Texas A&M
ST. MARY'S (Texas)
Texas A&M 70, St. Mary's 53
Nov 02, 2010 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION--Texas A&M got 15 points from David Loubeau and 13 from Khris Middleton as the Aggies defeated St. Mary's, 70-53, in exhibition action Tuesday night before 5,621 fans at Reed Arena.
Loubeau, a junior from Miami, was 5-of-8 from the floor and hit five of his seven free throws while Middleton, a sophomore from North Charleston, S.C., dished out a game-high six assists.
A&M came out on fire from the floor, hitting six of its first seven shots en route to a quick 15-5 lead. The Aggies held the Rattlers to 28 percent shooting in the first half, forcing 13 turnovers en route to a 35-16 halftime lead.
B.J. Holmes added nine points, Ray Turner eight and Dash Harris seven for Texas A&M, which saw 11 players log 10 or more minutes in the win. The Aggies were strong from the free throw line, hitting 76 percent.
Jeff Campbell had 11 points for St. Mary's, while Kevin Kotzur added nine points and eight rebounds.
Texas A&M opens the regular season on Friday, Nov. 12 when the Aggies host Alcorn State. Tip time is 7 p.m. at Reed Arena. Tickets are available now by calling 888-99-AGGIE or logging on to aggieathletics.com.
POSTGAME QUOTES
SOPHOMORE FORWARD Khris Middleton
On his 6 assist night... "I was just penetrating, trying to be aggressive on the inside. Every time I saw a man open, I would just dish it. I have confidence that they'll knock them down shots."
On difference in his play from last season... "I've focused more on penetrating and driving instead of spotting up and shooting."
On offseason talks with the coaches... "At the end of the season, I had a meeting with Coach Turgeon and he told me to improve on all of my game. Things like being more aggressive, stronger with the ball, playing hard defense."
JUNIOR FORWARD David Loubeau
On this being the first game of the year... "It was really good to go out there practice our stuff, work on defense. We lost some big guys from last year, but I think we're going to do very well this year. We just wanted to go out there and see our potential."
On having length down low... "We have pretty big wings, with Naji (Hibbert) and Khris (Middleton). Down low, we're bigger than last year, so it matches up. They played pretty good defense and they're stronger than it looks, so I think we'll be all right when it comes to Big 12."
On rebounding in the game... "Rebounding definitely wasn't too good. We had jitterbugs for the first exhibition games. We weren't boxing out and we weren't tuned into the beginning of the game. We'll work on that."
HEAD COACH Mark Turgeon
"It was about what I expected. We've been kind of up and down in practice. I was pleased with the way we started the game, really the first half."
On rebounding... "We didn't rebound worth a flip, and it's been that way in practice. I thought our post defense wasn't very good most of the night. When we're subbing in and out as much as we are, it's hard to get a rhythm. We had a little rhythm in the first half, but we lost it in the second. We missed a lot of wide-open shots."
On David Loubeau's scoring... "He started hot, and we only played him six minutes in the second half. He can really score. He got in a comfort zone and scored in a variety of ways. I was pleased with David, although defensively, he wasn't as good as he needs to be at times. But down low, he's going to score."
On the start of the game... "The first five really played well, and got ahead 15-5 in the first four minutes. They really shared the ball, got five assists on six baskets. Then we had BJ (Holmes) with (Andrew) Darko or Dash (Harris) in there, and that got things clicking. We never got our rhythm going in the second half. We tried some things, played a little zone defense, the zone was pretty good for us. We're just trying to figure out who we're going to play. But I'll say this, I think that if guys can get things together and get a little more coachable, I think we have a really deep basketball team."
On showing film to the young players... "We watched film of our maroon and white game, which wasn't very good. Then we got after it Sunday with one of our best practices of the year. The more the guys can watch the film, the better. We'll learn a lot."
On what's causing the rebounding problems... "If I knew, I'd correct it. It's the same stuff every year. We didn't rebound very well last year, but we ended up second in the league. I hate to use the word and our guys hate to hear it, but we're a little bit soft. But yeah, the rebound is really disappointing."
On not pressuring the ball in the second half... "I think we wanted to try different combinations of players. We never felt threatened on what the final outcome would be, or what the margin was going to be. They got their high-low game working in the second half. They got their low post working, too, in the second half. They're really disciplined with their sets and they stuck with it."
