November 12, 2007
No. 15-ranked Texas A&M plays host to the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in the first round of the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Reed Arena. The game notes:
Game #2
#15 Texas A&M Aggies (1-0, 0-0 Big 12)
vs.
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (1-0, 0-0 Mid-Continent)
NIT South Regional First Round
Tuesday, Nov. 13
8:05 p.m. (CDT)
College Station, Texas
Reed Arena (12,500 cap.)
TELEVISION
ESPNU (National)
Play-by-Play: Dave Armstrong
Analyst: Stephen Howard
RADIO
Texas A&M Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Dave South
Analyst: Al Pulliam
Sirius Satellite Radio: Channel 181
SERIES
In College Station: A&M leads, 4-1
at Reed Arena: 0-0
Last Meeting: Oral Roberts 89, A&M 86 (1998-99 in Tulsa, Okla.)
TEXAS A&M AGGIES
Record: 1-0 (0-0 Big 12)
Ranking: 15th (USA Today/ESPN), 15th (AP)
Last Game: Beat McNeese State, 73-50, on Friday
Head Coach: Mark Turgeon (Kansas ?'87)
Record: 154-119 (10th year)
at Texas A&M: 1-0 (1st year)
vs. Oral Roberts: 0-2
PROJECTED STARTERS (exhibition stats)
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl.-Exp. PPG RPG APG
22 Dominique Kirk G 6-4 185 Sr-3L 8.0 2.0 6.0
15 Donald Sloan G 6-3 205 So-1L 7.0 4.0 --
23 Josh Carter F 6-7 200 Jr-2L 14.0 5.0 --
30 Joseph Jones F 6-9 255 Sr-3L 11.0 2.0 --
12 DeAndre Jordan C 7-0 255 Fr-Hs 12.0 2.0 --
ORU GOLDEN EAGLES
Record: 1-0 (0-0 Mid-Continent)
Ranking: None
Last Game: Beat SW Oklahoma, 84-59 on Friday
Head Coach: Scott Sutton (Oklahoma State ?'95)
Record: 145-102 (9th year)
at Oral Roberts: 145-102 (9th year)
vs. Texas A&M: 0-0
PROJECTED STARTERS (exhibition stats)
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl.-Exp. PPG RPG APG
10 Robert Jarvis G 5-11 185 Jr. 19.0 3.0 3.0
11 Adam Liberty G 6-2 180 Sr. 4.0 6.0 9.0
13 Moses Ehambe F 6-6 215 Sr. 19.0 5.0 ---
3 Yemi Ogunoye F 6-9 215 Sr. 0.0 3.0 ---
33 Shawn King C 6-10 220 Sr. 20.0 6.0 ---
Key Game Notes
*Texas A&M is making its second appearance in the preseason NIT, its first since the inaugural event in 1985.
*The Aggies dropped a 71-68 decision to UAB in the first round of the 1985 preseason NIT played at The Summitt in Houston.
*A&M played host to two postseason NIT games in 2005 and one in 1982. In 2005, A&M beat Clemson (82-64) in the first round, then returned to fall to St. Joseph?â„¢s (58-51) in the third round. In 1982, the Aggies beat Lamar, 60-58, in the first round.
*A&M has won 35 straight regular-season non-conference home games since an 82-80 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in 2003-04.
*Texas A&M Coach Mark Turgeon paid $10,000 to purchase tickets for the A&M student body for the NIT South Regional.
NIT Season Tip-Off
*The Aggies are one of four regional hosts in the Dick?â„¢s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-off. The other first round game pitsTexas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. UTEP at 5 p.m. The losers will play at 5 p.m. on Tuesday with the winners meeting at 8 p.m. The winner of the regional will advance to the NIT semifinals on Nov. 21 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The championship game is set for Nov. 23 at MSG.
About Oral Roberts
*The Golden Eagles went 23-11 last season and won the Mid-Continent Conference title with a 12-2 mark. ORU advanced to the NCAA Tournament but lost in the first round to Washington State (70-54).
*The Golden Eagles are in their ninth season under Head Coach Scott Sutton, brother of Oklahoma State Coach Sean Sutton and son of former OSU Coach Eddie Sutton. He has built a 145-102 record.
*ORU returns three starters and seven lettermen from last year, but lost three-time conference player of the year Caleb Green and three-time all-conference guard Ken Tutt to graduation.
*Junior guard Robert Jarvis, a third-team JUCO All-America last year at Seminole JC, scored 19 points in his debut, an 84-59 win against Southwestern Oklahoma on Friday.
*Senior center Shawn King (6-11) scored 20 points in the opener. Senior forward Moses Ehambe added 19.
*ORU forced 20 turnovers in its first game but committed 26 of its own.
Sidebars
*ORU junior guard Robert Jarvis is from Humble, Texas (Humble HS). Senior forward Yemi Ogunoye is from the Dallas area (Cedar Hill HS).
*Golden Eagles senior Adam Liberty played for A&M Coach Mark Turgeon at Wichita State from 2003-05.
Series Notes
*A&M leads the series, 7-4, with a 4-1 record in games played in College Station, but the schools have never met at Reed Arena.
*The schools last met in 1998-99, with ORU posting an 89-86 overtime win in Tulsa.
*ORU last visited College Station in 1993-94 at G. Rollie White Coliseum. A&M?â„¢s 79-66 victory was the 1,000th in school history.
*A&M is 33-14 all-time against members of the Mid-Continent Conference. The last time the Aggies faced a MCC opponent was in 2004-05, when they posted an 81-63 victory against Oakland at Reed Arena.
Who?â„¢s Hot?
*Senior Joseph Jones is a preseason All-America candidate. He is listed among the top 50 candidates for the Wooden Award and is a consensus preseason first-team All-Big 12 pick. Jones scored 11 points in the opener and needs just 19 to enter A&M?â„¢s career top 10 scoring list. Jones has started in all 96 games he?â„¢s played at A&M.
*Senior Dominique Kirk started at point guard in theopener and scored 8 points with 6 assists (0 turnovers) and went 2-of-2 on three-pointers. He?â„¢s the winningest starter in school history with a 71-26 (.732) record and has started in every game in his career. A defensive All-American last year, Kirk has been named the Big 12?â„¢s top defender for the second straight year by The Sporting News.
*Junior Josh Carter scored a game-high 14 points in the opener, making 3-of-7 three-pointers and adding 5 rebounds. Carter led the nation in three-point accuracy last season at 50.0 percent, making a school a record 86 three-pointers. He is the most accurate career three-point shooter in Big 12 history (.455).
*Sophomore Bryan Davis came off the bench to score 8 points with a career-high 9 rebounds and a career-best 4 assists against McNeese State. Davis also added 2 blocks and 2 steals.
*Freshman DeAndre Jordan, a preseason freshman All-America pick, scored 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting in his debut, including four slam dunks.
*Sophomore Derrick Roalnd scored a career-high 7 points in the opener, including a three-point field goal.
Aggie Angles
*A crowd of 9,276 attended the McNeese State game, the second best attendance for an opening game in school history. The record was 10,722 set last year against Prairie View A&M.
*A&M is one of four regional sites for the first two rounds of the Dick?â„¢s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off. On Tuesday, UTEP plays A&M-Corpus Christi at 5 p.m., while the Aggies play host to Oral Roberts at 8 p.m. The losers play at 5 p.m. on Wednesday followed by the regional finals at 8 p.m.
*Starting perimeter players Dominique Kirk, Donald Sloan and Josh Carter combined to play 75 minutes against McNeese State and had 0 turnovers. The eight Aggies who played at least 15 minutes in the game combined for only five turnovers.
*A&M committed only 10 fouls against McNeese, its fewest in a game in more than six years. The last time A&M had fewer fouls was in 2001-02, when it had nine at Kansas State. Last season, the Aggies averaged 19.5 fouls per game.
*With 277 career three-point field goals between them, Josh Carter and Dominique Kirk are the most prolific shooting tandem in school history.
*The Aggies are in their first season under Head Coach Mark Turgeon, a former Kansas player and assistant coach who led Wichita State to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2006.
*With six players listed at 6?â„¢9? or taller, A&M ranks as one of the biggest teams in college basketball. At 7?â„¢0?, freshman DeAndre Jordan is the fourth 7-footer to play at A&M, joining Andy Slocum (1999-04), Steve Niles (1968-71) and Lewis Qualls (1960-63).
*A&M is ranked No. 15 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches?â„¢ poll and the AP poll this week. The Aggies have been ranked in both polls a school record 21 straight weeks.
*The Aggies have won 35 straight regular-season non-conference home games.