Texas A&M
PACIFIC
Texas A&M 74, Pacific 62
Dec 02, 2006 | Men's Basketball
December 02, 2006
Joseph Jones had 24 points and Antanas Kavaliauskas scored 23 to lead No. 9 Texas A&M past Pacific 74-62 Saturday.
The Aggies (7-0) avenged their only nonconference loss in two-plus years under coach Billy Gillispie. Pacific (3-4) beat Texas A&M 63-56 last season.
Jones and Kavaliauskas scored 30 of the Aggies' 39 first-half points. Jones was 6-of-8 and Kavaliauskas 6-of-9 as Texas A&M led by 10 at halftime.
Anthony Brown had 19 points and Anthony Esparaza added 13 to lead Pacific, which became the first team this season to shoot better than 35 percent against the Aggies. They shot 49 percent (22-of-45).
Dominique Kirk, who had 13 points and eight assists, stole the ball from a driving C.J. Morgan with 4 minutes left and made a big 3-pointer at the other end to give Texas A&M a 69-56 lead.
Jones scored 10 straight points for the Aggies during a 14-3 run to break open a one-point game with 9 minutes to play in the first half. He hit two 3-pointers during the run after making only two all of last season.
The schedule now gets more difficult for the Aggies. Texas A&M hits the road for the first time this season to play No. 10 LSU on Tuesday and No. 1 UCLA on Dec. 9. The Aggies lost to LSU 58-57 in the second round of the NCAA tournament last season.
Texas A&M vs. Pacific
December 2, 2006 - Reed Arena
Postgame Quotes
Texas A&M Junior Joseph Jones:
"We wanted to establish our inside presence between me and AK. We just wanted to get the ball down low and work in. (On Antanas's behind the back pass) Antanas is becoming a great passer. He caught me by surprise. I didn't think he heard me call out his name. (On the three pointers) Coach says shoot the open shot, and shoot to make it. I was open. We practice that every day. It's part of our shooting drills. Coach just says if it's open, shoot the shot. I think it catches some other teams off guard. In the past, I haven't been able to shoot. I would miss a whole bunch. (On injuries) I'm alright. It's just nagging injuries. I'm really not in any pain, I just look like that. I'm okay. It's not my knees. I rolled my ankle a while back. I've rolled it so many times from high school that any time I do it it's pretty bad. We didn't play as well as we wanted to, but we got the W. That's the only thing that matters. We didn't play very well as a team, and we didn't play defense very well. We have a lot of things to work on. The loss to Pacific last year was on everyone's mind coming into the game. We lost a tough one to them last year. We felt like we had to come out here and put forth a good effort so we could get the W. They're a very good team. We've been preparing for every team. We're going to take every game one at a time. Coach is going to get us prepared for LSU, and we're going to work hard so we can be prepared. We'll just come out and see what happens in the end. Every team we've played this year has been a good team. This team hung in there with us. They battled and we battled and it was just a very good game. They never gave up. That's a very positive thing for them. We never gave up, either. We fought off their run. We just kept battling and came out with the win. I think we're improving a lot. (On LSU) When we first saw this game on the schedule we talked about it, but we just had to let it go and come in and win every game. Last year, we lost to LSU on a last-second shot, and it's really been digging into everybody to see that we were that close to the Sweet 16. The fact that we lost is what I remember most. (On AK) AK is very tough. He's a strong player. He's got a bunch of moves in the post, so he's very hard to guard. Everybody on our team can play. Everybody's got their game. If they try to take away the guards, me and AK will play hard. If they try to take away the big men, the guards will come in. It's just how teams are playing us, trying to take advantage of our mistakes."
Texas A&M Senior Antanas Kavaliauskas:
"(On the behind the back pass) It just happened. We work on the post moves every day in practice. I feel very comfortable. I can do better though. I missed some shots. I've just got to do what I've got to do to help my team win. Coach told me he wants me to be more aggressive. I just try to work on that. I try to get open looks. (On LSU) We really want to go out there and beat them. It always hurts to lose, no matter who you play. We just have to go out there and play our game."
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Gillispie:
"This was a really good win for us. We made a lot of dumb plays. They really expose you, and we got exposed. We're really lucky to be able to win. We made a lot of nice plays and shot the ball well. We had too many leaderless possessions offensively, and too many breakdowns defensively to do what we wanted to do. I thought we did okay offensively but we have a lot of work to do defensively. The offense scored a lot of points. Antanas played great, as good as he's ever played here. He did everything. He was dominant down low and he made threes. He made wide open shots and he made nice passes. He didn't rebound as well defensively as he could, but he got three offensive rebounds. He was awfully good. Junior (Elonu) did a really good job. He's been practicing great. He needs game experience but he's going to have a chance to be a heck of a player. I think both Joseph and Antanas can really shoot the ball. Most of our big guys can really shoot the ball well from the perimeter, whether its a three or a jumper. So if teams want to double team down low, thats okay. Antanas has really good vision and he made a crafty behind the back pass to Joseph for a basket. We just have to do a better job of executing when Antanas catches the ball. Joe didn't drive hard enough at times. He was standing around watching. Both of them can pass, catch, and they both have good vision. They understand where the defense is going to be."
NOTES:
*A&M is 7-0 for the third straight year under Billy Gillispie.
*Gillispie notched his 50th win in three years at A&M (50-19) and his 80th win in his fifth year as a head coach (80-51).
*A&M has won 12 straight home games.
*A&M has won 14 straight regular-season games, the third longest streak in the nation.
*A&M has won 29 straight regular-season non-conference games at home.
*Today's win avenged a 63-56 loss at Pacific last year, Gillispie's only regular-season non-conference loss in three years at A&M.
*After opening with seven straight home games, A&M embarks on a two-game road swing next week, taking on No. 10 LSU on Tuesday in Baton Rouge and No. 1 UCLA next Saturday at the Wooden Classic in Los Angeles.
*A&M is 80-46 all-time at Reed Arena, including a 40-5 mark under Gillispie. In seven years before Gillispie arrived at A&M, the Aggies were 40-41 at Reed.
*Pacific is the first team to shoot better than 35 percent from the field against the Aggies (.489). Before today, no team had even shot better than 40 percent in a half. The Tigers shot better than 40 percent in both halves.
*Pacific scored just 62 points, a season-high for an A&M opponent but the Tigers' second-lowest total of the season.
*A&M handed out 25 assists with a season-low 8 turnovers.
*Antanas Kavaliauskas scored a career-high 23 points with 5 rebounds and a career-best 7 assists (0 turnovers).
*Joseph Jones scored a season-high 24 poinys (9-of-11 FG), including a pair of three-pointers, and added 6 rebounds and 4 steals.
*Dominique Kirk scored a season-high 13 points and tied his career high with 8 assists (1 turnover) and added 3 steals.
