Texas A&M
1-0
ALCORN STATE
0-1
Aggies Take Down Alcorn State in Season Opener, 88-56
Nov 12, 2010 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Nathan Walkup scored a career-high 22 points to lead Texas A&M to an 88-56 victory over Alcorn State Friday night.
It was the season opener for both schools.
The Aggies broke away from an early 7-7 tie, scoring the next 14 points in putting together a 45-18 run before halftime.
Walkup, a senior, was 4 for 4 from the field and 6 of 7 from the free-throw line in the half, which concluded with Texas A&M leading 52-25.
Kourtney Roberson, a freshman, added 12 points for Texas A&M. Chris Davenport led Alcorn State with 11 points.
The Aggies outrebounded the Braves 52-32.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
- A&M has now won 65 straight regular-season non-conference home games ... the last regular-season non-conference home loss was to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Monday's opponent, on Dec. 13, 2003 ... the Aggies have won 19 of their last 20 home games overall.
- Texas A&M has now won 10 straight season-opening games and 11 straight home openers.
- A&M now leads the all-time series with Alcorn State, 2-0.
- Nathan Walkup had a career-high 22 points in Friday's win in just 19 minutes of action ... his previous high was 16 in a win over Colorado last year ... 15 of the points came in the first half, and he set his personal best with a thunderous dunk and foul with 17 minutes to play in the game ... it was the eighth double-figure scoring game of Walkup's career.
- Friday's game resulted in an A&M school-record 72 combined fouls (35 A&M, 37 Alcorn) ... the previous school mark was 69 in a 5-overtime game against Baylor at Reed Arena in 2008 (31 A&M, 38 Baylor) ... there were four technical fouls and five players fouled out (3 for Alcorn, 2 for A&M).
- Texas A&M's 52 first-half points were the most by an Aggie team in over two years ... it was the most first-half points since A&M scored 56 against Texas Tech en route to a 98-54 win over the Red Raiders at Reed Arena on Feb. 27, 2008.
- Freshman Kourtney Roberson had an impressive debut, scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds in just 16 minutes of action.
- Sophomore Naji Hibbert hit double figures for the second time in his career with 10 points Friday night ... Hibbert was one off his career high of 11, set last year against Prairie View A&M.
- Four players scored in double figures for A&M (Walkup 22, Roberson 12, Hibbert 10, Khris Middleton 10).
- Texas A&M used the starting lineup of B.J. Holmes (8th), Khris Middleton (23rd) and Nathan Walkup (20th) ... every available player got into the game.
- Friday's attendance was 7,010.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Mark Turgeon
On Nathan Walkup's play... "Nate played well, and he's been playing well in practice. He was probably on his way to 30 points out there, but we were trying to get everyone in the game and that cut down on his minutes."
On the first half compared to the second half play... "As a team, we were pretty good in the first half. We ran, we got more stops and we gained a little more flow in the first half. We scored in our transition in the first half, and we didn't in the second. We did the same thing in our second half against St. Mary's. We have to start second halves better."
On Naji Hibbert's play... "Naji has really been practicing well and it hasn't carried over into the games. The same with (Andrew) Darko, he's not playing the way in games as he does in practice. Both of those guys are going to be a big part of the game down the road."
On whether he thought there would be 72 fouls... "I thought it was going to be more up and down. I thought we were going to score 100. The players have to adjust in a game like that. Thank god we have a lot of bodies. I think we had five illegal screen calls. I'm on these guys every day about turnovers. We have a young team, and the sooner they grow up the better."
On Ray Turner's play... "He gives us energy. Ray is not playing at the level he played at last year, but it's still early. He showed some signs in the last couple of days in practice."
On Kourtney Roberson's first game... "I thought Kourtney was good. He's got instincts. It's hard finding minutes out there. But he had 16 really good minutes, he had nine rebounds in 16 minutes and went and got 4 offense boards. He's going to be a weapon for us."
SENIOR FORWARD Nathan Walkup
On his career night... "I was trying to get myself involved early, trying to get on the boards early. We've been focusing on rebounds a lot in practice. I was just trying to get to the free throw line and get a couple of jump shots."
On playing inside-out... "That's how every team looks to attack, inside-out. Personally, and for every individual, when you see the ball going to the goal, we attack the basket. And it's always a confidence-booster to see some shots fall."
On his second-half dunk... "It felt good because I should've dunked the first one. Dash actually got mad at me because I messed up his assist in the first one."
On the high number of fouls in the game... "It was really frustrating because we couldn't have people on the court. Both teams were fouling a lot, but it seemed like some of the fouls could've gone by. It's difficult to play games like that, when everyone is fouling so much."
FRESHMAN FORWARD KOURTNEY ROBERSON
On his first game success... "It felt good, I scored my first two points and got comfortable. They told me to keep playing and I just tried to play my best."
On being one rebound away from a double-double... "I wanted it so bad, I was telling everyone I wanted that one rebound. To get that double-double on the first game would have been great."
