Aggies Host Alcorn State Friday in Season Opener

Nov. 11, 2010

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M opens its 99th season of basketball on Friday when the Aggies host the Alcorn State Braves at Reed Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

TICKETS: Click Here

TV: None

LIVE VIDEO: Click Here (Aggies All-Access)

RADIO: Texas A&M Sports Network
Dave South, play-by-play / Al Pulliam, commentary
NOTE: Friday's game will air locally on Sports Radio 1150 The Zone

LIVE AUDIO: Click Here (radioaggieland.com)

PROMOTIONS:

• Freshmen First - all freshmen get in free and 15 minutes early, no need for a ticket ... Class of 2014 T-shirt grants admission.
• Faculty & Staff Appreciation game - A&M faculty and staff eligible for special discounts to first three games of the men's basketball season ... choose one for $15, two for $20 or all three for $35.

TEXAS A&M AGGIES
2009-10 Record: 24-10, 11-5 Big 12 (T-2nd)
Ranking: RV (ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll)
Head Coach: Mark Turgeon (Kansas '87)
Record: 226-150 (13th year)
at A&M: 73-31 (4th year)
vs Alcorn State: never faced

ALCORN STATE BRAVES
2009-10 Record: 2-29, 2-16 SWAC (10th)
Ranking: not ranked
Head Coach: Larry Smith (Alcorn State '80)
Record: 8-54 (3rd year)
at Alcorn State: same
vs Texas A&M: never faced

SERIES NOTES

Texas A&M leads the series, 1-0 ... the Aggies won the only meeting between the schools, 82-69, on Nov. 26, 1985 at G. Rollie White Coliseum.

KEY GAME NOTES

• The Aggies have won nine straight season-opening games and 10 straight home openers ... A&M is playing its season opener at home for the 10th consecutive year.
• The Aggies have won 64 straight regular-season non-conference home games, including wins against LSU, Alabama and Arizona ... the last regular-season non-conference loss at Reed Arena was to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 13, 2003.
• The Aggies are 85-9 all-time in non-conference games at Reed Arena.
• A&M is entering its 99th season of basketball.
• Texas A&M downed St. Mary's, 70-53, in its only exhibition game on Nov. 2. Alcorn State fell at home to Tougaloo College, 88-83, in its exhibition contest on Nov. 1.

ABOUT ALCORN STATE

• Alcorn State is located in Alcorn State, Mississippi, a town about 80 miles southwest of Jackson and just a few miles away from the Mississippi River.
• Alcorn has an enrollment of 3,334 and is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
• Alcorn State went 2-29 last season and 2-16 in SWAC play, with wins over Mississippi Valley State and Prairie View A&M.
• Sophomore Ian Francis (9.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG) is ASU's leading returning scorer.
• A&M is one of four Big 12 teams on ASU's slate this winter, as the Braves will also travel to Colorado (Nov. 23), Kansas State (Dec. 6) and Nebraska (Dec. 8).

TEAM NOTES

• Texas A&M returns 10 of 16 letterwinners from last season, including three starters. Returning starters are juniors B.J. Holmes. Sophomores Bryan Davis and Derrick Roland (all to graduation).
• The Aggies bring in a strong group of newcomers, including three freshmen-Daniel Alexander (Dripping Springs), Keith Davis (DeSoto) and Kourtney Robberson (Arcadia, La.). Junior Elston Turner (Missouri City/University of Washington) is not eligible to play this season due to NCAA transfer rules.
• Tobi Oyedeji (pronounced O-yuh-day-jee), a member of the incoming Class of '14, was lost tragically following a car accident in Houston on May 16, 2010. A memorial scholarship has been set up in Tobi's honor and he has a locker inside the Aggies' Reed Arena locker room. His good friend, Ray Turner, has switched jerseys to No. 35, Tobi's number, for this season.
• A&M has made five straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Prior to this streak, A&M had never played in consecutive NCAA Tournaments and had not been to the NCAAs since 1987. Five of A&M's 11 NCAA appearances, and 6 of its 9 NCAA wins, have come since 2006.
• A&M is one of just 12 schools that have made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons.
• A&M and Pittsburgh are the only schools in the country to win an NCAA tournament game in each of the last five years.
• A&M is one of just three schools to have won a postseason game in each of the last six years (5 NCAAs/1 NIT, joining North Carolina (5 NCAAs/1 NIT) and Memphis (4 NCAAs/2 NITs).
• A&M has posted six straight 20-win seasons. Before the 2004-05 season, A&M had only six 20-win seasons in its history.
• A&M is 143-56 (.719) in the last six years and 100-38 (.725) in the last four.
• A&M, Kansas and Texas are the only Big 12 schools that have won at least 20 games in each of the last six seasons.

HEAD COACH Mark Turgeon

• The only coaches with more wins than Mark Turgeon (73) in their first three years at a Big 12 school are his mentors at Kansas, Larry Brown (83 in 1983-86) and Roy Williams (76 in 1988-91). Ironically, Turgeon was a point guard for those teams under Brown and was an assistant coach in Williams' first three seasons with the Jayhawks.
• He is the only coach in school history to lead the Aggies to three straight NCAA Tournaments.
• Turgeon was named Big 12 Coach of the Year by The Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express-News and Columbia (Mo.) Tribune.
• Turgeon is the only coach in Big 12 history to win 24 or more games in each of his first three seasons.
• Turgeon's 73 wins at A&M are the most ever by an A&M coach in a three-year period. The previous mark was 70 wins by Billy Gillispie (2004-07).
• Turgeon has led the Aggies to three straight 20-win seasons, including three of the top six victory totals in the school's 98-year basketball history.
• Turgeon is the only coach in school history to win 23 or more games three times.
• Turgeon's 25 wins in 2007-08 tied for the most by a first-year coach in the history of any Big 12 school and were an A&M record for a coach in his debut. Tom Penders went 25-9 in his first year at Texas in 1988-89 prior to the formation of the Big 12.
• Turgeon has led his teams to at least 20 wins in six of the last seven seasons (His Wichita State team won 17 games in 2006-07). His teams have advanced to postseason play seven times in the last eight years. Turgeon's record in the last seven years is 159-75 (.680).
• Turgeon has led his teams to four NCAA Tournaments in the last five years, winning at least one NCAA game in each appearance.
• As a player, assistant coach and head coach, Turgeon has compiled a 26-12 NCAA Tournament record (8-4 as a player, 13-4 as an assistant, 5-4 as a head coach). Turgeon is the only active Big 12 head coach to play and coach in an NCAA Final Four.
• In 13 NCAA Tournament appearances as a player, assistant coach and head coach, Turgeon has lost a first-round NCAA game just once (Oregon in 1995 under Coach Jerry Green).

2010-11 SCHEDULE: A LOOK AHEAD

• With another strong schedule on the slate, 11 of A&M's possible opponents advanced to the NCAA Tourney in 2010. Baylor and Kansas State made the Elite 8; Washington the Sweet 16; Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin and Cal the Second Round; and Texas, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame and Temple the First Round.
• A&M will play in the Old Spice Classic Nov. 25-28 at ESPN's Wide World of Sports in Orlando. The three-day, 12-game tournament features teams from eight conferences: A&M (Big 12), Boston College (ACC), Manhattan (MAAC), Wisconsin (Big Ten), Georgia (SEC), Temple (Atlantic 10), Notre Dame (Big East) and Cal (Pacific-10).
• A&M will host Pac-10 power Washington in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series on Dec. 11 at Reed Arena. The Aggies advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament while the Huskies made the Sweet 16.
• A&M will renew an old rivalry when the Aggies face Arkansas in The Showcase college basketball doubleheader on Dec. 18 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. It will be the first meeting between the longtime Southwest Conference foes since 1991.
• Texas A&M will make its final Big 12 basketball road trips to Lincoln and Boulder this spring, with the departure of Nebraska and Colorado to the Big Ten and Pac-10, respectively. The league will go to an 18-game, round-robin format for the 2011-12 season.

ROSTER NOTES

• The 16 players on the 2010-11 roster hail from seven different states-eight from Texas and one each from California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
• Over half of the roster is upperclassmen (5 seniors, 4 juniors).
• None of the three returning starters are seniors (2 juniors, 1 sophomore).
• A&M's 2009-10 senior class won 100 games (100-38, .725), surpassing the '08-09 class (98-37, .726) as the winningest in school history. The class is the third straight to break the record. Before this run, the record was 85 wins by the 1982 seniors.

RETURNING PLAYER NOTES

• B.J. Holmes was named to the Big 12 All-Reserve team. He ranks fourth in school history in career three-point percentage (.390) and is third in career free throw percentage (.814). He made 18 straight free throws to end the season and was the team's top scorer off the bench 19 times.
• David Loubeau was named the Big 12 's co-Most Improved Player with Kansas Marcus Morris by Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
• Dash Harris was named to Big 12 All-Defense Team by The Oklahoman. He led league in assist/turnover ratio before getting tendonitis in his wrist before the Missouri game. The Aggies are 25-4 when Harris has at least 3 assists in his career, including a 15-3 mark last season. He had 23 assists and only 10 turnovers in his last five games.
• Khris Middleton as scored in double figures in four of the last five games, averaging 13.6 points and making .546 (12-22) from three-point range and 100.0 (10-10) from the free throw line in that span. He made 11 straight free throws to end the season. Middleton scored a career-high 19 points and set an school record for NCAA play by making 5-of-6 three-pointers (.833) vs. Utah State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
• Ray Turner's dunk at Missouri was named Big 12 Play of the Week and earned a spot on ESPN's top 10 plays list.
• Seven of the Aggies' top nine scorers were non-seniors.
• Nine different players had double-figure scoring efforts and six led the team in scoring.

HOME SWEET HOME

• The attendance of 13,717 vs. Texas (Feb. 27) broke A&M's home record for the third time in 2010. A&M sold out four games, topping the 13,000 mark in each game. The Aggies' season average of 9,889 ranked second on the school chart behind the record of 10,343 set in Turgeon's first season in 2007-08. A&M has posted its top five single game marks, and two of the top three season averages, under Turgeon.
• A&M has won 18 of its last 19 home games, including 10 of its last 11 in Big 12 play. The Aggies are 31-3 at home in the last two seasons with a 13-3 mark in conference games.
• A&M has won 72 of its last 79 home games, including 29 of its last 36 in Big 12 play.
• The Aggies are the only Big 12 team to win at least 15 home games for the last six consecutive seasons.
• The Aggies have won 51 straight non-conference home games, including wins against Arizona, Alabama and LSU. The last loss was to St. Joseph's (58-51) in the 2005 NIT quarterfinals. A&M has won 64 straight regular-season non-conference home games since 2003. A&M is 83-9 all-time in non-conference games at Reed (.902).
• The Aggies are 65-6 (.916) at home the last four seasons and are 97-12 (.890) in the last six years.
• A&M is 139-53 (.724) through 12 seasons at Reed Arena. The Aggies were 41-41 (.500) the first six years at Reed.
• The top 18 single-game attendance marks in A&M history have been set in the last five years. The top 14 non-conference attendance marks also have been set in the last five seasons.
• A&M has won 16 straight home games against unranked opponents (eight straight in Big 12 play). Under Turgeon, The Aggies are 40-3 against unranked opponents at Reed Arena, including a 12-3 mark against unranked Big 12 teams.