Jan. 15, 2010
College Station, TX - Texas A&M faces No. 1-ranked Texas in the State Farm Lonestar Showdown Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Erwin Center in Austin. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Game 17
Texas A&M Aggies
(12-4, 1-1 Big 12 Conference)
vs.
#1 Texas Longhorns
(16-0, 2-0 Big 12 Conference)
Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010
5:05 p.m. (CT)
Erwin Center (16,734 cap.)
Austin, Texas
TELEVISION: ESPNU
Clay Matvick, play-by-play
Stephen Howard, commentary
Dish Network Channel 141
Direct TV Channel 614
RADIO: Texas A&M Sports Network
http://www.aggieathletics.com/multimedia/aggies-on-the-radio.html
Dave South, play-by-play
Al Pulliam, commentary
Sirius Satellite Radio: 122
Texas A&M Basketball Digital Media
Texas A&M Weekly Media Conference Audio (Thursday): /ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=27300&ATCLID=205225182
Texas A&M Media Almanac (complete bios, history and records): http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/352a4862
Mark Turgeon's Virtual Guide to Texas A&M Basketball: http://coachturgeon.com/
Aggie Basketball Fast Break blog: http://blogs.aggieathletics.com/fastbreak/
Texas A&M Aggies
http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/tam-m-baskbl-body.html
Record: 12-4 (1-1 Big 12)
Ranking: RV (AP); RV (ESPN/USA Today)
RPI: #35 (CBSSports.com)
Last Game: Lost at #12 Kansas State (88-65) on Tuesday
Head Coach: Mark Turgeon's (Kansas `87)
               Record: 214-144 (12th year)
               at Texas A&M: 61-25 (3rd year)
               vs. Texas: 2-2
Projected Texas A&M Starters
No.        Player                                  Pos.      Ht.         Wt.        Cl.          PPG      RPG      APG
5             Dash Harris                        G            6-1         175        So          4.9        3.2         3.3     Â
15          Donald Sloan                     G            6-3         205        Sr           17.4      3.9         2.3        Â
22          Khris Middleton                G            6-7         215        Fr           5.6       3.5         --
45          Nathan Walkup                 F             6-7         210        Jr          6.2        3.6         --
0             Bryan Davis                        F             6-9         250        Sr           9.3        7.3         --
Off the Bench
2           Derrek Lewis                    G            6-5        195        Jr           1.6         0.3         --
10          David Loubeau                 F             6-8         230        So          7.9        4.2         --
11          B.J. Holmes                        G            5-11      175        Jr            9.9       2.3         --
21          Ray Turner                        F             6-8         220        Fr           1.3         2.0         --
23          Naji Hibbert                       G            6-6         200        Fr           2.9         2.4         --
Texas Longhorns
http://www.texassports.com/sports/m-baskbl/tex-m-baskbl-body.html
Record: 16-0 (2-0 Big 12 Conference)
Ranking: #1 (AP), #1 (ESPN/USA Today)
RPI: 12 (CBSSports.com)
Last Game: Won at Iowa State (90-83) on Tuesday
Head Coach: Rick Barnes (Lenoir-Rhyne `77)
              Record:  488-239 (23rd year)
               at  Texas: 286-105 (13th year)
               vs. Texas A&M: 19-6
Projected Texas Starters
No.        Player                                  Pos.      Ht.         Wt.        Cl.          PPG      RPG      APG
4           Dogus Balbay                    G           6-1      175        Jr            4.5        3.6         4.6
0           Avery Bradley                  G            6-2         180        Fr           12.7       2.5       2.8        Â
24          Justin Mason                 F            6-2        195       Sr            2.6        2.0        --     Â
5           Damion James                 F          6-7         225        Jr            17.3      11.2        --
34          Dexter Pittman                 C             6-10     290       Sr            13.4       6.8         --
Big 12 Conference: http://www.big12sports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&KEY=&SPID=13134&SPSID=106110
NCAA: http://www.ncaa.com/statistics/index.html
Series Notes
- Texas leads the series, 131-84, including a 76-26 record in games played in Austin and a 25-8 mark at the Erwin Center. The Longhorns have won seven straight at home since an 80-74 A&M victory in 2001-02. A&M won seven of the first 10 games played at the Erwin Center, but Texas has since won 22 of the last 23.
- The teams have split the regular-season series in each of the last five seasons with the home team winning each game. The teams last met in College Station on Feb. 16 of last year with A&M posting an 81-66 victory. The Longhorns won last season in Austin, 67-58. Â
Game Notes
- A&M is 1-2 in true road games while top-ranked Texas is 10-0 at home.
- The Aggies are coming off an 88-65 loss Tuesday at Kansas State. The Longhorns boast a perfect 16-0 record and are coming off a 90-83 win Wednesday at Iowa State.
- A&M is 0-3 all-time against No. 1-ranked teams. The last time A&M played a top-ranked opponent was in 2006-07, when the Aggies lost to UCLA (65-62) at the Wooden Classic in Anaheim. Other games against No. 1 teams were an 89-60 loss at Kansas in 1996-97 and a 117-53 loss at UCLA in 1971-72.
- The highest-ranked team A&M has ever defeated was No. 5 Texas (71-69 in overtime) in Austin in 1981-82.
Rugged Schedule
- Texas is A&M's sixth nationally-ranked opponent, tied for the second most in the country through Saturday's games. Only Ohio State, which plays its seventh ranked opponent Saturday (No. 16 Wisconsin), has played more. A&M played four nationally-ranked non-conference opponents (that doesn't even include New Mexico, which entered the rankings the next week), twice as many ranked non-conference foes as any other Big 12 team.
- A&M is 2-3 against ranked teams this season. The Aggies beat No. 19 Clemson (69-60) and No. 16 Minnesota (66-65) at the 76 Classic in Anaheim in November. The Aggies' four losses this season have all been to teams that have been ranked in the top 25 for multiple weeks this season (West Virginia, Washington, New Mexico and Kansas State).
About Texas
- The Longhorns attained the first No. 1 ranked in school history on Monday.
- Texas is in its 13th season under Coach Rick Barnes.
- The Longhorns are led by senior forward Damion James, who is averaging 17.3 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. Senior center Dexter Pittman adds 13.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest.
Last Time They Met
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)--Chinemelu Elonu and Bryan Davis scored 15 points apiece to lead Texas A&M to an 81-66 win over Texas on Monday night to break a three-game losing streak. The Aggies (18-8, 4-7 Big 12) led by as many as 19 points in the second half before Texas went on a 16-1 run to get back in the game. Texas (17-8, 6-5) cut the deficit to 61-57 before the Aggies scored seven straight points to stretch their lead back to double-digits with about five minutes left. The Aggies made nine free throws after that to secure the victory. Gary Johnson led the Longhorns with 17 points, but had to sit for large parts of the second half because of foul trouble. Donald Sloan added 14 points for the Aggies.
Last Year in Austin
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)---Damion James scored 28 points, including 11 in a two-minute stretch of the second half, to lead No. 14 Texas to a 67-58 win over Texas A&M. Neither team had led by more than five before James started his run. His first basket put Texas up 44-37 and a couple of layups, short jumpers and a rim-rattling dunk pushed the Longhorns' lead to 52-40 by the time he was done. The Longhorns (14-4, 3-1 Big 12) also got 15 points from Gary Johnson in winning their 19th straight at home. Donald Sloan scored 17 points for the Aggies (15-5, 1-4). The home team has dominated this rivalry of late. Neither team has won on the road since Texas won at College Station in 2004. James scored 13 and A&M's Chinemelu Elonu had 11 points in the first half. Elonu finished a fast break with an alley-oop dunk that James answered with a two-handed jam moments later. Texas' next bucket came when A.J. Abrams floated a soft pass that James finished with another slam for a 26-23 Texas lead. The Longhorns led 30-28 at halftime. James' run started with a layup and free throw with 11:22 to play. Less than 30 seconds later, A&M's Josh Carter made a 3-pointer to keep the Aggies' within four and kept the Longhorns within striking distance. Two free throws and a slashing reverse layup after an A&M turnover kept the Aggies from creeping closer and brought the sellout home crowd to its feet. Another alley-oop dunk, this time on a pass from Varez Ward, put Texas up 52-40. The Aggies, who shot 36 percent in the second half, couldn't muster any kind of an answer. The Longhorns pushed the lead to 13 twice, the first when Connor Atchley finished a three-point play and again at 60-47 with 1:44 left. Abrams, Texas' best 3-pointer and career leader, was held to 0-for-2 shooting from long range under the defensive lockdown provided by the Aggies' Derrick Roland and Dash Harris.
Roland's Value
- Senior guard Derrick Roland will miss the rest of the season after breaking his right leg on Dec. 22 against Washington. Roland was considered by many to be the top perimeter defender in the Big 12. He was the Aggies' No. 2 scorer, a team captain and perhaps the team's top leader.
- To illustrate Roland's importance to the team, because of foul trouble or injury he played fewer than 25 minutes in all three losses. His fewest minutes played came in the close losses to New Mexico (14 minutes, early foul trouble) and Washington (16 minutes, leg injury). He also got in foul trouble against West Virginia (24 minutes) and was on the bench during a key second-half run by the Mountaineers.
Player Notes
- Senior guard Donald Sloan has averaged 19.0 points over the last nine games, despite scoring a season low 8 at Kansas State on Tuesday. He scored 26 vs. Nebraska last Saturday.
- Senior forward Bryan Davis is averaging 12.0 points in Big 12 play, reaching double figures in both games.
- Sophomore guard Dash Harris ranks second in the Big 12 in assists/turnover ratio (2.6). A&M is 17-2 when Harris has at least 3 assists in his career, losing only to Connecticut in the 2009 NCAAs and earlier this week at Kansas State.