Texas A&M
SAINT LOUIS
Texas A&M 69, Saint Louis 33
Nov 19, 2006 | Men's Basketball
November 19, 2006
Acie Law scored 23 points to help No. 12 Texas A&M defeat Saint Louis 69-33 in the championship of
the inaugural Shelby Metcalf Classic on Sunday.
Law hit six of his first eight shots as the Aggies (4-0) jumped out to an early lead. Joseph Jones added 11 points and had six rebounds for Texas A&M.
Texas A&M's defense held Saint Louis (3-1) to 21 percent shooting for the game.
Tommie Liddell led the Billikens with 12 points.
Jones gave A&M a 23-11 lead with 6:20 left in the first half on a twisting layup and a foul shot that came in the middle of an 18-2 run.
A&M held Saint Louis scoreless on 15 straight possessions until Liddell hit a fast break layup with 30 seconds left in the first half.
A&M led 34-13 at the half. Saint Louis' 13 first-half points tied the record for the fewest points allowed by A&M. Texas Tech scored 13 against the Aggies in the first half in 1986.
Texas A&M vs. Saint Louis
Shelby Metcalf Classic - Reed Arena
November 19, 2006
Postgame Quotes
Saint Louis Head Coach Brad Soderberg:
"I really want to compliment Billy (Gillispie). I've known him for a long time. He's implemented a system that I'm most impressed with because they don't just rely on their athleticism to beat you. They play as hard anybody that we will see this year and we have some good opponents on our schedule. All that credit goes to [Coach Gillispie]. I think he demands a lot from his kids and I think the fans at Texas A&M can expect a lot from his team because of his expectations on his players. I was very impressed and we got embarrassed tonight. I think we're better than we showed, but the bottom line is that the better team won tonight. I am impressed with their team defense. I actually commented to our guys on the bench, 'that's how you play defense with intensity.' Collectively, they stay in a stance. They're alive. They talk. Of course they're athletic and physical. There are a lot of teams like that who don't play hard. I'm just very impressed with what I've seen. Dominique Kirk did a great job on Kevin (Lisch). I don't think Kirk did it by himself. Every time a gap was penetrated, there was immediate help in those gaps. I'm very impressed with the performance by Texas A&M. That was as smothering of a defense that I've faced since I've been a head coach."
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Gillispie:
"That was a good win against a good team. I thought they might score 100 points in transition but we were able to get back. That was a great lesson for our guys. They have been practicing hard but sometimes you have to see it in a game to understand why you have to pressure so hard. We have been playing decent individual defense to this point, but today is the first time that we have played really good team defense. (St. Louis) is a really, really good team and they are supremely coached. It was really good for us. We would have taken a one-point win at the buzzer because they are really good. It has been a marathon -- we practiced too long on Wednesday and we practiced too long on Thursday. Our shoot around yesterday was too long and too hard, more than I really wanted it to be. I wanted to walk through stuff, but our guys don't really do that. It's a testament not only to our guys fitness, but to their toughness as well. I thought it was fantastic to get the quality of teams that we did for our first tournament. (St. Louis) is very similiar to a Big 12 team, Lamar is very similiar in a lot of respects because of their interior players. Louisiana Tech was very athletic so we had to play hard."
Texas A&M Senior Acie Law:
"We knew coming in that they have a great transition offense. We did a good job as a team in taking away the transition points and baskets. I think we did a good job tonight defensively. Coach said he wanted to play this tournament like it was the Big 12 tournament. We knew coming in that we would have three games in three nights. We just have to continue to get better every day."
Texas A&M Junior Joseph Jones:
"Coach told us they wanted to establish the inside post players and they are very big on the inside. We just tried to do the best we could to battle the post."
NOTES:
*Saint Louis scored just 33 points, the fewest against the Aggies since Jan. 16, 1959, when A&M beat Texas, 73-29.
*Saint Louis scored just 13 points in the first half, the third fewest known points against the Aggies in a half. It tied the mark for fewest points in the first half against A&M.
*Saint Louis made just 20.8 percent from the field (11-of-53), an A&M school record for defensive field goal percentage against NCAA competition. It tied the over all school record set against NAIA school Texas-Permian Basin two years ago (.208, 11-of-53).
*A&M captured the inaugural Shelby Metcalf Classic title with a perfect 3-0 record. A&M's last in-season tournament title came in the 1989-90 season, when the Aggies captured the Golden Panthers Classic in Miami, Fla. Fittingly, A&M won that title in the final season of legendary coach Shelby Metcalf, who was known nationally as the "Kinf of the Tournaments." His teams played in some 75 in-season events in his 27 years as head coach.
*A&M has won 11 straight regular-season games since falling to Texas last year in Austin, 83-70.
*A&M has won 26 straight regular-season home games.
*A&M has won 10 straight games at Reed Arena since an 83-73 loss to Kansas last season.
*A&M is 37-5 at home under Billy Gillispie, who is 53-6 in home games in his last four seasons (counting his final year at UTEP).
*A&M is 33-4 under Gillipsie when leading at halftime, including a 28-3 mark at home. A&M has won 10 straight games when leading at halftime.
*Acie Law IV and Joseph Jones were named tournament co-MVPs, while Antanas Kavaliauskas was selected to the all-tournament team.
*Law averaged 17.3 points per game in the tournament, with a 22.0 average in the last two games.
*Jones averaged 16.7 points in the tournament.
