Aggies Host Fordham Tuesday at 8 p.m.

December 11, 2006

Texas A&M opens up a brief two-game homestand on Tuesday night when the Aggies host Fordham at Reed Arena. Game notes...

GAME INFO

Tuesday, December 12, 8 p.m. (CST) Reed Arena (12,500), College Station Tickets:

RECORDS

Texas A&M: 7-2 Fordham: 5-3

RANKINGS

A&M is ranked 13th by both ESPN/USA Today and The Associated Press.

TELEVISION

None

LIVE VIDEO

Aggies All-Access Free in Texas and New York ONLY: PPV outside Texas/New York: Link TBA

RADIO

WTAW-AM 1620 (Local) Dave South, play-by-play Al Pulliam, commentary (broadcast time 7:30 p.m. CST)

INTERNET

Live Video (Free*): (Aggies All-Access) Live Video (PPV*): Link TBA (Aggies All-Access) Live Audio (Free): (Aggies All-Access) Live Stats: (aggieathletics.com)

SERIES

First Meeting

UP NEXT

A&M hosts Jacksonville Saturday, Dec. 16, 8 p.m. (CST) Reed Arena (12,500), College Station Tickets:

TEXAS A&M AGGIES

• Record: 7-2 (0-0 Big 12)
• Ranking: 13th (USA Today/ESPN), 13th (AP)
• Last Game: Lost at #1 UCLA, 65-62, on Saturday
• Head Coach: Billy Gillispie (Texas State '83)
  Record: 80-53 (5th year)
  at Texas A&M: 50-21 (3rd year)
  vs. Fordham: 0-0
  

PROJECTED AGGIES STARTERS

 No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl-Ex PPG RPG APG 1 Acie Law IV 6'3" 195 Sr-1L 14.4 2.7 4.7 22 Dominique Kirk 6'3" 180 Jr-2L 7.6 3.9 3.2 23 Josh Carter 6'7" 195 So-1L 10.1 3.2 2.7 30 Joseph Jones 6'9" 250 Jr-2L 14.3 5.9 .608 FG 44 Antanas Kavaliauskas 6'10" 250 Sr-1L 12.2 5.4 .618 FG 

FORDHAM RAMS

• Record: 5-3 (0-0 Atlantic-10 Conference)
• Ranking: n/a
• Last Game: Won at Penn, 77-60, on Saturday
• Head Coach: Dereck Whittenburg (N. C. State '84)
  Record: 107-107 (8th year)
  at Fordham: 40-57 (4th year)
  vs. Texas A&M: 0-0
  

PROJECTED RAMS STARTERS

 No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl-Ex PPG RPG APG 14 Kevin Anderson G 6'3" 185 Jr-2L 3.0 2.9 1.6 1 Marcus Stout G 6'4" 195 Jr-2L 14.3 3.9 2.9 30 Sebastian Greene F 6'8" 188 Jr-2L 10.9 6.6 1.6 21 Michael Binns F 6'7" 225 Jr-2L 6.5 5.1 0.6 42 Bryant Dunston F 6'8" 233 Jr-2L 13.6 7.8 1.1 

Tale of the Tape (2006-07 stat comparison)

 A&M Fordham Record 7-2 5-3 Conference 0-0 0-0 Sagarin Rating 31 111 AP-USA Today/ESPN 13/13 UR/UR Current Streak L2 W1 Field Goal Pct. .516 .408 Opponent FG Pct. .342 .441 3-Pt. Field Goal Pct. .379 .350 Opponent 3-Pt. Pct. .270 .342 3-Pt. Field Goal Avg. 5.9 6.3 3-Pt. FG Attempts Avg. 15.6 17.9 Free Throw Pct. .750 .660 Opponent FT Pct. .661 .653 Rebound Avg. 33.7 36.1 Offensive Reb. Avg. 8.6 14.0 Rebounding Margin +2.6 +2.0 Turnovers Avg. 14.7 16.9 Opp. Turnovers Avg. 18.0 19.4 Assists Avg. 20.1 12.6 Blocks Avg. 3.3 4.3 Steals Avg. 8.0 9.4 Scoring Avg. 72.9 67.8 Opponent Scoring 52.3 63.8 Scoring Margin +20.6 +4.0 

Key Game Notes

• A&M is coming off a hard-fought 65-62 loss at No. 1-ranked UCLA on Saturday at the Wooden Classic in Los Angeles.
• The Aggies have lost two straight games, both on the road to top-10 teams who were in the Final Four last season. The Aggies fell at then-No. 9 LSU, 64-52, last Tuesday in Baton Rouge.
• A&M and Wichita State are the only teams who are playing two 2006 Final Four teams in non-conference play.
• The Aggies are 40-5 at home under Billy Gillispie. A&M's 39 regular-season homecourt wins in the last three years are tied for the most in the nation in that span (New Mexico also has won 38).
• A&M has won 12 straight home games since an 83-73 loss to Kansas last season.
• The Aggies have won 29 straight regular-season non-conference home games since an 82-80 loss to A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 13, 2003.
• A&M is 7-0 at home this season, while Fordham is 1-1 in true road games, with the loss coming at the hands of No. 22-ranked Maryland (79-59).

About Fordham

• Fordham went 16-16 last year and finished fifth in the Atlantic 10 Conference with a 9-7 mark.
• The Rams have won four of their last five games, with the only loss coming at No. 22 Maryland (79-59) last Wednesday.
• In their fourth season under Coach Dereck Whittenburg, Fordham has four players averaging in double figures in scoring.
• Junior guard Marcus Stout (6-4) leads the team with a 14.3 average, while junior forward Bryant Dunston (6-8) is adding 13.6 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds.

Series Notes

• The teams are meeting for the first time.
• Fordham is the second Atlantic 10 team A&M has played this season. The Aggies beat Saint Louis, 69-33, on Nov. 19 at Reed Arena in the final game of the Shelby Metcalf Classic.
• A&M is 7-15 all-time against current members of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

UCLA Recap

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- No. 1 UCLA survived its first serious challenge of the season with solid defense and the late scoring touch of Arron Afflalo. Josh Shipp scored 18 points and Afflalo had eight of his 13 in the final nine minutes as the Bruins held off No. 6 Texas A&M 65-62 on Saturday in the John R. Wooden Classic. A&M had a chance to tie the game in the final minute but Joseph Jones' three-point attempt bounced off the front of the rim. Darren Collison added 15 points, but had six of the 13 turnovers committed by the Bruins (8-0). Acie Law scored 21 points for A&M (7-2), which controlled the boards 34-23 and outshot UCLA in the second half. Dominique Kirk added 12 points for the Aggies and Jones had 11 points and matched his career-high with 13 rebounds. A&M came into the game leading the country in field-goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 32.2 percent. The Bruins and Aggies both shot 49 percent for the game.

Who's Hot?

• Junior Joseph Jones and senior Acie Law IV are on the preseason Wooden and Naismith award watch lists, which each consist of the top 50 players in the country. Law also has been nominated for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's top point guard. Law and Jones were co-MVPs of the Shelby Metcalf Classic.
• Jones tied his career-high with 13 rebounds against top-ranked UCLA and added 11 points for his first double-double of the year. He's made 13 straight free throws and ranks fourth in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (.837). He ranks sixth in the league (and 38th nationally) in field goal accuracy at 60.8 percent.
• Senior Antanas Kavaliauskas is averaging 15.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists in the last four games, making 63.4 percent from the field. He ranks fourth in the Big 12 (and 31st nationally) in field goal percentage (.618)
• Junior Dominique Kirk, who has started in all 71 games in his A&M career, scored 12 points against top-ranked UCLA, making 4-of-5 from the field, including both his three-point attempts. Kirk has averaged 10.0 points in the last three games, making 46.2 percent (6-of-13) from three-point range.

Angles & Storylines

• The Aggies ranks third nationally in defensive field goal percentage (.342) and are fifth in scoring defense (52.3). No opponent this season has scored more than 65 points. A&M leads the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense, scoring defense and three-point percentage defense (.270).
• A&M ranks 10th nationally in field goal percentage (.516), fourth in assists (20.1), 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.37) and 11th in scoring margin (+20.6). The Aggies lead the Big 12 in scoring margin, assists, and assist/turnover ratio. A&M also leads the Big 12 and ranks 19th in the country in free throw percentage (.744).
• A&M is one of just two teams to rank among the top 10 nationally in defensive and offensive field goal accuracy.
• A&M dropped to 13th this week in both the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll and AP poll. The Aggies have been ranked six straight weeks. The school record for consecutive weeks in the national polls is eight, first set in 1959-60 and tied in 1978-79. Before this year, A&M's last previous top-10 ranking was on Jan. 3, 1979, when it was ranked 10th by The AP. A&M was ranked No. 6 last week, the highest in school history.
• A&M has won 12 straight home games since an 83-73 loss to Kansas last season.
• A&M has won 29 straight regular-season non-conference home games. The last loss was against A&M-Corpus Christi (82-80) early in the 2003-04 season
• A&M is 40-5 at Reed Arena under Billy Gillispie, with a 26-1 mark against non-conference foes (including a 1-1 record in the 2005 postseason NIT). Gillipsie is 56-6 in home games in his last four seasons as a head coach.
• A&M was picked to finish second in the Big 12 this season in a preseason poll of league coaches. The highest previous preseason poll position for the Aggies was seventh last year.
• A&M was ranked 13th in both the AP and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' preseason polls. The last time A&M was ranked in the preseason was in 1980-81, when the Aggies were 15th in the AP and 12th in the UPI Coaches' poll. The only other time A&M was ranked in the preseason was in 1979-80, when it was 14th (AP) and 11th (coaches).
• Prior to this season, A&M's last ranking by the AP came on Dec. 30, 1980, when the Aggies were 11th.
• Acie Law and Marlon Pompey are the only remaining players who were on the roster before Billy Gillispie arrived.
• Of the 21 players on the A&M roster, 19 are from the state of Texas (including 11-of-13 scholarship players), a school record. The year before Gillispie arrived, A&M had only four Texas players, including a pair of walk-ons. uA&M plays a record 19 regular-season home games this season.
• A&M broke ground on Nov. 17 on a $16-20 million, 60,000-square-foot addition to Reed Arena that will include two new practice gyms, locker rooms, film and meeting rooms, a weight room, training and medical facilities, and offices. The project is scheduled to be completed early in 2008.
• A&M returns its top six scorers, four starters and 12 lettermen from last year's team that finished 22-9 overall and placed fourth in the Big 12 with a 10-6 mark. The Aggies made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1987 and beat Syracuse in the first round, A&M's first NCAA win since 1980. LSU eliminated the Aggies in the second round, making a long-range three-pointer with three seconds remaining for a 58-57 victory.
• Acie Law IV and Joseph Jones may be the nation's top inside-out combination. They are the only returning inside-out combo in the country who each averaged at least 15.0 points per game last season.