December 15, 2006
The No. 13-ranked Texas A&M men's basketball team goes for its 14th-straight home victory when it battles the Jacksonville Dolphins on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Reed Arena.
Fans will be admitted for half price to A&M's three remaining non-conference home games through Jan. 2. A&M's game notes:
| GAME INFO |
| Saturday, December 16, 8 p.m. (CST) Reed Arena (12,500), College Station Tickets: |
| RECORDS |
| Texas A&M: 8-2 Jacksonville: 4-5 |
| 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 Florida ONLY: PPV outside Texas/Florida: |
| 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*): (Aggies All-Access) Live Audio (Free): (Aggies All-Access) Live Stats: (aggieathletics.com) |
| SERIES |
| First Meeting |
| UP NEXT |
| A&M at Auburn Friday, Dec. 22, 7 p.m. (CST) Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum, Auburn, Ala. |
TEXAS A&M AGGIES
- Record: 8-2 (0-0 Big 12)
- Ranking: 13th (USA Today/ESPN), 13th (AP)
- Last Game: Beat Fordham, 84-61, at home on Tuesday
- Head Coach: Billy Gillispie (Texas State '83)
Record: 81-53 (5th year)
at Texas A&M: 51-21 (3rd year)
vs. Jacksonville: 0-0
PROJECTED AGGIES STARTERS
No. Player Ht. Wt. Cl-Ex PPG RPG APG 1 Acie Law IV 6'3" 195 Sr-1L 14.1 2.6 4.9 22 Dominique Kirk 6'3" 180 Jr-2L 7.1 3.7 3.2 23 Josh Carter 6'7" 195 So-1L 11.5 3.3 2.6 30 Joseph Jones 6'9" 250 Jr-2L 14.2 5.9 .590 FG 44 Antanas Kavaliauskas 6'10" 250 Sr-1L 12.9 5.5 .644 FG
JACKSONVILLE DOLPHINS
- Record: 4-5 (0-0 Atlantic Sun Conference)
- Ranking: n/a
- Last Game: Beat Coastal Carolina, 85-72, at home on Sunday
- Head Coach: Cliff Warren (Mt. St. Mary's '90)
Record: 5-31 (2nd year)
at Jacksonville: 5-31 (2nd year)
vs. Texas A&M: 0-0
PROJECTED DOLPHINS STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl-Ex PPG RPG APG 3 Ben Smith G 5'10" 155 Fr-Hs 8.0 3.6 4.1 5 Jesse Kimbrough G 6'0" 185 Sr-2L 12.3 4.2 3.9 23 Corey Claitt F 6'2" 180 Fr-Hs 9.2 4.3 1.3 41 Lehmon Colbert F 6'7" 205 Fr-Hs 11.2 4.1 0.7 45 Marcus Allen C 6'7" 225 So-1L 13.3 6.4 1.2
Tale of the Tape
(2006-07 stat comparison)
A&M JU Record 8-2 4-5 Conference 0-0 0-0 Sagarin Rating 24 253 AP-USA Today/ESPN 13/13 --/-- Current Streak W1 W1 Field Goal Pct. .521 .434 Opponent FG Pct. .345 .457 3-Pt. Field Goal Pct. .395 .283 Opponent 3-Pt. Pct. .268 .391 3-Pt. Field Goal Avg. 6.0 4.8 3-Pt. FG Attempts Avg. 15.2 16.9 Free Throw Pct. .753 .693 Opponent FT Pct. .681 .722 Rebound Avg. 33.8 35.9 Offensive Reb. Avg. 8.8 13.4 Rebounding Margin +3.5 +0.3 Turnovers Avg. 14.3 19.3 Opp. Turnovers Avg. 17.5 19.3 Assists Avg. 20.3 13.3 Blocks Avg. 3.1 4.4 Steals Avg. 7.9 10.4 Scoring Avg. 74.0 72.0 Opponent Scoring 53.2 76.0 Scoring Margin +20.8 -4.0
Key Game Notes
- A&M is coming off an 84-61 win against Fordham at home on Tuesday, which ended a two-game losing skid. Jacksonville ended a three-game losing streak with an 85-72 win against Coastal Carolina at home on Sunday.
- Fans will be admitted for half price to A&M's three remaining non-conference home games through Jan. 2.
- The Aggies are 41-5 at home under Billy Gillispie. A&M was 40-41 at Reed Arena in the seven years before Gillispie's arrival. A&M's 40 regular-season homecourt wins in the last three years are the most in the nation in that span.
- A&M has won 13 straight home games since an 83-73 loss to Kansas last season.
- The Aggies have won 30 straight regular-season non-conference home games since an 82-80 loss to A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 13, 2003.
- A&M is 8-0 at home this season, while Jacksonville is 0-5 in road games.
About Jacksonville
- The Dolphins went 1-26 last year and tied for 10th in the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 1-19 mark.
- Jacksonville is in its second season under Coach Cliff Warren, a former assistant at Georgia Tech. In 2004, Warren helped the Yellow Jackets to the NCAA finals.
- Jacksonville is best known for producing Artis Gilmore, the 1971 NCAA player of the year who went on to a long professional career.
- The Dolphins are led by sophomore forward Marcus Allen (6-7), who is averaging 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Senior guard Jesse Kimbrough (6-1) adds 12.3 points and 4.2 rebounds while making 43 percent from three-point range.
Sidebars
- Jacksonville senior guard Jesse Kimbrough is from Mexia, Texas, and redshirted as a wide receiver on the A&M football team in 2001-02. Kimbrough played basketball at McClennan CC in Waco from 2002-04.
- A&M played in the first and second round games of the 2006 NCAA Tournament in Jacksonville. The Aggies practiced at Jacksonville University the day before beating Syracuse in the first round.
Series Notes
- The teams are meeting for the first time.
- A&M has only played once against a current member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, beating Mercer, 72-65, in the consolation round of the 1990 Marshall Memorial Classic in Huntington, W. Va.
Fordham Recap
COLLEGE STATION (AP) -- Josh Carter scored 24 points, Antanas Kavaliauskas added 19 and No. 13 Texas A&M beat Fordham 84-61 Tuesday night. Texas A&M (8-2) bounced back from losses last week to No. 12 LSU and No. 1 UCLA. The losses made up the Aggies' first nonconference losing streak since Billy Gillispie arrived as coach more than two years ago. Texas A&M led 39-28 at halftime. Kavaliauskas shot 6-for-7 from the field in the first half and had 13 at the break. Sebastian Green led Fordham (5-4) with 19 points and Marcus Stout finished with 14.
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 has scored in double figures in nine of 10 games, including the last five. He 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 18 straight free throws and ranks third in the Big 12 in free throw percentage (.854).
- Senior Antanas Kavaliauskas is averaging 16.2 points and 5.8 rebounds in the last five games, making 67.3 percent from the field. He ranks second in the Big 12 (and 19th nationally) in field goal percentage (.644).
- Junior Dominique Kirk, who has started in all 72 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.
- Sophomore Josh Carter scored 24 points against Fordham, making 8-of-10 from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point range.
Angles & Storylines
- The Aggies ranks third nationally in defensive field goal percentage (.345) and are eighth in scoring defense (53.2). 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 (.268).
- A&M ranks seventh nationally in field goal percentage (.521), third in assists (20.3), seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.42) and 11th in scoring margin (+20.8). The Aggies lead the Big 12 in scoring margin, assists, and assist/turnover ratio. A&M also leads the Big 12 and ranks 20th in the country in free throw percentage (.753).
- A&M is the only team to rank among the top 15 nationally in both defensive and offensive field goal accuracy.
- Joseph Jones needs just 5 points to become the 28th Aggie to reach 1,000 in his career. He needs 21 rebounds to become the 19th Aggie to reach 500 in a career. Only 13 players have scored 1,000 points with 500 boards.
- 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 13 straight home games since an 83-73 loss to Kansas last season.
- A&M has won 30 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 41-5 at Reed Arena under Billy Gillispie, with a 27-1 mark against non-conference foes (including a 1-1 record in the 2005 postseason NIT). Gillipsie is 57-6 in home games in his last four seasons as a head coach.
- 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.
- Jones and Kavaliauskas may be one of the most dominating inside tandems in the country, combining for 27.1 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. A&M has averaged 35.6 points in the paint, out-scoring all 10 opponents in that category.