Texas A&M
11-1
Sam Houston State
5-6
Aggies Edge Sam Houston State for Seventh Straight Win
Dec 28, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2008
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Chinemelu Elonu scored 11 points and had 11 rebounds to help Texas A&M win its seventh straight Sunday night with a 60-50 victory over Sam Houston State.
B.J. Holmes came off the bench to add 11 points and Bryan Davis scored 10 and had three blocked shots for the Aggies (11-1).
Ashton Mitchell scored 16 points to lead Sam Houston State (5-6). DeLuis Ramirez added 10.
Texas A&M led throughout the game.
The Aggies shot 41 percent from the field while Sam Houston State shot 33 percent.
POSTGAME QUOTES & NOTES
SAM HOUSTON STATE COACH BOB MARLIN
"In the first half we executed offensively but we had a hard time scoring. But definitely credit A&M, they are big and strong and well-coached defensively. We hung around awhile in the first half. In the second half, Ashton Mitchell picking up his fourth foul changed the momentum for us, because we felt good at the time. We weren't able to score (when we needed to). Give credit to their defense. They pressed and we didn't make shots. They were reason we didn't do a good job."
(on the inside play) "It was like men playing with boys for while. It's hard to believe we out rebounded them. I told our guys that we battled them on the glass and we fought, but (Bryan) Davis and (Junior) Elonu are great players. They are big and long and they stay with it. They finished plays to the basket and we didn't."
(on the second half) "We tried to tempo the game a bit and slow them down. The 2-3 zone slowed them down, but they were patient though. I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part on (Josh) Carter and kept him down. But A&M did great job on our leading scorer (Corey Almond) and didn't give him a basket. So it was a wash. They play good defense. (Donald) Sloan and (Josh) Carter, their perimeter guys, have been around for three or four years and they are good players. They communicate well, handle screens well and switch well. They did a nice job."
(on what to take from the game) "We were disappointed we didn't give A&M a better game, but as I stated earlier, we did execute offensively at times but just didn't get the ball in the basket. We competed hard and rebounded the ball, but we're going to have to limit turnovers. You can't play a team the caliber of A&M and turn the ball over 20 times and expect to win. They are good defensively. I like their team. I told coach (Turgeon) they will have a strong showing in the Big 12 and it'll be fun to watch."
A&M JUNIOR FORWARD Bryan Davis
"This game helped us out. We didn't execute well towards the end of the game, but that shows us we have to be able to do that, because we're going to have close games coming up. Going into the Rice game I know it's going to be a pretty good one. It's going to be a tough matchup for us."
(on the team's play) "With the Christmas break, we had a couple of days off and I think we were a little rusty coming in to the game. We started off well but didn't play 40 minutes of A&M defense and offense tonight."
(on the gameplan) "We put a lot of emphasis on going inside. We had a height advantage pretty much at every position, but that was one position we wanted to take advantage of, going at guys on the low post and crashing the boards on offense."
(on defensive effort) "At times we played well. A couple of times we got caught not playing by our principles, but overall I think it was pretty good compared to some other games this year."
A&M JUNIOR CENTER Chinemelu Elonu
Chinemelu Elonu"We had a height advantage, so we had to keep going strong to the hole. Once we got there and made good strong moves, we were pretty sure it was going to go in the bucket."
(on being outrebounded) "It is kind of heartbreaking. There were a lot of long rebounds also, but we don't make a lot of excuses. We're not too happy about that."
A&M COACH
"In the end you get a win out of it. I thought we were really good defensively for a long stretch up until the 5-minute mark of the second half. Our transition defense let us down a few times. Our first shot defense was tremendous. We just didn't rebound the way we are capable of. We took the night off there. Overall Sam Houston came in and were going to grind it, and use the clock, and they did a great job of that. And that made it a low-possession game. We didn't finish the game the right way. I thought the first 15 minutes of the second half we were pretty good. Considering we couldn't make many free throws or layups, we still built the lead up."
"I didn't think we were very mentally tough tonight. Some guys didn't play well and they let it affect them the whole game, and you can't do that. We'll try to get a little bit better offensively going into Rice. I thought our defensive effort was pretty good for most part. We will work on rebounds, obviously. We have to rebound better. There were a lot of long rebounds tonight that we didn't chase down. That's disappointing."
(on the team's rhythm) "We weren't in any rhythm tonight. Give Sam Houston a lot of credit though. They did a good job of keeping us out of rhythm. I didn't expect us to be great tonight, but I thought we'd be better than we played. The last five minutes our execution on both ends was a little disappointing."
(on the gameplan) "We talked about getting it inside and thought we did a pretty good job of that, or we'd get it in there and get fouled and then we'd miss a free throw. I thought one thing we did consistently well was throw the ball inside. We shot the ball way too quick, especially early in the game. We missed a lot of shots in the paint and a lot of free throws too. We weren't very good tonight, but we won, and we'll move on."
(on shutting down Corey Allmond) "I thought we did a great job on him. He wasn't in any rhythm all night. I thought B.J. Holmes. We knew (Ashton) Mitchell was a heck of a player too and we did a pretty good job on him. Defensively, like I said, they had 33 points I think with about six to go in the game. We were guarding tonight."
A&M NOTES
*A&M is 8-0 at home this season and has won 54 straight regular-season non-conference home games.
*A&M has won seven straight games, its longest winning streak since early last season when the Aggies won eight in a row.
*Mark Turgeon is 36-12 at A&M, the best start in school history and the second best in the 13-year history of the Big 12.
*A&M is 11-1 for the second straight year, tying for the second best start in school history. The 1919-20 team finished 19-0. The other 11-1 starts were in 1915-16, 1921-22, 1959-60, 2004-05 and 2007-08.
*Chinemelu Elonu scored 11 points with 11 rebounds, his third double-double of the year.
*The Aggies had 9 steals, their second most of the season (10 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff).
*The Aggies had 38 points in the paint and have scored at least 22 points in the paint in every game.
