Texas A&M
9-2
THE CITADEL
6-6
No. 23 Aggies Top The Citadel, 71-50
Dec 19, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2009
Final Stats |
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)--Texas A&M wanted to get back to playing the kind of defense it prides itself on Saturday night.
The No. 23 Aggies accomplished their goal, allowing just 11 first half points en route to a 71-50 win over The Citadel.
"I thought we were really good defensively almost the whole game," Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said. "We were really disciplined on defense. I was proud of our group."
It was the Aggies' first game since last Saturday's 84-81 loss to New Mexico and their first win over The Citadel in the second meeting with the school.
The Aggies used a dominant first half to put the game away--the Bulldogs didn't get within 10 points after the first few minutes. Texas A&M (9-2) had six 3s by halftime, when they led 33-11, and scored the first seven points of the second half to stretch the lead to 29 points.
Another run a few minutes later, keyed by six points from Sloan, saw Texas A&M outscore the Bulldogs 13-4 and push the lead to 53-20 with about 11 minutes remaining.
"It was good to get their confidence back and play the way we're capable of playing," Turgeon said. "Defense is our identity and for us to be good we have to guard. We have to guard to give ourselves a chance."
The Citadel (6-6) was led by Cameron Wells with 28 points. He was the only Bulldog who shot well, making 11 of the team's 18 baskets. The Bulldogs shot just 33 percent in their first trip to College Station and the first game against the Aggies since a 62-61 win in 1971.
Texas A&M got a career-high four 3-pointers and 12 points from Nathan Walkup, and Khris Middleton added 11 points.
The Aggies got in an early hole last week against the Lobos and were unable to overcome the deficit despite a late surge. This time they nipped an early deficit quickly and took this one over to cruise to the win.
Turgeon made defense a focus in practice after his team's performance against New Mexico.
"We were on them pretty hard," Turgeon said. "We drilled them and we got back to the basics, almost like starting over defensively. Sometimes with these guys if you don't work on it all the time they don't execute it the way they should."
The Citadel led 4-0 before Texas A&M went on a 19-2 run with about 13 minutes left in the first half. The Aggies made four 3-pointers in that span with Sloan hitting two of them.
Zach Urbanus made a 3-pointer after that before the Bulldogs went on an almost nine minute scoring drought which allowed the Aggies to push the lead to 29-9.
"Their guys played their assignments really well and unfortunately for us we did not respond very well," The Citadel coach Ed Conroy said. "Some guys tried to do too much instead of trying to help those other guys like Urbanus and Wells get free."
Texas A&M had more 3-pointers (6) in the first half than The Citadel had total baskets (5).
"We got to see how good we could be defensively in this game holding them to 11 points in the first half," Walkup said. "Now we've got to take that confidence on the road to Washington to play well."
The Aggies face No. 24 Washington Tuesday in Seattle.
Postgame Quotes
A&M COACH Mark Turgeon
"I thought we were really good, really good defensively almost the whole game. We were really disciplined on defense and we rebounded better, boxed out better. We were just disciplined defensively. I was proud of our group. They got a lot of them late on us. The only negative I saw was turnovers, we had too many, especially in the first half. And we had some questionable shot selection at times. But for the most part we shared the ball. It's a good win for us. We got better this week and I think it showed in this game. It was good to get our confidence back and play the way we're capable of. Defense is our identity, and for us to be good, we have to guard. If we guard we give ourselves a chance."
On building the big lead: "It was nice to get off to a good start. I thought the whole first half defensively we were really good. That was the difference. We weren't great offensively in the first half at times. It was good to build that early lead."
More on the first-half effort: "They (The Citadel) had a game plan to use the clock, but we were really disciplined defensively. I think they were waiting for us to break down defensively and we didn't very often. We followed our game plan and did a really nice job."
On the team's effort in practice: "We just worked on us a lot this week. The guys worked hard. They played that way. They played well. I think they showed a little bit of maturity. They played better for a longer period of time tonight. Sometimes I feel pretty insignificant. With our guys, it's a mindset. When they decide they want to guard, they guard. We got back to the basics this week, almost starting over defensively. It was good to do that and for them to actually apply it to the game."
On going to Washington: "The biggest challenge is we are playing a team picked to win their league on their home court, where they don't lose very often. I think we're looking forward to getting on the road. We leave early Monday morning. A lot of our guys have never been to the state of Washington and I know a lot of them are excited to see Seattle and what it's like. We get in early and have plenty of time to get ourselves acclimated and ready to play. I think we know where we are (as a team) but we don't know where we are on the road against a really quality opponent. We're going to find out Tuesday. That'll give us a good idea of where we are and how we have to play. It's easy when you play at home, you can play a certain way. On the road, you've got to figure out different ways to play. Hopefully we can become a good road team. We had a nice win at SMU, but that was a long time ago. For us to get where we want to be, we have to be a good road team. You do that with defense and rebounding and executing, and we took a step tonight. Washington is really talented. They have a lot of good basketball players. They are really good in that building."
A&M JUNIOR FORWARD Nathan Walkup
"It's good to get the bad taste of New Mexico out of our mouths. We had to see how good we could be defensively going into this game. We've got to take this confidence on the road to Washington and play well."
On his 3-point shooting: "I've been kind of inconsistent shooting the ball this year. Some games I've been hot and some games I haven't. I put in the extra time this week after finals, I shot before and after practice and came in early today. I've got to put the ball in the hole, that's what I'm here to do."
On the team's defensive effort: "That's what we did all week. We worked on defense all week long. We got back to the basics, defensive drills, guarding the ball, and rebounding. We had to get it to carry over and it finally did."
THE CITADEL COACH ED CONROY
"Credit A&M. I thought they came out very inspired in their defensive effort and had great concentration on their end. We scored early but I thought they settled down and really locked in. They played their assignments really well. Unfortunately for us, even though we've seen similar game plans, our guys didn't respond well tonight. I thought they tried to do too much. We settled down in the second half and played better, but we could never really get the game under control."
on executing the offensive gameplan: "We don't really milk the clock, but we do pride ourselves on moving the ball. Most of the time we create some matchups on different areas of the floor that give people trouble when we play some of these bigger teams. A&M did a great job of being disciplined. We like to move and get the matchups we want early in the clock, but A&M didn't give those to us. Credit them. They were very solid, very focused and carried out their assignments very well."
On what to take from the game: "I was happy with our guys. I told them at halftime that you see some crazy scores this time of year. I told them let's make this a crazy first half and not a crazy game. Let's get back into a rhythm in the second half. I saw those signs from our team in the second half and I was pleased with that. We can certainly build on this and hopefully find our roles a little better."
A&M NOTES
*The Aggies have won 49 consecutive non-conference home games.
*Mark Turgeon is 37-4 in non-conference games at A&M, including a 29-0 mark at home.
*Junior Nathan Walkup tied his career high with 12 points, making a career-best 4-of-6 three-pointers.
*Senior Donald Sloan scored a team-high 17 points, his fifth straght game in double figures. Sloan made 25 straight free throws before ending the streak tonight.
*Freshman Khris Middleton scored 11 points, his second game in double figures. He had 17 earlier this month against Prairie View A&M.
*A&M made a season-best .533 from the field. The Aggies are 26-0 under Mark Turgeon when shooting at least 50 percent.
*The Citadel made just .327 from the field, a season low for an A&M opponent. The Aggies are 31-2 under Mark Turgeon when their opponent make less than 40 percent.
*A&M had a season-best +12 (38-26) rebounding edge.
*A&M has won 13 straight games when its opponent scores fewer than 70 points.
