March 11, 2008
No. 6-seeded Texas A&M plays No. 11 Iowa State in Thursday?â„¢s first round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament at Kansas City?â„¢s Sprint Center. Game time is set for 8:30 p.m. in the nationally-televised game (ESPN2).
The winner of the A&M-ISU game will play No. 3-seeded Kansas State on Friday at 8:20 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to Saturday?â„¢s semifinals (3:20 p.m.). The championship game will be Sunday at 2:10 p.m. on ESPN.
Game Notes:
TEXAS A&M AGGIES
22-9 overall, 8-8 Big 12 (6th)
2008 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship
Thursday-Sunday (March 13-16)
Kansas City, Mo. * Sprint Center (18,795 cap.)
Tournament Schedule
THURSDAY
#8 Texas Tech vs. # 9 Oklahoma State 11:33 a.m. (ESPN2: Ron Franklin, Fran Fraschilla)
#5 Baylor vs. #12 Colorado 2:07 p.m. (ESPN+: Dave Armstong, Reid Gettys)
#7 Nebraska vs. #10 Missouri 6:07 p.m. (ESPN+: Fred White, Paul Splittorff)
#6 Texas A&M vs. #11 Iowa State 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2: Ron Franklin, Fran Fraschilla)
FRIDAY
TT-OSU winner vs. #1 Texas 11:37 a.m. (ESPN+: Dave Armstrong, Reid Gettys)
BU-CU winner vs. #4 Oklahoma 2 p.m. (ESPN+: Dave Armstrong, Reid Gettys)
NU-MU winner vs. #2 Kansas 6:07 p.m. (ESPN+: Fred White, Paul Splittorff)
A&M-ISU winner vs. #3 Kansas State 8:20 p.m. (ESPN+: Fred White, Paul Splittorff)
SATURDAY
Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner 1:07 p.m. (ESPN+: Dave Armstrong, Reid Gettys)
Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner 3:20 p.m. (ESPN+: Fred White, Paul Splittorff)
SUNDAY
Big 12 Championship Game 2:10 p.m. (ESPN: Ron Franklin, Fran Fraschilla)
TEXAS A&M AGGIES (#6 Seed)
Record: 22-8 (8-8 Big 12, 6th place)
RPI / SOS: 47/ 57
Last 12 Games: 7-5
Head Coach: Mark Turgeon (Kansas '87)
Record: 175-128 (10th year)
at Texas A&M: 22-8 (1st year)
at Big 12 Tournament: 0-0
in Conference Postseason Tournaments: 4-7
in NIT games: 1-3
in NCAA Tournament games: 2-1
Leading Scorer: Josh Carter (12.5)
Leading Rebounder: DeAndre Jordan (6.6)
Assists Leader: Dominique Kirk (3.5)
Steals Leader: Bryan Davis (34)
Blocks Leader: DeAndre Jordan (44)
3-Point Field Goals Leader: Josh Carter (2.2)
3-Point Percentage Leader: Dominique Kirk (.414)
Field Goal Percentage Leader: DeAndre Jordan (.621)
Free Throw Percentage Leader: Josh Carter (.825)
TENTATIVE TEXAS A&M STARTERS
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Class PPG RPG APG
22 Dominique Kirk G 6-4 185 Sr-3L 8.1 3.5 3.5
15 Donald Sloan G 6-3 205 So-1L 9.9 3.9 3.1
23 Josh Carter F 6-7 200 Jr-2L 12.5 4.1 --
30 Joseph Jones F 6-9 255 Sr-3L 10.6 5.2 --
12 DeAndre Jordan C 7-0 255 Fr-Hs 8.7 6.6 --
Tournament Notes
*A&M is coming off a 72-55 loss to No. 5-ranked Kansas at home on Saturday. The Aggies are 2-2 in their last four games and 7-5 in their last 12.
*The Aggies?â„¢ 22-9 record is the best start by a first-year head coach in school history.
*A&M, Kansas and Texas are the only three Big 12 schools to post 20-win seasons in each of the last four years. The Aggies also have recorded at least 8 Big 12 wins in four straight seasons. Prior to that stretch, A&M had never won more than 6 league games.
*The Aggies are 1-11 in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship and have lost two straight. A&M?â„¢s lone victory in the tournament came two years ago in Dallas when the Aggies beat Colorado, 86-53.
*A&M was the No. 2 seed last year but suffered a 58-57 upset by No. 7-seeded Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals.
*The only previous meeting between A&M and Iowa State at the Big 12 Championship came in Dallas in 2003. The Cyclones came away with a 97-70 victory, dropping A&M to 14-14 on the year and eliminating the Aggies from postseason consideration.
*A&M has never been the No. 6 seed at the Big 12 Championship.
*A&M has never played Kansas or Nebraska in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.
*After being the lower seeded team in seven of its first eight Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship appearances, A&M has been the higher-seeded team for its opening tournament game for four straight years -- in 2005 as the No. 7 seed against No. 10 Kansas State, in 2006 as the No. 4 seed against No. 5 Colorado, last year as the No. 2 seed against No. 7 Oklahoma State, and this season as the No. 6 seed against No. 11 Iowa State.
*A&M has an all-time record of 17-30 in conference postseason tournaments.
*In 13 Big 12 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship contests (including 2008), the Aggies have played eight North Division schools and five from the South Division.
Sidebars
*A Kansas native, Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon is a former Jayhawk player and assistant coach.
*After leading Hayden HS in Topeka to consecutive Kansas state titles in 1982 and 1983, Turgeon became the first Jayhawk ever to play in four straight NCAA Tournaments. Kansas advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1986 with current KU Head Coach Bill Self serving as an assistant coach.
*After graduating in 1987, Turgeon was an assistant coach at KU under Larry Brown, helping the Jayhawks win the 1988 NCAA title. He went on to serve four more years as an assistant under Roy Williams.
*Turgeon still ranks ninth in KU history in career assists with 437. He and KU assistant coach Danny Manning were teammates for three years.
*Turgeon?â„¢s Wichita State team lost to Iowa State (76-65) in the opening round of the 2003 postseason NIT played in Ames.
*In the Missouri Valley Conference from 2002-06, Turgeon (Wichita State) and ISU?â„¢s Greg McDermott (Northern Iowa) met 11 times. McDermott?â„¢s teams won the last three meetings for a 7-4 advantage.
*Iowa State assistant coach Jean Prioleau was an assistant under Mark Turgeon at Wichita State from 2000-05.
*Missouri Associate Head Coach Melvin Watkins served as head coach at Texas A&M for six seasons from 1998-04. Watkins recruited and signed current A&M standout Joseph Jones.
*A&M Senior Athletic Assistant Bill Walker is a native of Warrensburg, Mo., where he earned first-team all-state honors as a high school senior. He played collegiately at State Fair CC in Sedalia, Mo., and at Missouri-Rolla.
*Walker served as an assistant coach at Missouri-St. Louis (1989-96) and Central Missouri State (1996-99).
*Aleks Maric was recruited to Nebraska by A&M Associate Head Coach Scott Spinelli when Spinelli was an assistant for the Cornhuskers from 2003-06. Spinelli served as associate head coach at Nebraska under Barry Collier two years ago (2005-06).
*A&M Director of Athletics Bill Byrne served as Nebraska?â„¢s AD from 1992-02, leaving Lincoln for College Station in January of 2003.
*A&M?â„¢s DeAndre Jordan and KSU?â„¢s Michael Beasley were teammates last summer on the USA Basketball U19 team that finished second at the world championships in Serbia.
*A&M Director of Basketball Operations Mike Rohn (Colby, Kan.) and Video Coordinator Stephen Gentry (Fort Scott, Kan.) are both Kansas natives.
Players to Watch
*Senior guard Dominique Kirk owns the Big 12 record for consecutive starts with 127, which also is the A&M record for career games played. He is the winningest player in A&M history with a 92-35 (.724) record. A defensive All-American last year, Kirk?â„¢s primary defensive assignment in Big 12 play this year made just 34 percent from the field. Kirk ranks second in the Big 12 (15th nationally) in assist/turnover ratio (2.57). He has been named to the Big 12 All-Defense Team by amedia panel that covers the league.
*A preseason All-America candidate, senior forward Joseph Jones scored 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the win against Texas Tech and scored 11 in the win at Baylor. Jones was named MVP of the Dick?â„¢s Sporting Goods NIT Season-Tip-Off in November and is a second-team all-district pick (NABC). 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 95 career games, one shy of tying the school record of 96 set by the late Vernon Smith in 1977-81.
*Senior Beau Muhlbach has averaged 7.0 points in the last four games. He scored a career-high 12 points with a career-best 5 rebounds in the win at Baylor.
*Junior Josh Carter ranks fifth in career 3-point accuracy in Big 12 history at .429. Carter scored 17 points and made 4-of-5 three-pointers in the win at Baylor. Carter has made .825 from the free throw line, the sixth best in school history and the best since Kenny Brown made .846 in 1985-86. Carter made .842 in conference games, an A&M record for Big 12 play.
*Sophomore Bryan Davis leads the team steals (34), ranks second in blocks (33) and is third in rebounding (4.8). Davis has been named to the Big 12 All-Reserve Team by a media panel that covers the league.
*Freshman DeAndre Jordan, a preseason freshman All-America pick, has made .621 from the field and is chasing the school record for season field goal percentage (.622 by Rudy Woods in 1978-79). 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 44 and has had at least one in nine straight games. Jordan had a game-high 10 rebounds in the win at Baylor and added a career-best 6 blocked shots, an A&M record for a Big 12 game.
*Sophomore Donald Sloan scored 17 points with a career-best 8 rebounds in the win at Baylor and averaged 16.0 points in the last two games. He has made 32 of his last 34 (.941) free throws, including 17 straight.
*Sophomore Derrick Roland averaged 9.3 points in the three games prior to Baylor, but was limited in the last two games by a shoulder injury.
Aggie Angles
*The Aggies rank among the top 15 nationally in rebounding margin at +7.4. A&M has out-rebounded its opponent in all 22 wins, but is 0-5 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. The highest-ranked team A&M has ever beaten was No. 5 Texas in 1982 (71-69 in Austin).
*A&M ranks second in the Big 12 and among the top 20 nationally in field goal percentage defense at .391, and has held 16 opponents under 40 percent. The Aggies are allowing just 61.9 points per game and is 21-4 when its opponent scores under 70 points. In the win at Baylor, A&M held the Bears to season lows in points (57) and field goal accuracy (.333).
*In the eight Big 12 wins, A&M made .500 from the field, .409 from three-point range and .714 from the free throw line with a 1.3 assist/turnover ratio. In the eight league losses, the Aggies made just .353 from the field, .250 from three-point range and .628 from the line with a 0.6 assist/turnover ratio. A&M has allowed just 58.9 points in the wins but 74.5 in the losses.
*A&M?â„¢s 67 home wins in the last four years are the second most in the nation in that period behind Memphis (70).
*A&M is 49-16 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 22 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 and six have led the team in scoring. Six players average at least 8.0 points per game.
*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.
*A&M?â„¢s 22-9 record is the best by a first-year coach in school history. The 22 wins tie for the third most overall in A&M history.
*A&M, Texas and Kansas are the only Big 12 schools to post at least 20 wins in each of the last four seasons.
*A&M has had just 11 foul-outs this season, the fewest since it had 10 in 1999-00. A&M had just 7 in league play, matching the second fewest in school history (1969). The record for conference play is 2 by the 1958-59 team.
*A&M had 0 foul-outs in the eight Big 12 victories.
*The Aggies have posted 131 blocked shots this season, the third most in school history and the most since a school record 181 in 1989-90. That season, the late Davis Harris set the individual school mark with 108 blocks.