February 29, 2008
Texas A&M plays the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN.
GAME #29
Texas A&M Aggies
(21-7, 7-6 Big 12 Conference)
vs.
Oklahoma Sooners
(18-10, 6-7 Big 12 Conference)
Saturday, March 1 * 1:05 p.m. (CST)
Lloyd Noble Arena (12,000 cap.) * Norman, Okla.
TELEVISION
ESPN
Play-by-Play: Ron Franklin
Analyst: Fran Fraschilla
RADIO
Texas A&M Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Dave South
Analyst: Al Pulliam
Sirius Satellite Radio: 121
TEXAS A&M AGGIES
Record: 21-7 (7-6 Big 12)
Ranking: RV (USA Today/ESPN), RV (AP)
RPI: 42
Last Game: Beat Texas Tech (98-54) at home on Wednesday
Head Coach: Mark Turgeon (Kansas ?'87)
Record: 174-126 (10th year)
at Texas A&M: 21-7 (1st year)
vs. Oklahoma: 1-0
TENTATIVE TEXAS A&M STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class PPG RPG APG
22 Dominique Kirk G 6-4 185 Sr-3L 8.2 3.5 3.6
15 Donald Sloan G 6-3 205 So-1L 9.7 4.0 3.3
23 Josh Carter F 6-7 200 Jr-2L 12.6 4.3 --
30 Joseph Jones F 6-9 255 Sr-3L 10.9 5.3 --
12 DeAndre Jordan C 7-0 255 Fr-Hs 9.0 6.6 --
OKLAHOMA SOONERS
Record: 18-10 (6-7 Big 12)
Ranking : Unranked
RPI: 32
Last Game: Lost at Nebraska (63-45) on Wednesday
Head Coach: Jeff Capel (Duke ?'97)
Record: 113-66 (6th year)
at Oklahoma: 34-25 (2nd year)
vs. Texas A&M: 0-3
TENTATIVE OKLAHOMA STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class PPG RPG APG
20 Austin Johnson G 6-3 161 Jr-2L 8.6 2.8 2.5
15 David Godbold G 6-5 221 Sr-3L 7.3 4.1 2.0
5 Tony Crocker G 6-6 191 So-1L 11.4 4.2 2.2
32 Taylor Griffin F 6-7 236 Jr-2L 6.5 4.5 --
23 Blake Griffin F 6-10 239 Fr-Hs 15.3 9.3 --
Key Game Notes
*The Aggies?â„¢ 21-7 record is the best start by a first-year head coach in school history.
*A&M?'s 7-6 start in Big 12 play matches the second best in school history. A&M started 11-2 last year (finishing 13-3) and 7-6 in 2006 (finishing 10-6).
*The Aggies ended a three-game losing skid with a 98-54 win against Texas Tech at home on Wednesday, A&M?â„¢s largest victory ever in a conference game.
*Oklahoma has lost two straight and is coming off a 63-45 loss at Nebraska on Wednesday.
*A&M is 3-4 in true road games this season, 3-3 in Big 12 play. The Aggies have won 12 of their last 17 Big 12 road games, including three of the last four.
*Oklahoma is 12-3 at home this year, 4-2 in Big 12 play, and has won two straight.
*A&M, Texas and Kansas are the only Big 12 teams to reach the 20-win plateau in each of the last 4 seasons.
About Oklahoma
*The Sooners finished 16-15 last season, placing 7th in the Big 12 with a 10-6 mark.
*Oklahoma is in its second season under Coach Jeff Capel, a former standout player at Duke.
*The Sooners are led by freshman forward Blake Griffin (6-10), who is averaging 15.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Senior center Longar Longar (6-11) adds 11.8 points and 5.4 rebounds, while sophomore guard Tony Crocker (6-6) contributes 11.4 points and has made 44 percent from three-point range.
Sidebars
*A&M assistant coach Alvin ?Pooh? Williamson led Beggs (Okla.) HS to two state championships as a player and went on to lead Tulsa to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments in 1994 and 1995.
*A&M freshman guard Derrek Lewis is from Tulsa, where he led Union HS to a 26-1 record and the state semifinals last year. He led Tulsa?â„¢s Cascia Hall HS to a state runner-up finish in 2006. Lewis played a career-high 17 minutes on Wednesday against Texas Tech, scoring 3 points with 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
Series Notes
*Oklahoma leads the series, 25-4, with a 12-1 record in games played in Norman (all at the Noble Center).
*A&M has won three straight against the Sooners, including a 56-49 win last year in Norman. Prior to last season, Oklahoma had won 14 straight in the series.
*The last three games in Norman (and four of the last five) have been decided by 8 points or fewer.
*The No. 23-ranked Aggies beat the Sooners, 60-52, on Feb. 2 in College Station. A&M shot just .354 from the field, but had a 12-5 advantage in second-chance points. Joseph Jones led A&M with 18 points, while David Godbold led the Sooners with 22 points, making 6-of-10 three-pointers.
Players to Watch
*Junior Josh Carter ranks fifth in career 3-point accuracy in Big 12 history at .429. With 1,012 career points, Carter is the 29th A&M player to reach the 1,000-point mark and the 18th to do it in three years. Carter has made 9 straight free throws.
*Senior guard Dominique Kirk owns the Big 12 record for consecutive starts with 124, which also is the A&M record for career games played. He is the winningest player in A&M history with a 91-33 (.734) record. A defensive All-American last year, Kirk?â„¢s primary defensive assignment in Big 12 play has made just 33 percent from the field. Kirk ranks second in the Big 12 (23rd nationally) in assist/turnover ratio (2.46).
*A preseason All-America candidate, senior forward Joseph Jones scored 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the win against Texas Tech. Jones was named MVP of the Dick?â„¢s Sporting Goods NIT Season-Tip-Off in November and was a consensus preseason first-team All-Big 12 pick. He ranks among the school?â„¢s career top 10 in scoring, rebounding, blocked shots, field goal percentage, steals, free throws and free throw attempts. Jones, who graduated in December (agricultural leadership), has scored in double figures in 21 games this year and in 94 in his career, second most in school history (96 by Vernon Smith in 1977-81).
*Sophomore Bryan Davis leads the team steals (30), ranks second in blocks (33) and is third in rebounding (5.0).
*Freshman DeAndre Jordan, a preseason freshman All-America pick, ranks among the top 15 nationally in field goal percentage (.630, 165 FGA min.). A member of the preseason NIT all-tournament team, Jordan made an A&M and Big 12 record 17 straight field goal attempts in November. He leads the team in blocks with 35 and has had at least two in four straight games. Jordan scored 8 points with a game-high 10 rebounds in the win against Texas Tech.
*Sophomore Donald Sloan has made 21 of his last 23 free throws. Sloan has averaged 11.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in the last 10 games.
*Sophomore Derrick Roland has averaged 12.0 points (4-of-8 3-pt. FG) in the last two games. He scored a team-high 13 points against Nebraska, making 3-of-5 from three-point range, and followed with 11 in the win against Tech.
Aggie Angles
*The Aggies rank fifth nationally in rebounding margin at +8.5. A&M has out-rebounded its opponent in all 21 wins, but is 0-3 when its opponent wins the battle of the boards.
*A&M has posted a win against a top 10 team four straight years. Prior to that, A&M had only four top-10 victories in its entire history. The Aggies have beaten 10 ranked teams in the last four seasons.
*A&M ranks second in the Big 12 and 13th nationally in field goal percentage defense at .387, and has held 15 opponents under 40 percent. The Aggies are allowing just 61.6 points per game, just behind last year?â„¢s school record of 59.4. A&M is 20-3 when its opponent scores under 70 points.
*In the seven Big 12 wins, A&M has made .511 from the field, .408 from three-point range and .704 from the free throw line with a 1.4 assist/turnover ratio. In the six league losses, the Aggies have made just .371 from the field, .253 from three-point range and .601 from the line with a 0.8 assist/turnover ratio. A&M has allowed just 59.1 points in the wins but 76.7 in the losses.
*A&M is the only team in the country to post a rebounding margin of at least +8.5 while shooting better than 48 percent from the field and holding its opponents to less than 39 percent field goal accuracy.
*A&M?â„¢s 67 home wins in the last four years are the second most in the nation in that period behind Memphis (69).
*A&M is 48-14 since the start of last season, ranking it among the winningest teams in the country in that span.
*A&M has had more free throw attempts than its opponent in all 21 wins.
*With six players listed at 6-9 or taller, the 2007-08 Aggies are the tallest in school history and among the biggest in college basketball. At 7-0, 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).
*Eight different Aggies have scored in double figures this season. A&M and Kansas are the only Big 12 teams with seven players averaging more than 6.0 points.
*A&M fell out of the national polls this week although it is receiving votes. The last time A&M was unranked was in the final polls in 2005-06. The Aggies had ranked in both polls a school record 36 straight weeks. Prior to that streak, A&M had been ranked a total of 27 weeks in its history.