75, Louisiana Tech 59
Nov 18, 2006 | Men's Basketball
November 18, 2006
Acie Law scored 21 points and No. 12 Texas A&M beat Louisiana Tech 75-59 Saturday night.
Joseph Jones added 19 points and Josh Carter had 12 for the Aggies (3-0), who shot 54 percent from the field and outrebounded Louisiana Tech 34-30. Law went 8-for-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
Marcus Elliot scored 17 points for the Bulldogs (0-2). Chad McKenzie had 12 points and Drew Washington finished with 10.
Louisiana Tech led 23-22 early but Texas A&M responded with a 14-5 run to close out the first half.
POSTGAME QUOTES & NOTES
Louisiana Tech Head Coach Keith Richard:
"Saint Louis and Texas A&M are not two teams that you really want to open with. Tonight for us was more about improvement. we took a step in that direction but it wasn't good enough to beat a top 15 team. We wanted to get better looks offensively and that's hard to do against a top 10 defense. We wanted to work on our press and use our quickness to make up for our lack of size. Texas A&M's size inside was really the difference, besides Acie Law. He played very well.
Texas A&M's Acie Law IV:
"My teammates have done a good job finding me, I just haven't been producing. I haven't really been practicing well and it has started transferring over into games. My teammates need me to produce and I have to become more assertive and try to get a bucket. As a basketball player, you have to be ready to compete for 40 minutes. Coach has been saying that Saint Louis is a great team, so we are really going to have to bring our hard hats tomorrow."
Texas A&M's Joe Jones
(On hitting outside shots) "That's something that I work on every day and I just do whatever I can to give our team a chance to win. Coach wants to play inside-out, to get some kickouts and get the guards going. We knew that every team was going to come to compete so we had to pick it up. That is the only way to get better as a team -- pick it up and play hard."
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Gillispie:
"That was a good win. It looked bleak there for a while but maybe that's what we needed. You have to give Louisiana Tech credit. They played hard and they are very athletic. The guys did well playing without Acie (Law) there for a while. That's not exactly how we want to play but sometimes we may have to. Joe (Jones) was really good tonight. I don't think we got the ball to him enough. This team has a chance to be the best defensive team that we have had here but we are just not there yet. These guys are playing hard and trying hard, we're just not very good yet. I wasn't really pleased with the offense. We didn't drive enough and didn't get the ball to the post enough. We are doing fine for right now but we will always strive for more. Saint Louis is a really good team. They are very well coached and are top 20-caliber team in my opinion. They were 10-6 last year and finished third in their conference. There is no doubt in my mind that they are an NCAA (Tournament) team."
NOTES:
*Acie Law IV scored a season-high 21 points (13 in the second half) and made 8-of-10 from the field in just 23 minutes of action.
*Joseph Jones scored 19 points with a season-high 7 rebounds and made 6-of-8 from the field. Jones has scored in double figures in all three games this season.
*Josh Carter had his second straight double-figure scoring effort, finishing with 12 points and adding 5 rebounds and 6 assists.
*Louisiana Tech made just 34.7 percent from the field, but it was still the highest against the Aggies this season.
*A&M shot a season-best 54.0 percent from the field.
*A&M has won 10 straight regular-season games.
*A&M has won 25 straight non-conference home games.
*A&M has won eight straight games at Reed Arena.
*A&M has won nine straight games when leading at halftime.
*A&M is 36-5 at home under Billy Gillispie.
