Texas A&M
14-1
North Dakota
8-6
Texas A&M Defeats North Dakota, 76-62
Jan 05, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 5, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Chinemelu Elonu scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds as Texas A&M defeated North Dakota 76-62 Monday night.
Josh Carter scored a game-high 18 points for the Aggies (14-1). Donald Sloan and B.J. Holmes had 14 each.
A&M, which led throughout, made 23 of 28 free throws.
North Dakota (8-6) pulled within four at 37-33 three minutes into the second half on Derek Benter's 3-pointer. But Holmes responded with two 3-pointers over the next two minutes to shove the Aggies' lead back to double digits at 43-33.
Following Benter's 3-pointer, the Aggies outscored the Fighting Sioux 19-5 over the next 10 minutes to put away their 10th consecutive victory.
Travis Bledsoe led North Dakota with 13 points.
The Aggies led by 14 with 3:46 remaining in the first half, but North Dakota outscored A&M 10-2 down the stretch to only trail 33-27 at halftime.
POSTGAME QUOTES & NOTES
NORTH DAKOTA COACH BRIAN JONES
"I'm really proud of our guys. We really came in and battled. A lot of things had to go well tonight for us to be in the game and I think they did. We had to shorten the game for us to even have a chance and limit their possessions. Give them credit. They play well here obviously. Our guys stuck to our game plan and we got better, but with their size and strength they got some second shots and we turned it over in key situations and were not able to recover. "They've got two bigs in the back with length and weight to them. Our offense is used to cutting to the rim, but with guys like that our guys have to learn how to cut and finish in traffic. Early in the game we were shooting it a little quick, but I felt the longer we got in to the shot clock the better shots we got." "I've done a lot of reading up on this program. They have a balanced attack, and we're the same way--our offense forces us to do that. We don't have one dominant guy because the ball isn't in one guy's hands very long in our offense. We have a bunch of little guys that do the little things well." (on slowing down the game) "We have to limit their possessions, as you do any time you're outmatched. We felt we had to limit their opportunities on the offensive end. We wanted to run the shot clock deep into the possession. We wanted to challenge them to see how disciplined they could be on defense. Our main goal was to try to control the tempo that way and see how disciplined they'd be throughout every defensive possession."
A&M SOPHOMORE B.J. HolmesB.J. Holmes
(on North Dakota's tempo) "It can be frustrating, yeah, but we have been working on it since right after McNeese. Coach has been telling us how they were going to slow the game down so we were ready for it." (on being ready for Big 12 play) "I do think we're ready. We are going in the right direction. We haven't reached our peak yet, but I think we're going to surprise lot of people."
A&M JUNIOR Chinemelu ElonuChinemelu Elonu
(on trouble getting into a rhythm) "It's not that bad, but we were struggling a bit offensively shooting the ball. We wanted to get our guards going, that way it opens it up for us inside. (North Dakota's) changing up of the defense is confusing at first but Coach talked to us at the half and told us we still had to run the plays called no matter what defense they ran. That kind of helped us out in the second half." (on being ready for Big 12 play) "Yeah, I think we're ready. We have to pick up a killer instinct. When we get up, we have to not let off the gas and keep going after teams. Conference play is long and we have a lot of practice time to get better. I don't think we've reached our full potential either." (on his play of late) "All it is is trying to play hard and give it all I can, and do whatever I can to help us win. It starts in practice and carries over in games. Hopefully it continues."
A&M COACH
(on developing a killer instinct) "We've been talking about that for about six weeks, (developing) a killer instinct and then being consistent among each other. The inconsistency has got to improve. Big 12 starting I think is going to help and we'll concentrate a little better. Tonight there wasn't a lot of energy out there. We had a 15-point lead and we let them score the last nine points (of the first half) and that changed the game. (on North Dakota's style) "That was hard for us, and then they started playing five guards which made it even harder and that spaced us. I try to keep my conventional lineups in there so we can get better, but this wasn't a good game for us. It probably wasn't the smartest schedule. A lot of things they run will help us prepare for Colorado. Now we've guarded it really in two games, since Sam Houston State ran a variation of it. "I thought we really guarded them well until I subbed at last media timeout of the first half. It takes time to adjust to it, especially when playing a big lineup. I thought the start of the second half we played well. I think we got up 16 or 18 in the second half and then we took a few bad shots and quit concentrating again. But that's the way we've been. Their zone was effective. They sagged back on us and made us shoot jump shots." (on being ready for Big 12) "I don't know if we're ready, but we're ready for a change and a challenge. And we're going to get challenged. We need a mindset change. You saw how hard we played against LSU and Alabama, and then you saw how we played tonight. And that's frustrating to me. We'll see how good we are over the next few weeks. This was tough. I knew it was going to be a tough night but we're just inconsistent for three or four minute stretches in each half and that lets them hang around. "I do know our guys think they're good. Maybe they are bored with the schedule, I don't know. We've also played four games in nine days and all we've done is prepare for those four teams. Now we have a stretch where we can work on us and make us better. We made mistakes tonight that we haven't made all year. And that's frustrating. But we'll keep plugging."
A&M NOTES:
*A&M isd 14-1 for the second straight year under Turgeon. Prior to that, the last time A&M was 14-1 was in 1921-22. The best start in school history was in 1919-20, when the Aggies finished 19-0.
*Sophomore B.J. Holmes tied his career high with 4 three-pointers and finished with 14 points. Holmes also made 4 treys against UNC Wilmington earlier this year.
*Junior Chinemelu Elonu scored 13 points with 11 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the year and his third in the last seven games. Elonu made 7-of-8 free throws, career-highs for makes and attempts.
*Senior Josh Carter scored 18 points, giving him 1,307 in his career. He ranks 13th in scoring in A&M history and needs 25 points to pass the late Todd Holloway (1,331) and move into 12th. Carter leads the Big 12 in free throw percentage and made 4-of-4 tonight. He's already made 57 free throws this season, more than he did in his entire freshman (31) and sophomore (56) seasons. He made 69 free throws last year.
*Junior Donald Sloan scored 14 points, his 10th game in double figures this season. Sloan also added 4 steals. The Aggies are 34-4 when Sloan hands out at least 3 assists.
*Freshman Dash Harris scored a career-high 6 points with 3 rebounds, 4 assists and a career-best 3 steals. He's handed out 14 assists with only 3 turnovers in the last three games.
*The Aggies have won 56 straight regular-season non-conference home games since an 82-80 loss to A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 13, 2003.
*Mark Turgeon is 39-12 at A&M, the best coaching start in A&M history and the second-best in Big 12 history. Kansas' Bill Self was 41-10 through 51 games in 2003-05.
