February 27, 2008
Dominique Kirk scored 16 points, including five 3-pointers, and Texas A&M snapped out of its Big 12 nosedive with an easy 98-54 win over Texas Tech on Wednesday night.
The Aggies had lost three straight and dropped out of the Top 25 rankings this week for the first time in 36 weeks.
The 44-point margin is A&M's biggest win in Big 12 history and in its series against Tech.
Texas A&M (21-7, 7-6) was aggressive, scrappy and excited from the beginning of this one, looking nothing like the team that scored just 59 points in a loss to Nebraska on Saturday.
The Aggies scored the first five points of the game and never trailed, leading by double-digits through most of the game.
The win breaks a three-game losing streak to the Red Raiders and avenges a 68-53 Texas Tech win earlier this season that gave Bob Knight his 900th career victory.
Joseph Jones added 13 points for A&M and Donald Sloan had 12.
The Aggies scored the first eight points of the second half, thanks to 3-pointers by Kirk and Josh Carter to extend their lead to 64-29 with about 18 minutes left. Texas A&M led 67-34 before two quick baskets pushed its lead to 37 points with about 15 minutes to play.
Texas Tech (15-12, 6-7) trailed by 37 points before going on an 11-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Trevor Cook to get within 74-45 with about three minutes later. The Aggies answered with a 15-5 run to push the lead to 89-50 with about five minutes left and coach Mark Turgeon sat all his starters.
Texas Tech, which had won two straight, was doomed by its own poor shooting (33 percent) coupled with 57 percent shooting by the Aggies, who made 12 3-pointers.
Coach Pat Knight used seldom played forward Tyler Hoffmeister to start the second half, with Damir Suljagic on the bench with three fouls. Hoffmeister, who won the reality show "Knight School," had four points and a steal in 15 minutes.
The loss drops Pat Knight's record to 3-4 since taking over after his father's resignation earlier this month.
Texas A&M led by three before scoring eight straight points, fueled by two 3-pointers by Kirk, to push its lead to 23-12 with about 12 minutes left in the first half.
A 9-0 run later in the half stretched A&M's lead to 38-19 about four minutes before halftime. The Aggies outscored Tech 18-10 in the final minutes of the half to lead 56-29 at halftime. A&M's 56 halftime points were more than the Aggies had scored in two of their last three losses and three shy of their total in Saturday's loss to Nebraska.
The Aggies harassed Tech into seven turnovers and numerous bad shots while committing just one turnover in the first half.
Tech was led by Alan Voskuil with 11 points.
Postgame Quotes & Notes
Texas Tech Head Coach Pat Knight: ?I want to apologize to our fans because we just did not compete tonight. That?â„¢s the bottom line. I hate to lost, but I can at least take getting beat if we compete. We didn?â„¢t compete from the tip till the end. I don?â„¢t even count the second half. The game was over at halftime. They just blew us out of the water. We just got whatever they wanted. They scored 56 points at halftime. It was like watching an NBA game. We did miss some easy shots, but it all started on the defensive end. That?â„¢s how they got their lead. From a defensive standpoint, which we worked the hardest on, that was the most disappointing thing. If I?â„¢m going to go down in flames I?â„¢m at least going to go down with someone I can enjoy watching play. If you?â„¢re going to sit there and pout and not cheer for your teammates, you can sit and pout in the locker room. I?â„¢m not a babysitter. I?â„¢m not messing around. I am the head coach now. I don?â„¢t care how bad the score is you have to be there for your teammates. I saw this coming on Monday. We had a real tough practice Monday. It was like trying to squeeze blood out of a rock. I was really worried about it. I even said something to my dad. I said I?â„¢m really worried about these guys?â„¢ mentality. Everyone had been telling them how good they?â„¢ve been doing for a week. These kids do not handle success very well. (Texas A&M) is one of the better teams in our league that just hit a bad spot like we did last year. They have their backs up against the wall. I kept stressing to our guys that we had to get out to a good start. We could have messed with their mind a little bit. They?â„¢ve lost three in a row and if we can jump on them, they?â„¢re thinking, ?here we go again.? I told them if they get off to a good start that?â„¢s what they?â„¢ve been waiting for the last week. It happened just like I thought it would. They got off to a really good start and we just couldn?â„¢t catch up to them after that. This is a really good team. You can look at the really good conferences, the ACC or the Pac 10, and some really good teams will hit a dry spell. Who knows what the reason is, but you know they?â„¢re dangerous. It was only a matter of time before they got back on their feet. It was unfortunate it happened tonight. I think you?â„¢re going to see some pretty good things from Coach Turgeon?â„¢s team from here on out. I hope our guys take this as a challenge.?
Texas A&M Senior Guard Dominique Kirk: ?We always stay after practice and shoot. We had confidence tonight. We shot the ball well and went out there and executed. We still have work to do. It?â„¢s never all perfect. We did well though. We were focused. I?â„¢m glad the young guys were focused and played hard. It was all about having confidence. As the leaders we have to keep giving them confidence and letting them know they can contribute. I was ready to shoot today. Coach Pooh (Williams) and I always shoot after practice. My father came down and worked with me on my shot. My team was behind me and I just tried to go out there and make plays. We need depth down the stretch. I?â„¢ve been waiting for Beau (Muhlbach) to get in and show what he?â„¢s got. Beau?â„¢s a tough player. He?â„¢s a competitor and we need him down the stretch. He went out there and played his heart out. It?â„¢s a great victory, but we have to stay humble and continue to press forward. We have more battles to come. We have to stay focused.?
Texas A&M Senior Forward Joseph Jones: ?We had two great days of practice. We got out there and played great defense. We practiced tough and with more effort and it carried over into the game. We?â„¢ve been waiting for something like this to happen for a long time. We feel like we fell off a little bit and we had to find ourselves. We had to start all over again. We did a great job of that tonight. We were aggressive on offense and aggressive on defense. We have a long season ahead of us. There?â„¢s no telling where we?â„¢ll end up. We?â„¢re trying to put ourselves in a position to finish great.?
Texas A&M Senior Guard Beau Muhlbach: ?I just wanted to see us go out there and win and play hard and play together. I leaned over to Coach Davis as the game was winding down and I said, ?It?â„¢s a lot more fun when you play together and you play hard.? It showed tonight. Any conference win you should be happy about, no matter if it?â„¢s by 40 or by 1. The Big 12 is though league. You have to compete every night and bring your best game. Everybody contributed and practiced hard these last few games.?
Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon: ?Obviously, we needed that. It seems like a month since we won. More importantly than winning, we needed to play well. Offensively, we were good most of the night. Once we got our defense going we were pretty good. I?â„¢m proud of our guys. We changed our attitudes. We changed some things offensively and we played with a deeper bench. I made us more of a team. On Monday, I told them that the guys that defend the best the next two days were going to get a chance to play. I thought we had nine guys that really defended well. I?â„¢m not used to losing close games and we?â„¢ve lost some close games. We just haven?â„¢t had enough in our tanks. We decided we were going to have a deeper bench. I think it gave us a sense of togetherness. Guys were cheering for each other. I don?â„¢t know how many times the referee told us to sit down. He said he was going to have to give them a technical if they didn?â„¢t sit down and I said give them one. I?â„¢m really proud of the guys. It?â„¢s just one night, but it?â„¢s a start. We need to go on the road and play well Saturday. I had a feeling we were going to play well today. We had our best practice of the year on Monday. It was fantastic. I knew we were going to play well but I didn?â„¢t expect this. We were really good. We just tweaked a few things and played with confidence.
Texas A&M Notes
*A&M's 44-point margin of victory was the Aggies' largest ever against Texas Tech (previous: 89-59 in 1960).
*The margin was the largest ever by the Aggies in a Big 12 game and matched the largest in school history for any conference game (44, 73-29 vs. Texas in 1959).
*A&M's 21-7 record is the best start by a first-year coach in school history.
*A&M is 16-3 at home this season and has won 16 of its last 20 Big 12 home games.
*Dominique Kirk set a school record with his 124th career game (previous record: 123 by Jimmie Gilbert in 1982-86 and by Winston Crite in 1983-87). Kirk extended his Big 12 record for consecutive starts to 124.
*Kirk scored a season-high 16 points, making a career-best 5-of-7 three-pointers.
*Beau Muhlbach scored a career-high 9 points with a season-high 4 rebounds and 2 assists. His previous career-high was 6 points last season vs. Fordham.
*Derrick Roland scored 11 points, his second straight game in double figures. He had a team-high 11 points on Saturday against Nebraska.
*DeAndre Jordan scored 8 points with a Big 12 career-high 10 rebounds, his fifth double-figure rebounding game of the year and his first in Big 12 play. He also added 2 blocks, his fourth straight game with at least 2 swats.
*A&M made a season-high 12 three-point field goals, tying for the fourth most in school history. The school record is 13 in three games.
*Tech shot just .328 from the field, the lowest by an A&M opponent in Big 12 play this year.
*A&M shot .569 from the field, its best since it made .627 in the Big 12 opener against Colorado on Jan. 12.