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NCAA Tourney Game Notes

March 15, 2007The Texas A&M basketball team opens play in the 2007 NCAA Tourament on Thursday at 2:10 p.m. (CDT) when the Aggies meet Ivy League Champion Penn in first-round action at Rupp Arena in Le

March 15, 2007

The Texas A&M basketball team opens play in the 2007 NCAA Tourament on Thursday at 2:10 p.m. (CDT) when the Aggies meet Ivy League Champion Penn in first-round action at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

A&M is seeded No. 3 in the South Region, the highest seeding in school history.


GAME INFO
Thursday, March 15, 2:10 p.m. (CST)
Rupp Arena (23,000), Lexington, Ky.
NCAA Championship - First Round
RECORDS
Texas A&M: 25-6
Penn: 22-8
RANKINGS
A&M is ranked 9th by both The Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today.
TELEVISION

Gus Johnson, play-by-play
Dan Bonner, commentary
RADIO
WTAW-AM 1620 (Local)
Dave South, play-by-play
Al Pulliam, commentary
(broadcast time 1:40 p.m.)
INTERNET
Live Video:
(March Madness on Demand) Live Audio: None
Live Stats:
(ncaasports.com)
SERIES
First Meeting
UP NEXT
Winner vs. Louisville/Stanford winner
NCAA 2nd Round
Saturday, March 17, 3:40 p.m. (CDT)
Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.


Key Tournament Notes


  • Texas A&M is making its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Prior to last year, A&M had not been to the NCAAs since 1987.
  • The winner of the A&M-Penn game will play the winner of the Louisville-Stanford game at approximately 3:40 p.m. (EDT) on Saturday. The winner of Saturday's game will advance to the NCAA South Regional March 22-24 in San Antonio.
  • A&M has won 18 of its last 22 games.
  • A&M is 20-3 in its last 23 Big 12 games.
  • The Aggies finished 13-3 in Big 12 play, their most wins in the league's 11-year history. The last time A&M had a better conference mark was in 1980, when they won the Southwest Conference with a 14-2 mark. That team went on to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
  • A&M is the No. 3 seed in the South Regional, the highest seeding in school history. The previous best was a No. 6 seed in 1979-80.
  • A&M is 2-2 in games played at Rupp Arena. The Aggies last visited Lexington for the 1986 Kentucky Invitational, falling to Boston University, 65-63, in the first round then bouncing back to clip Iona, 67-60, in the consolation game. A&M upset No. 11-ranked Kentucky, 73-69, in the first round of the 1978 Kentucky Invitational then fell to Illinois, 71-57, in the title game.
  • The Aggies' last five losses were by a combined 10 points, including a three-point loss at then-top-ranked UCLA (75-72) in December. A&M's four conference losses were each by only two points -- at Texas Tech (70-68) and Texas (98-96, 2 OT) and at home against Texas Tech (77-75) on a buzzer beater. The Aggies fell to Oklahoma State, 57-56, in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship quarterfinals.
  • The Aggies are 0-2 in neutral site games and are 7-5 in all games away from home. A&M had neutral site losses to UCLA (75-72) in Los Angeles and to Oklahoma State (57-56) at the Big 12 Tournament in Norman, Okla.

NCAA Notes


  • Prior to last season's win against Syracuse, A&M's last NCAA Tournament win came in 1980, when the sixth-seeded Aggies beat No. 3 seed North Carolina, 78-61, in double overtime in Denton, Texas. A&M then fell in the Midwest Regional finals to eventual national champion Louisville, 66-55, in overtime.
  • In that North Carolina game, neither team scored in the first overtime as UNC went into its famed Four Corners Offense, but A&M broke loose in the second overtime, setting NCAA Tournament records for most overtime points (25) and largest margin of victory in an overtime (17).
  • A&M's other two NCAA wins came against Bradley (55-53) in the first round in 1980 and against Trinity (81-66) in 1969.

Sidebars


  • A&M Coach Billy Gillispie has led his teams to the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four years. His UTEP team fell to Maryland, 86-83, in the opening round in 2004. Gillispie's first A&M team in 2004-05 went to the NIT, advancing to the final eight.
  • Gillispie also went to four NCAAs as an assistant under Bill Self at Tulsa (1999 and 2000) and Illinois (2001 and 2002). Tulsa went to the Elite Eight in 2000 and Illinois did it in 2001.
  • Assistant coach Alvin Brooks was a guard on Lamar's 1980 Sweet 16 team and also went to the tournament as an assistant at Houston under coach Pat Foster.
  • Athletic Assistant Jerrance Howard played at Illinois from 2000-04, helping the Illini to four NCAA Tournament appearances.

In the Rankings


  • Aggies are ranked 9th this week in both the USA Today/ESPN and AP polls.
  • A&M has been ranked in the top 10 in both polls for 10 straight weeks. Before this season, the last time A&M was ranked in the top 10 in either poll was Jan. 3, 1979, when the Aggies were ranked 10th by The AP.
  • The only other time A&M has been ranked in the top 10 was a four-week run in the AP poll in 1959-60. That team was ranked No. 8 one week and 10th the following three weeks.
  • A&M has appeared in both polls all 19 weeks this season, a school record for consecutive weeks in the national rankings.
  • The Aggies previously had eight-week runs in the AP poll in 1959-60 and again in 1978-79.
  • A&M has climbed as high as No. 6 in the polls four times this season, a school record. The previous high ranking was No. 8 in 1959-60.
  • A&M was ranked 13th in both polls in the preseason, A&M's first preseason ranking since 1980-81, when the Aggies were 15th by AP and 12th in the coaches' poll.
  • The only other time the Aggies have been ranked in the preseason was in 1979-80, when they were 14th by the AP and 11th in the UPI Coaches' poll.
  • The last time A&M had appeared in either poll during the season was in 1980-81, when the Aggies were ranked No. 11 by The AP in the Dec. 30 poll after a 7-0 start. But that team lost its next five games, and A&M disappeared from the polls for almost 26 years.

Texas Talent


  • When Billy Gillispie was hired at A&M in 2004, he vowed to re-establish A&M as a Texas recruiting force.
  • The Aggies' 20-man roster boasts a school-record 18 Texas high school products, including three from Houston and seven from the Dallas area.
  • Among the two non-Texans players, Marlon Pompey has Texas ties, playing one season at Heritage Christian Academy in Houston before finishing his prep career at Winchendon (Mass.) School.
  • Prior to Gillispie's arrival, A&M had not signed a top Houston prospect since Jerald Brown in 1996. His 2007 class includes three top Houston prospects - DeAndre Jordan, B.J. Holmes and Nathan Walkup.
  • Gillispie's first Aggie team had 10 Texans and his second had 15. The year before he arrived, A&M had just four Texans, including two walk-ons and one little-used scholarship player.

Who's Hot?


  • Head Coach Billy Gillispie has been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year by the league's coaches for the second time in three years. Gillispie is a finalist for the 2007 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award.
  • Senior Acie Law IV is a first-team All-America choice by the NABC, USBWA, The Sporting News, ESPN.com and SI.com. He also was named Big 12 Player of the Year by The Dallas Morning News. Law is a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's top point guard and is a semifinalist for the Wooden and Naismith Awards.
  • In the last four minutes of conference games, Law averaged 6.9 points while making 66 percent from the field, 73 percent from three-point range and 84 percent from the free throw line. ESPN's Dick Vitale called him the nation's best player in the last five minutes of games.
  • A second-team All-Big 12 pick by The Dallas Morning News, senior Antanas Kavaliauskas scored a career-high 26 points against Missouri, making 11-of-12 from the field (.917), the best shooting performance in a conference game in school history. He posted a game-high 9 rebounds against Oklahoma State at the Big 12 Tournament.
  • Junior Joseph Jones is a consensus second-team All-Big 12 pick for the second straight year. He had a game-high 18 points and 7 rebounds against Oklahoma State at the Big 12 Tournament.
  • An honorable mention All-Big 12 pick, sophomore Josh Carter leads the nation in three-point accuracy at 51.6 percent and has made 14-of-24 (.583) in the last four games. Carter is the most accurate career three-point shooter in A&M and Big 12 history (.462).
  • Junior Dominique Kirk has been named to the Big 12 All-Defense Team by the league's coaches and media.

Angles & Storylines


  • A&M heads into The NCAA Tournament with a 25-6 record, the most regular-season wins in school history. The Aggies need one more win to tie the school record for wins (26-8) set by the 1979-80 team.
  • A&M has posted three straight 20-win seasons for the first time in school history.
  • A&M is making consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in school history.
  • A&M finished 13-3 in Big 12 play, its best conference record since it finished 14-2 in the SWC in 1979-80. The Aggies finished second in the conference race, their highest finish in league history. The last time A&M finished as high in conference play was a second-place finish in the Southwest Conference in 1994.
  • In its six losses, A&M had an average losing margin of just 3.7 points, second lowest in the nation (Akron, 3.0). The last five losses were each by three points or fewer.
  • A&M is 20-3 in its last 23 Big 12 games dating back to last season.
  • All six A&M seniors have graduated or will graduate in the coming months -- Acie Law and Marlon Pompey in May, Josh Johnston in July, and Antanas Kavaliauskas and Brian Blackburn in August. Logan Lee graduated last August. uA&M had a league-high four players on the Academic All-Big 12 Team (Lee, Law, Kirk and Beau Muhlbach).
  • A&M is only the second team in Big 12 history to post road wins at Allen Fieldhouse and Gallagher-Iba Arena in the same season (Iowa State did it in 2005). A&M is the first Big 12 team, and only the third in history, to win road games at Kansas, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in the same season (Missouri did it in 1982 and 1994).
  • The Aggies rank second nationally in defensive field goal percentage (.372), sixth in three-point percentage defense (.297) and 16th in scoring defense (59.2). A&M is on school-record pace in all three categories.
  • A&M's opponents this season have shot better than 50 percent in just 8 of 62 halves played.
  • A&M ranks fifth nationally in field goal percentage (.501) and is sixth in assists (18.0). The Aggies are fourth nationally in assist/turnover ratio (1.44) and fifth in scoring margin (+17.1).
  • A&M ranks third nationally in three-point accuracy, making 42.2 percent. Three A&M players have at least 100 career three-pointers to their credit -- Josh Carter (140), Dominique Kirk (124) and Acie Law (111).
  • The Aggies are ranked No. 5 nationally in combined defensive and offensive efficiency (points allowed and scored per 100 possessions) by ESPN statistical guru Ken Pomeroy. A&M is third in defensive efficiency (89.3) and eighth in offensive efficiency (115.0).
  • A&M is ranked 9th this week in both the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll and the AP poll. The Aggies have been ranked in the top 10 in both polls for 10 straight weeks and have been ranked a school-record 19 straight weeks, breaking the previous mark of eight weeks set in 1959-60 and matched 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 has reached a No. 6 ranking -- the highest in school history -- four times this season. Prior to this year, A&M's last ranking by the AP came on Dec. 30, 1980, when the Aggies were 11th.
  • A&M is the only team in the Big 12 that has started the same lineup in every game this season.
  • A&M is one of the top inside-out teams in the country. The Aggies average 33.9 points in the paint, with Joseph Jones and Antanas Kavaliauskas combining for 25.7 points per game. Meanwhile, guards Acie Law, Dominique Kirk and Josh Carter combine for 37.0 points per contest and are making 45.8 percent from three-point range.
  • In the first 10 years of Big 12 play, A&M led the league in a statistical category just once (steals in 1997-98). This season, A&M leads the league in seven categories (scoring defense, FG percentage, FG percentage defense, 3-point FG percentage, rebounding defense, assists and assist-to-turnover ratio). The Aggies rank second in three other categories (scoring margin, 3-point FG percentage defense and rebounding margin).
  • A&M posted a school-record six sellouts in 2006-07, the third most in the Big 12. The Aggies averaged a sellout in Big 12 play (12,640) and also set a school record for season average (,9812). A&M set the single-game record three times, including a high of 13,203 against Missouri.
  • A&M is 51-6 at Reed Arena under Billy Gillispie, with a 19-5 mark in Big 12 play and a 32-1 mark against non-conference foes (including a 1-1 record in the 2005 postseason NIT). Gillispie is 67-7 in home games in his last four seasons as a coach. A&M was 40-41 (.494) at Reed Arena in the seven years before Gillispie's arrival.
  • A&M has won 31 Big 12 games in three years under Gillispie after winning 25 in the first eight years of the Big 12.

Tough Schedule


  • Texas A&M is one of just two schools in the country to play non-conference games against two 2006 NCAA Final Four teams (Wichita State played LSU and George Mason). The Aggies played LSU and UCLA in back-to-back games in early December.
  • The Aggies played 14 games against teams that advanced to postseason play last year, including 9 versus NCAA Tournament teams and 5 versus NIT teams.
  • Four non-conference games were against defending conference champions - LSU (SEC), UCLA (Pac 10), Pacific (Big West) and Winthrop (Big South). UCLA and Winthrop successfully defended their titles.
  • Seven games have been televised nationally, most in school history. The Wooden Classic against UCLA was on CBS, while home games against Texas and Oklahoma and the road game at Kansas were on ESPN.
  • Including Fox Sports Net and ESPN Regional telecasts, 21 A&M games have been televised, a school record.

Success Streaks


  • A&M has posted three straight 20-win seasons for the first time in school history.
  • Prior to this season, A&M had posted two consecutive 20-win seasons for only the third time in school history and for the first time since 1978-79 (24-9) and 1979-80 (26-8). The only other back-to-back 20-win seasons were in 1974-75 (20-7) and 1975-76 (21-6).
  • A&M is making its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance, a first in school history.
  • A&M had consecutive NIT appearances in 1985 and 1986 before making the NCAAs in 1987, the only previous time in school history the Aggies have appeared in the postseason in three straight years.
  • Under Billy Gillispie, A&M is 3-2 in postseason play (2-1 NIT, 1-1 NCAA), the second most postseason wins in a two-year period in school history. The 1978-79 team went 2-1 in the NIT and the 1979-80 squad was 2-1 in the NCAAs.