Nov. 19, 2008
Michigan Game Notes in PDF Format 
#12/7 TEXAS A&M (2-0) vs. MICHIGAN (1-1)
Game #3
November 20, 2008 • 6:00 p.m. (CT)
Crisler Center (13,751)
at Ann Arbor, Mich.
Television: Big Ten Network
Radio: Texas A&M Sports Network (KZNE 1150 AM)
Series History: Texas A&M Leads 1-0
Internet: Live Statistics available on www.AggieAthletics.com
GAME PREVIEW
On the wings of their highest-ever national ranking in school history, the seventh-ranked Texas A&M women's basketball team (2-0) travels North to Big Ten Conference country to take on Michigan (1-1) on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. (CT) in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Aggies and Wolverines will meet for just the second time in both program's history. A&M is in the middle of a six-game road swing which will take them through four different time zones in one week's time with trips to Arizona and California just around the corner. The Aggies are coming off of a 56-50 win over No. 23 Pittsburgh in the State Farm Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 16 in Baton Rouge, La. The early road tests will prepare A&M for a tough 16-game slate in the Big 12 Conference where three of the top 10 teams in the nation reside. True to form, the stingy Aggie defense has held their first two opponents of the season to an average of 47.5 points per game as U-M managed only 41 a year ago in College Station.
ON THE AIR
A&M will make its first-ever appearance on the Big Ten Network with Dan Gutowsky (play-by-play) and Brenda VanLengen (color analyst) calling the action live from Crisler Arena. The broadcast will be available in the Bryan-College Station area to satellite subscribers of Dish Network (Channel 439) and DirecTV (Channel 610). In other parts of the country, the Big Ten Network is available on Comcast, Time Warner and Charter cable. The telecast will be delayed and aired on the Big Ten Network beginning at 7:30 p.m. (CT) or as soon as the men's basketball game between Hartford and Penn State at 5:30 p.m. (CT) ends.
MICHIGAN AT A GLANCE
Last season, Michigan reached postseason play for the first time in six years behind the orchestration of head coach Kevin Borseth who turned in the second-best one-year turnaround ever in school history. Borseth took a 10-20 program in 2006-07 to a 19-14 overall record and WNIT appearance in 2007-08. The Wolverines also claimed a school single-season record of 12 home victories at Crisler Arena. Eight players return of the 12 who saw action against the Aggies in last year's first-time meeting between the two schools including four of the team's five starters in seniors Stephany Skrba, Melinda Queen, Carly Benson and Jessica Minnfield. U-M opened the season with a 70-60 road victory at Kentucky on Nov. 15, prior to a 58-49 loss at Akron on Nov. 17.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#55 Danielle Gant, G/F, 5-11, Sr. (10.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg)
#3 Takia Starks, G, 5-8, Sr. (9.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
#22 Tanisha Smith, G/F, 6-0, Jr.-Tr. (7.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
#21 Adaora Elonu, F, 6-1, Fr. (5.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg)
#12 La Toya Micheaux, C, 6-3, Sr. (5.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg)
MICHIGAN
No. Name (2008-09 Stats)
#34 Jessica Minnfield, G, 5-5, Sr. (7.5 ppg, 3.0 apg)
#3 Veronica Hicks, G, 5-9, So. (6.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg)
#51 Melinda Queen, F, 6-1, Sr. (8.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg)
#13 Stephany Skrba, F, 6-2, Sr. (9.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg)
#21 Carly Benson, F, 6-2, Sr. (8.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg)
ON THE ROAD AGAIN ...
The 2008-09 season is not the first time that the Aggies have played away from home for most of the month of November. Rewind to the 1997-98 season when A&M, coached by Candi Harvey, opened up the season at home against No. 10 Vanderbilt on Nov. 18, 1997, and did not return home until Jan. 7, 1998 against Oklahoma State in the second year of the newly-formed Big 12 Conference. The 1997-98 Aggies' 10-game road schedule included competition against several in-state opponents as well as at No. 8 Arizona, UNLV and No. 19 Stephen F. Austin in the Shreveport Shootout in Shreveport, La., Ole Miss and No. 1 Tennessee in the Northern Lights Invitational in Anchorage, Alaska, and at Oklahoma. Last season, A&M went 15-6 (.714) overall in road (7-4) and neutral games (8-2) combined.
LAST TIME OUT vs. MICHIGAN
A red-hot Danielle Gant and A'Quonesia Franklin also reached double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively against the Wolverines. A&M shot 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from the floor and outrebounded Michigan, 33-31.
AGAINST THE BIG TEN
Texas A&M is 5-7 all-time against schools hailing from the 11-member Big Ten Conference including Indiana (1-0), Michigan (1-0), Michigan State (0-1), Minnesota (2-3), Northwestern (0-1), Purdue (0-2) and Wisconsin (1-0). The Aggies are 2-1 versus Big Ten opponents in the Gary Blair Era.
NO BENCHWARMERS
A&M and Michigan share similarities when it comes to a balanced scoring attack. In fact, both team's current leading scorer is a non-starter with A&M redshirt freshman guard and Big 12 Conference Freshman of the Week Tyra White averaging 13.0 points per game in just 16.5 minutes on the court and U-M freshman guard Courtney Boylan averaging 11.5 points per game in 25.5 minutes. The Aggies currently have a nine-player rotation with each averaging more than 10 minutes a game, while the Wolverines rely on a seven-player rotation averaging more than 15.
COACHES WITH THE MOSTESS
Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair and Michigan head coach Kevin Borseth rank among the top 50 active NCAA Division I women's basketball coaches in career victories. Blair is ranked 37th with 512 career victories in 24 seasons and Borseth is 50th with 461 career victories in 22 seasons on the Division I and II levels combined.
AGGIE SIDEBARS
• Texas A&M will make its first-ever trip to the state of Michigan in 35 all-time seasons of Aggie Basketball. The Aggies, however, have played five different Division I schools from the Wolverine State and posted a 5-1 record against Central Michigan (2-0), Detroit (1-0), Eastern Michigan (1-0), Michigan (1-0) and Michigan State (0-1) combined at home or on a neutral site.
• The Aggies are one of four top 25 opponents the Wolverines will face in the non-conference portion of their schedule and one of two in the top 10. Michigan will also face No. 12 Vanderbilt on Nov. 23, No. 5 Duke on Dec. 7 and No. 15 Notre Dame on Dec. 10.
• Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair has only coached one player from the state of Michigan in his 29 overall seasons in the Division I ranks. During his days as an assistant coach under legends Sonja Hogg and Leon Barmore at Louisiana Tech, Blair coached Benton Harbor, Mich., native, Lisa Harvey, who was named Michigan Miss Basketball in 1984 and played for the Lady Techsters from 1985-89.
PITTSBURGH RECAP
Texas A&M 56, Pitt 50
• For the second-straight game, Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Danielle Gant, Takia Starks, Tanisha Smith, La Toya Micheaux. The starting five is now 2-0 this season.
• With the victory, the Aggies lead 1-0 in the all-time series versus Pittsburgh. They also picked up their fourth all-time win over a top 25 opponent in non-conference play next to No. 16 Duke in 1995-96, No. 20 Ole Miss in 1995-96 and No. 14 Auburn in 2007-08.
• A&M made its first-ever State Farm Women's Tip-Off Classic appearance and became only one of 32 all-time Division I teams and the seventh school from the Big 12 Conference to be invited to the prestigious tournament.
• Sophomore Sydney Colson registered 12 points (one shy of her career-high of 13) in only her second game after recovering from an ACL injury to her right knee which required surgery back in June.
• Redshirt freshman Tyra White has now come off the bench and turned in back-to-back games in double figures with team-highs of 13 versus Mercer and 13 against Pitt. She connected on three of the team's six three-pointers of the game.
• Senior combination guard/forward Danielle Gant fell shy of a double-double with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds against Pitt.
AGGIE NOTABLE QUOTABLES
"You could see two good basketball teams were ready to play, but neither of us could execute on offense because of the half-court defense by both teams. A lot of times we had some good looks, but we just did not finish. We were not moving and we were standing a lot on offense until we put Sydney Colson in the ballgame to give us an extra spark. She can make a lot of things happen. We would not have won that ballgame if it had not been for Colson playing 22 minutes when we were expecting her to play only 10. We played a decent ballgame in the second half and were good on the defensive end. We learned a lot from that game." - Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair on the State Farm Tip-Off Classic
"Who wants to play Tennessee after they were beat by Virginia? It is similar to Michigan who is coming back for their home opener right after a game they probably should have won at Akron. But, the road will do that to you. We need to make sure that when we go in there, we realize that they will have a good crowd, they are coming off of a loss and that their coach has probably been on their case the last two days of practice, so we have to be prepared." - Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair on playing Michigan
"I am going on the road for a purpose. We can really grow as a basketball team and study the game a little bit more. We will be doing a lot of teaching while we are on the road. I like playing different teams in the non-conference schedule and these six ballgames are really going to test us." - Texas A&M Head Coach Gary Blair on playing a tough road schedule to start the season
"Our good start falls back to our final game against Tennessee last year in the Elite Eight. It was a tough loss for us, but it was also a turning point for our team. We all knew how close we were to the Final Four which made us eager for the summer to work on getting better. This is probably the best team I have played on so far at A&M, especially with our six newcomers and the talent level that they bring to the table. We are ready and as a senior, I want to go out with a bang (and win a national championship)." - Senior center La Toya Micheaux on the team's 2-0 start
"We are glad to have the opportunity to play on the road. We know it is going to be tough going up to Michigan. We know we will have to defend and we will have to rebound. We will do the same thing that we did in the State Farm Tip-Off Classic against Pitt, but clean it up more. Our six road games will pretty much determine where we are going to be for the rest of the season." - Senior center La Toya Micheaux on traveling to Michigan
AGGIES ON THE RADIO
All Texas A&M women's basketball games can be heard via a radio broadcast on the Texas A&M Sports Network. First-year play-by-play announcer Mike Wright will call the action live from the Crisler Center alongside color analyst and former player Katy Pounds on KZNE 1150 AM. A live audio feed will also be available on www.AggieAthletics.com.