Texas A&M
(#25) COLORADO
Texas A&M 61, Colorado 58
Feb 08, 2006 | Men's Basketball
February 08, 2006
Acie Law scored 19 points and Chris Walker contributed 11 as Texas A&M squeezed out a 61-58 upset victory over No. 25 Colorado Wednesday in a Big 12 Conference battle.
Colorado (15-5, 5-4 Big 12) found itself in a major hole after Texas AM started with an impressive 13-0 burst to open the game. However, the Buffaloes battled back to take a 26-25 advantage at the break, connecting on 5-of-10 3-pointers.
Colorado's Andy Osborn shot from the arc helped build a 45-35 edge with 11:29 remaining in the second half, but Texas AM (14-7, 4-6) put together another 13-0 burst to take a three-point edge with seven minutes left. Law scored seven during the spurt.
Joseph Jones split a pair of free throws to give the Aggies a 51-47 bulge and Walker added to the lead by drilling a 3-pointer with four minutes left to play.
Marcus Hall's three-point play with 49 seconds left put the Buffaloes ahead at 58-57 before Dominique Kirk answered with a jumper from the baseline with seven seconds remaining. Richard Roby was then fouled with 1.6 seconds left but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity.
Kirk scored 10 points and Jones added eight for the Aggies, who shot 41 percent (18-of-43) from the field.
Roby finished with 22 points and Hall scored 16 for Colorado, which lost for their second straight time since being voted into the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll on January 30.
Texas A&M Postgame Notes
- A&M held Colorado to a season-low 58 points. The Buffs previous low was 63 against Kansas. CU also posted season lows in field goals made (19) and attempted (45). The Aggies entered the game leading the league in fewest field goals allowed (19.8) and attempted (45.5) this season.
- Colorado had a season-high 24 turnovers. A&M is 10-1 when its opponents have at least 19 turnovers (OSU won in Stillwater despite having 19 miscues).
- The Aggies had 31 points off turnovers, its most in Big 12 play this year and its third most this season (37 vs. Southern and 40 against Mississippi Valley in the first two games of the season).
- The Aggies made 78.3 percent from the free throw line (18-23), its second best of the season. A&M made .784 (29-37) against Auburn.
- A&M had a season-low 10 points in the paint.
- A&M has won three Big 12 games after trailing by double digits. The Aggies trailed Texas Tech by 14, Iowa State by 10 and Colorado by 10.
- Acie Law scored a team-high 19 points. Law has scored in double figures in all but one game this season. He had eight in eight minutes against Grambling before leaving the game early with a concussion.
- Dominique Kirk scored 10 points and tied his career-high with 8 rebounds (he also had 8 against North Texas in December). Kirk had scored in double figures in three straight games and has made 12-of-19 three-pointers (.631) in the last five games.
- The win was the third for Billy Gillispie against a top-25 team since he came to A&M. Last year he had wins against No. 9 Texas and No. 25 Texas Tech.
- A&M is 13-2 at home this season and 30-5 at home under Billy Gillispie. Counting his final year at UTEP, Gillispie is 46-6 in home games in his last three years.
- Gillispie is 35-17 overall in two years at A&M.
- The Aggies are 12-3 when holding their opponents to 70 points or fewer this season.
Postgame Quotes
COLORADO HEAD COACH RICARDO PATTON: "I thought our kids played really hard, and well enough to win the game. We started out slow and gave up a 13-0 run to start it off and then came back to take our own 26-12 run to take a lead into halftime. I cannot say all that I feel, but you guys saw the game. Strange things happened tonight, in my mind. Richard Roby played well tonight. When you feel that an injustice has happened it effects your next decisions and actions, he was frustrated and he carried that to the line in the end. There is no one else I would want taking those shots though. We had too many empty possessions. They turned it over as well, but they started hitting their shots while we missed our opportunities."
TEXAS A&M GUARD ACIE LAW: "They came out in the second half with Roby and Andy Osborn really going. They were getting easy looks and knocking them down. We have a lot of pride in ourselves; we dug down and hit some shots. We couldn't ever get Joe Jones going, but he played good interior defense. We kept fighting and got a good Big 12 victory against a very good team."
TEXAS A&M FORWARD CHRIS WALKER: "I thought Dominique Kirk played a great defensive game against Roby. I had to guard him for two minutes and he lit me up for five points really quick. Roby is a great player and for Dominique to play him that tight for that long was incredible for us. This was huge for us. As a team we know we can win, and this really does a lot for our confidence. It draws the team closer together; once we get a taste of victory we want more."
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY GILLISPIE: "It was a great win for us tonight against a good well coached team. They hit too many threes, they were penetrating and pitching, we couldn't get away from them. It is good to have a win. Our guys are tough mentally and physically. I have never seen them tougher physically than tonight. They were resilient tonight. We came back to win and I am awfully proud of our guys. We needed that tonight; because we have had a lot go against us. What a performance by Dominique Kirk when we needed it most. He played as good as he possibly could tonight. He gave 100%."
