Texas A&M
ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK
Texas A&M 75, Arkansas-Little Rock 35
Nov 27, 2006 | Men's Basketball
November 27, 2006
Acie Law scored 17 points and Joseph Jones finished with 16 to help No. 9 Texas A&M rout Arkansas-Little Rock 75-35 Monday night.
The Aggies (6-0) had four players score in double figures. Antanas Kavaliauskas added 13 points and Josh Carter had 11.
Rashad Jones-Jennings, averaging a double-double coming into the game, had 10 points and five rebounds for the Trojans (4-3). Arkansas-Little Rock was 0-of-20 from beyond the 3-point line.
Arkansas-Little Rock had outrebounded every opponent this season, but Texas A&M broke that streak with a 33-28 rebounding edge.
The Aggies outscored the Trojans 14-4 over the final 3:58 to take a 43-17 lead at halftime.
Texas A&M won its 28th straight regular-season nonconference home game.
Postgame Quotes & Notes
Arkansas Little-Rock Head Coach Steve Shields: We faced a tremendously well coached and prepared team. We faced a hungry, hard playing and defensive minded team. I just encouraged our guys to keep battling to the end. I thought we had good focus coming in, we had a good practice yesterday and I felt like we were well prepared but we just faced and excellent team. They got great guard play from Acie Law and Dominique Kirk and Josh Carter can hit big shots from outside then you have Joe Jones inside and when you combine that with great coaching they are just going to keep getting better.
Joe Jones: (On how he would describe this team right now) We just don't want to lose. We play as hard as we can every game to get a win. We don't want to be one of those teams that gets snuck up on. Coach wants perfection offensively and defensively and no turnovers. If we just work harder to be perfect, we will continue to win games.
Antanas Kavaliauskas: When they double team us down low we have great shooters outside that can knock down shots. They scouted us well and realized that they couldn't double team us and leave those guys on the perimeter open to shoot and so that opened things up for Joe (Jones) and me down low. Joe is a great guy and I think he is the best player in the Big 12.
Acie Law: (On how he would describe this team right now) We don't want to get upset. We are ranked in the Top 10 and some people don't think we should be ranked that high. So we have to go out every game and dominate to prove that we belong there. As Joe (Jones) has been battling injuries, Antanas (Kavaliauskas) has stepped up and been a leader and when we get both of those guys going they will be the best down low 1-2 combination in the nation. I think the defense has been the key to our quick starts, Coach (Gillispie) always has us well prepared and then we are just able to get it Joe and Antanas inside and knock down shots. The next three games are huge, we have one week where we play Pacific, UCLA and LSU. Pacific beat us last year on their home court and then obviously UCLA and LSU are final four teams from last year so it should be exciting.
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Gillispie: That was a good win for us, we had a lot of good possessions on offense and defense, we just didn't have enough. We have to get guys playing better, they are all trying hard they just have to get better. Every game so far has gotten a little harder, every team we have faced has been a little bit better. We got better on the boards tonight but still not good enough to beat a very athletic team. We have Pacific coming up who whooped us last year, they were a tournament team last year and then obviously the rest of December is a bear, so we have to get better. Not enough guys are playing their best right now. Acie was great tonight but we all have to play better. We play one way and that is the hardest that we possibly can and sometimes we win and sometimes we don't. No matter what the score is we are going to play one way and I think our guys like that. Antanas (Kavaliauskas) did a great job rebounding, Junior (Chinemelu Elonu) played well inside and I think after that first play Joe (Jones) played much better. They beat us backdoor way to many times and that's something we need to work on. We take one possession at a time and try to win every possession. We try to win on offense, defense and in transition.
NOTES:
*The Aggies climbed to No. 8 in this week's USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll (No. 9 by The AP), matching the highest ranking in school history. A&M was ranked No. 8 in The AP poll on Jan. 12, 1960.
*A&M has won 13 straight regular-season games, the fourth longest streak in the nation.
*A&M has won 28 straight regular-season non-conference games at home.
*A&M has won 11 straight home games.
*A&M is 39-5 at home under Billy Gillispie.
*UALR made just 26.0 percent from the field, the third straight opponent to shoot under 30 percent against the Aggies. Four of the last five opponents this season have shot under 30 percent.
*UALR was 0-of-20 from three-point range.
*A&M has held three straight opponents under 45 points, including two to 35 or less.
*In six games, no opponent has shot better than 35 percent from the field or scored more than 60 points.
*A&M made 57.8 percent from the field, its fourth straight game over 53 percent.
*A&M has out-rebounded five of six opponents, including four straight.
*Acie Law IV has scored at least 17 points in four straight games and has averaged 8.0 assists in the last two contests.
*Antanas Kavaliauskas posted nine rebounds for the second time in the last three games.
*A&M made 18-of-22 free throws, tying its season-high (.818, 18-22) set against Lamar.
*Joseph Jones scored 16 points, his fifth game in double-figures in six starts this season.
*Josh Carter had 11 points, his fourth game in double figures this season.
