Dec. 10, 2010
Texas A&M/Washington Game Notes (PDF)
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M looks to extend its five-game win streak on Saturday afternoon when the Aggies (8-1) host the 21st-ranked Washington Huskies (6-2) in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series. Tipoff is set for 3:35 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.
Tickets start at just $5 and can be purchased through the Athletic Ticket Office or at oldarmyspirit.com. For more information on discounted tickets visit aggieathletics.com.
Fans attending Saturday's game are encouraged to get there early, as a special presentation will be held prior to tipoff in honor Mike and Nikki Oyedeji (pronounced O-yuh-day-jee) and their son Tobi, a member of the Aggie hoops incoming Class of '14. Tobi was lost tragically following a car accident in Houston on May 16, 2010, and a memorial scholarship has been set up in his honor.
Also in attendance Saturday will be the Aggie football team, which will be presented the Big 12 South Division championship trophy at halftime.
A&M will put its 56-game non-conference home win streak on the line against Washington, which will be making its first-ever visit to Reed Arena.
Texas A&M AGGIES (8-1)
vs #21/22 Washington HUSKIES (6-2)
Saturday, December 11, 2010 • 3:35 PM (CT) • TV: ESPN2 HD
Reed Arena (12,989) • College Station, Texas
TELEVISION: ESPN2 HD
Ron Franklin, play-by-play
Fran Fraschilla, commentary
RADIO: Texas A&M Sports Network
Dave South, play-by-play
Al Pulliam, commentary
Local: WTAW-AM 1620
Internet: radioaggieland.com
Satellite Radio: Sirius 113 (XM will carry Washington broadcast on Ch 194)
SERIES: A&M leads, 3-2
In Seattle: tied, 1-1
In College Station: never faced
At Reed Arena: never faced
At Neutral Sites: A&M leads, 2-1
Current Win Streak: UW, 1 game
Longest A&M Win Streak: 3 games
Longest UW Win Streak: 1 game (current)
Largest A&M Win: 77-63 (2007-08)
Largest UW Win: 62-40 (1950-51)
Mark Turgeon vs. Washington: 1-2
Lorenzo Romar vs. Texas A&M: 2-1
Last Meeting: UW, 74-63 (Dec. 22, 2009 in Seattle)
THE MATCHUP
TEXAS A&M AGGIES
Record: 8-1, 0-0 Big 12
Ranking: RV (AP), RV (USAT/ESPN)
Sagarin/Pomeroy Ratings: #38/37
Streak: Won 5
Last 5 / Last 10: 5-0 / 8-1
Last Game: def. Prairie View A&M (H), 87-63 (Wednesday)
Head Coach: Mark Turgeon (Kansas '87)
Record: 234-151 (13th year)
at Texas A&M: 81-32 (4th year)
vs. Washington: 1-2
A&M Probable Starters
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG RPG APG GP/Min
5 Dash Harris G 6-1 175 Jr. 3.2 2.4 3.7 9 / 25.0
10 David Loubeau F 6-8 230 Jr. 10.4 5.3 0.2 9 / 22.6
11 B.J. Holmes G 5-11 175 Sr. 10.0 3.0 4.1 9 / 26.1
22 Khris Middleton F 6-7 215 So. 14.2 4.9 2.6 9 / 25.9
45 Nathan Walkup F 6-7 210 Sr. 9.9 5.2 1.6 9 / 22.3
WASHINGTON HUSKIES
Record: 6-2, 0-0 Pac-10
Ranking: #21 (AP), #22 (USAT/ESPN)
Sagarin/Pomeroy Ratings: #22/5
Streak: Won 3
Last 5 / Last 10: 3-2 / 6-2
Last Game: def. Portland (H), 94-72 (Monday)
Head Coach: Lorenzo Romar (Cincinnati '92)
Record: 270-181 (15th year)
at Washington: 177-93 (9th year)
vs. Texas A&M: 2-1
Washington Probable Starters
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG RPG APG GP/Min
0 Abdul Gaddy G 6-3 195 So. 10.3 2.0 4.1 8 / 24.5
2 Isaiah Thomas G 5-9 185 Jr. 15.6 4.0 4.0 8 / 27.5
5 Aziz N'Diaye C 7-0 260 So. 5.1 6.0 1.5b 8 / 15.6
22 Justin Holiday F 6-6 185 Sr. 14.3 6.8 1.9 8 / 26.9
44 Darnell Gant F 6-8 225 Jr. 7.3 3.1 0.8 8 / 19.9
GAME NOTES
Home, Sweet Home
The Aggies will put a 56-game non-conference home win streak on the line Saturday against Washington ... the streak dates back to the start of the 2005-06 season and includes wins over Arizona, Alabama and LSU, among others ... the last home non-conference loss for the Aggies was to St. Joseph's (58-51) in the 2005 NIT quarterfinals ... A&M is 88-9 all-time in non-conference games at Reed (.907).
Texas A&M has won 69 consecutive regular-season non-conference home games ... the last non-conference team to beat the Aggies at Reed Arena was Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (82-80) in 2003.
A&M has won 23 of its last 24 home games, including 10 of its last 11 in Big 12 play. The Aggies are 36-3 at home since the start of the 2008-09 season with a 13-3 mark in conference games.
The Aggies are 70-6 (.921) at home since the start of the 2006-07 season and are 102-12 (.895) since the start of the 2004-05 campaign.
A&M has won 22 straight home games against unranked opponents (eight straight in Big 12 play) ... under Turgeon, the Aggies are 45-3 against unranked opponents at Reed Arena, including a 12-3 mark against unranked Big 12 teams.
The Aggies are the only Big 12 team to win at least 15 home games for the last six consecutive seasons.
A&M is 144-53 (.731) in its 13th season at Reed Arena ... the Aggies were 41-41 the first six years at Reed and are 103-12 since.
Texas A&M broke its home attendance record three times in 2010, including the current mark of 13,717 vs. Texas (Feb. 27) ... 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.
The top 18 single-game attendance marks in A&M history have been set since the start of the 2005-06 season ... the top 14 non-conference attendance marks also have been set in that time span.
Key Game Notes
A&M suffered its first loss of the year on Thanksgiving Day, a two-point setback to a hot-shooting Boston College squad ... since then, the Aggies have won five straight and held their opponents (Manhattan, No. 20 Temple, SFA, Pacific, Prairie View) to a sparse 35.4 percent shooting from the floor (98-for-277) and 25 percent (23-for-92) from 3-point range ... during that span, Aggie foes have averaged just over 54 points per game and been out-rebounded by a margin of 11 boards.
The Aggies got their first crack at a ranked opponent this year on Nov. 28, picking up a win over Temple (No. 20 USAT/ESPN, No. 21 AP) at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando ... A&M played 12 ranked teams last season ... the Aggies will play 8 other games against teams ranked in the latest AP Top 25 poll, including Kansas (4th), Kansas State (5th), Baylor (10th, 2 games), Missouri (15th), Washington (21st) and Texas (25th, 2 games).
In the latest NCAA rankings (released Monday), A&M ranked second nationally only to Pittsburgh in rebounding margin (+13.1) and ranked 9th in the country in scoring defense (55.3 ppg) ... the Aggies have out-rebounded every opponent this season.
Texas A&M has outscored its opponents 327-223 in the first half this season and has carried an average lead of 11.6 points into the locker room.
The Aggies have dished out 20-plus assists in back-to-back games for the first time in the Mark Turgeon era ... A&M had 21 against Pacific Saturday and added 20 in Wednesday's win over Prairie View ... the last Aggie team to accomplish that feat was the 2006-07 squad ... A&M averages 15.6 assists per game
A&M is shooting 49 percent (29-for-59) from 3-point range over the last three games ... the Aggies have hit at least 10 treys in the last two games, the first time they've accomplished that in the Mark Turgeon era ... the 2006-07 squad was the last to hit 10 or more 3-pointers in back-to-back games.
Texas A&M will play four of its next five at Reed Arena ... the Aggies will not leave the state of Texas again until they open Big 12 play at Oklahoma on Jan. 8 ... A&M's only game away from College Station over that span is a matchup with former Southwest Conference rival Arkansas at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Dec. 18.
A&M rebounded from a tough two-point loss to Boston College on Nov. 25 with a 29-point win over Manhattan the next day ... the Aggies never trailed in the game, and held the Jaspers to 7 points over the final 13 minutes ... under Mark Turgeon, the Aggies have won 11 of their last 12 games following a loss.
The Aggies have won 9 of their last 13 games away from Reed Arena dating back to early February of last season ... three of those four losses have been by 4 points or less ... A&M's setbacks in that stretch came at No. 24 Baylor (70-66), against No. 1 Kansas in the Big 12 semifinals in Kansas City (79-66), in overtime to No. 10 Purdue in the NCAA Second Round in Spokane (63-61) and Thursday vs Boston College (67-65).
A&M in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series
Texas A&M is 1-2 all-time in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, with both losses coming on the road ... the Aggies fell 78-67 at Arizona in 2007, defeated the Wildcats 67-66 on a Nathan Walkup 3-pointer at the buzzer at Reed Arena in 2008, and fell to Washington 73-64 last December in Seattle.
Saturday's game is one of two remaining in the series, which will be discontinued after this season ... the Big 12 has won 20 of the last 28 meetings, including a 7-4 record this year ... all-time, the Big 12 leads, 27-20.
About Washington (6-2)
Washington is 6-2 on the year and ranked 21st nationally by The Associated Press ... the Huskies have won three straight entering the weekend, and are coming off a 94-72 win over Portland on Monday night in Seattle ... UW's lone losses on the year came in the Maui Invitational, a 7-point setback to No. 8 Kentucky and a 5-point loss to No. 2 Michigan State ... Saturday marks Washington's first true road game of the season.
Washington leads the country in scoring, with an average of 95.5 points per game ... the Huskies have hit the 100-point plateau 4 times already this season, including a 108-79 win over Texas Tech last Saturday in Seattle ... they are shooting at a 51 percent clip from the field and hold an average of a 5-rebound advantage on the boards ... three players are averaging 14 or more points per game this year for UW, including Isaiah Thomas (15.6), Matt Bryan-Amaning (14.9/6.0 reb) and Justin Holiday (14.3/6.8 reb) ... two others are in double figures, Abdul Gaddy (10.3) and C.J. Wilcox (10.1).
Washington returns 4 starters and 8 letterwinners from a 2010 team that went 26-10 and finished third in the Pac-10 at 11-7 ... the Huskies won the Pac-10 Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 last spring ... UW has 15 NCAA appearances all-time under its belt ... Washington was picked to win the Pac-10 title this year, receiving 33 of 35 possible first-place votes ... the Huskies are coached by Lorenzo Romar (Cincinnati '92), who is 177-93 in his ninth year in Seattle.
Series Notes (A&M leads, 3-2)
Texas A&M leads all-time, 3-2, in a series that dates back to the 1951 NCAA Tournament ... strangely, just one meeting between the schools has happened on campus--last season's 73-64 UW win at Bank of America Arena ... last season's victory for the Huskies snapped a 3-game Aggie win streak ... the teams have also met in the 1963 All-College Tournament in Oklahoma City, the 1982 Postseason NIT and the 2007 Preseason NIT at Madison Square Garden.
A&M/WASHINGTON: LAST TIME OUT
Dec. 22, 2009: (#22) Washington 74, (#19) Texas A&M 63
SEATTLE (AP)--Quincy Pondexter kept sluggish Washington afloat, scoring 16 of his 25 points in the first half, and the 22nd-ranked Huskies beat No. 19 Texas A&M 73-64 in a game marred - and largely decided - by a gruesome injury to Aggies senior Mark Turgeon ran on the court while play continued at the other end. Roland's teammates were distraught - leading scorer and fellow senior B.J. Holmes scored 17 points and made 5 of 7 3-pointers to keep the Aggies in the game after Roland's injury. Sloan added 16 points, but missed 15 of 20 field goals. Yet the memory of this game will be Roland's pain. After about 10 minutes, he was taken away on a stretcher wearing an air cast and loaded onto an ambulance that took him across town to Harborview Medical Center. Roland, who scored a career-high 21 points earlier this season at Southern Methodist, was alert inside the ambulance. He was holding his head up as an IV was started in his arm. The Aggies trailed 34-33 at the time of his injury. They never seemed to get over the shock of seeing their teammate's collegiate career likely end so suddenly and graphically. Washington immediately went its game-turning run following the delay. Pondexter and Thomas both scored twice during the spurt, and Scott Suggs' 3-pointer with 11:08 remaining put the Huskies up 49-37. When Suggs hit another 3 to keep Washington up by a dozen with 2:50 left, it seemed the Aggies were finished. Yet A&M scored eight of the next nine points. Playing more because Roland was gone, Holmes made his third 3-pointer in 2 1/2 minutes to pull Texas A&M within 66-61 with 1:54 left. But Overton made five straight free throws to put Washington back up 71-61 with a minute left.
Sidebars
Texas A&M junior Elston Turner played the past two seasons at the University of Washington ... he appeared in 66 career games, averaging 4.6 points and 2 rebounds over his two years ... Turner saw 9 minutes of action last year against the Aggies, grabbing 3 rebounds.
Special Game Recognitions
Fans are encouraged to get to Saturday's game early, as a special presentation will be held prior to tipoff in honor Mike and Nikki Oyedeji (pronounced O-yuh-day-jee) and their son Tobi, a member of the Aggie hoops incoming Class of '14. Tobi was lost tragically following a car accident in Houston on May 16, 2010, and a memorial scholarship has been set up in his honor.
The Texas A&M football team will be presented the Big 12 South Division championship trophy in a special halftime ceremony ... the Aggies rattled off 6 straight wins to end the season, including victories over four bowl teams (Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Baylor and Nebraska) and one over arch-rival Texas in Austin ... A&M will face LSU in the AT&T Cotton Bowl on Friday, Jan. 7 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Up Next
The Aggies will take a week off for finals and then return to the court in Dallas on Saturday, Dec. 18 ... A&M will face former Southwest Conference foe Arkansas in the first game of The Showcase ... the game will tip at 1 p.m. (CT) and will air nationally on ESPN2 from the home of the Dallas Mavericks, American Airlines Center.
LAST TIME OUT: Texas A&M 87, Prairie View A&M 63
COLLEGE STATION (Dec. 8)--Khris Middleton scored 18 points, all in the second half, to lead Texas A&M to an 87-63 win over Prairie View before 6,270 fans at Reed Arena. Naji Hibbert added 17 for the Aggies (8-1), which overcame a slow start and held off a second-half rally by the Panthers (2-9). Prairie View leaped to an 8-0 lead before the Aggies scratched back to tie the game 10-10. Texas A&M then built a 36-24 lead at halftime, but Prairie View fought back early in the second period to close the gap to 45-42. The Aggies went on to hit three 3-pointers - including two by Middleton - in a little more than two minutes to put away the game. Brandon Webb and Trant Simpson led Prairie View with 11 points each. The Aggies outrebounded Prairie View 46-35.
Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon: "(The starters) weren't ready to play. It gave me a chance to get the other guys more meaningful minutes. I was disappointed in the way we started the second half, I think we panicked. Prairie View played their tails off. I think they played very well. (I didn't call timeouts because) At some point, you have to leave your guys in and they have to get out of it themselves. Our mindset, if I'm not in their tail every second, they relax. I made a conscious effort tonight that I wasn't going to scream and yell. So during those runs, I just let them play through it. Then we just played. We didn't do anything different. We made shots, ran, got stops, they had a stretch where they didn't make many shots. We guarded the ball a little bit better and the post defense was a little better, but we didn't do anything different. We just played."
Postgame Notes: Prairie View
Texas A&M has won five straight games, its longest win streak since the end of the 2009 season.
A&M's 87 points were one shy of its season high (88 vs Alcorn State).
Texas A&M hit a season-high 11 3-pointers on Wednesday ... it was the most since the Aggies drained 12 in a win over North Dakota on Jan. 5, 2010.
The Aggies have hit 10 or more 3-pointers in consecutive games for the first time in 3 ½ seasons (the first time under Mark Turgeon) ... A&M drained 10 treys against Pacific and followed with the 11 tonight ... the last time that occurred was in February of 2007, when the Aggies hit 11 against Texas and 11 at Nebraska
The Aggies are 21-for-42 (.500) from 3-point range in the last two games ... A&M has now drained a trey in 311 consecutive games dating back to January of 2001.
A&M hit the 20-assist plateau for the second straight game ... it is also the first time in the Turgeon era than an Aggie team has done so in back-to-back contests ... the last time that happened was around New Year's of 2007, when A&M dished out 30 against Grambling and followed with 24 against Winthrop.
A&M out-rebounded the Panthers, 46-35 ... the Aggies have out-rebounded every opponent this season.
The Aggies' 21 fast-break points were a season high ... A&M's 42 bench points were a season high.
Texas A&M was 3-for-11 (27 percent) from the free-throw line in the first half, but drained 13 of 14 attempts (93 percent) in the second half.
Sophomore Naji Hibbert set career highs in points (17), rebounds (9), assists (4) and 3-pointers made (4).
Sophomore Khris Middleton scored 18 points, all coming in the second half ... Middleton was 6-for-8 from the floor in the half ... he was two shy of his career high of 20 ... Middleton has now scored in double figures in 12 of his last 14 games.
Middleton's 18 points were a season high for an Aggie in a half ... the previous high was 15 by Nathan Walkup in the first half of the season opener vs Alcorn State.
Freshman Kourtney Roberson was two shy of his season/career high in points with 12 on the night.
DEFENSE NOTES
Stout "D"
A&M suffered its first loss of the year on Thanksgiving Day, a two-point setback to a hot-shooting Boston College squad ... since then, the Aggies have won five straight and held their opponents (Manhattan, No. 20 Temple, SFA, Pacific, Prairie View) to a sparse 35.4 percent shooting from the floor (98-for-277) and 25 percent (23-for-92) from 3-point range ... during that span, Aggie foes have averaged just over 54 points per game and been out-rebounded by a margin of 11 boards.
A&M has held six of its nine opponents under 37 percent shooting from the field ... under Turgeon, the Aggies are 46-4 (6-0 this year) when their opponent shoots under 40 percent and are 73-20 (8-1) when they make under 50 percent.
A&M ranks 22nd nationally in field-goal percentage defense (as of Monday) ... the Aggies are holding opponents to 37.1 percent shooting from the field this season.
Texas A&M is 70-12 under Turgeon (8-1 this year) when opponents score under 70 points.
Rebounding
Texas A&M has out-rebounded its opponents by an average of 41-28 this season, ranking 2nd nationally (at latest NCAA report) ... the Aggies are 72-13 under Turgeon (8-1 this year) when matching or out-rebounding their foes ... A&M is just 8-17 under Turgeon when being out-rebounded.
Texas A&M has out-rebounded two teams this year by 20 or more boards ... the Aggies beat Alcorn State on the glass by 20 and A&M International by 25 ... A&M did not out-rebound anyone last season by more than 18.
Four players are averaging at least 4.5 rebounds per game--David Loubeau (5.3), Nathan Walkup (5.2), Khris Middleton (4.9) and Kourtney Roberson (4.8) ... it's very early, but by comparison just two did so last season--Bryan Davis (8.1) and Loubeau (4.7).
Forcing Turnovers
Texas A&M's quick defense has already paid big dividends in the early part of the season ... the Aggies have put up two of the highest P.O.T. totals in the Mark Turgeon era in the first nine games ... A&M scored 31 points off turnovers in the win at A&M-Corpus Christi, the second-highest output in the Mark Turgeon era ... the Aggies scored 34 off turnovers last season against North Dakota ... A&M also had 28 points off turnovers in the season opener against Alcorn State, matching the total in the 2007-08 opener against McNeese State (28), Turgeon's first game as head coach.
Texas A&M is averaging 17.1 points off turnovers per game.
Under Turgeon, the Aggies are 51-9 (5-0 this year) when they have more points off turnovers than their opponent.
Texas A&M's 16 steals in the win at A&M-Corpus Christi were the most by an Aggie team in the Mark Turgeon era and the most since a win over Grambling State in December 2006.
OFFENSE NOTES
Fast-Paced Offense
Texas A&M has outscored its opponents 327-223 in the first half this season and has carried an average lead of 11.6 points into the locker room.
Texas A&M is 35-2 under Mark Turgeon when scoring at least eight fast-break points (5-0 this year) ... the Aggies' 21 fast-break points against Prairie View on Wednesday was a season high.
The Aggies are 24-3 under Turgeon (3-0 this year) when scoring at least 80 points and 53-5 (6-0) when scoring at least 70 ... A&M has scored 74 or more in six of its eight wins this year.
A&M is 66-11 under Turgeon when leading at halftime (7-0 this year), and 13-19 when trailing (1-1).
Sharing the Ball
The Aggies have dished out 20-plus assists in back-to-back games for the first time in the Mark Turgeon era ... A&M had 21 against Pacific Saturday and added 20 in Wednesday's win over Prairie View ... the last Aggie team to accomplish that feat was the 2006-07 squad ... A&M averages 15.6 assists per game
Texas A&M dished out a season-high 21 assists in Saturday's win over Pacific ... it was the most in a game by an Aggie team since they totaled 21 in a 77-71 win over Kent State on Nov. 29, 2008.
From Way Downtown
A&M is shooting 49 percent (29-for-59) from 3-point range over the last three games ... the Aggies have hit at least 10 treys in the last two games, the first time they've accomplished that in the Mark Turgeon era ... the 2006-07 squad was the last to hit 10 or more 3-pointers in back-to-back games.
Texas A&M has hit at least one 3-pointer in 310 consecutive games ... the last time the Aggies did not connect from behind the arc was at Colorado on January 13, 2001 (0-for-6).
Make Shots, Win Games
Texas A&M is 56-7 under Turgeon (6-1 this year) when hitting better than 45 percent from the field and a perfect 31-0 (1-0) when hitting at 50 percent or higher.
Strong Down Low
Texas A&M has scored at least 40 points in the paint in two games this year ... A&M did so just four times last year ... this season, the Aggies are averaging 29.3 points down low (28.6 average in 2009-10).
Under Turgeon, A&M is 76-24 when scoring at least 20 points in the paint (6-1 this year).
Take Another Chance
The Aggies are averaging 16.6 second-chance points through nine games ... A&M only went over 20 in that category one time last year (home vs Texas) but has already done so twice this season.
Balancing Act
The loss of A&M's top three scorers from last year (B.J. Holmes (10.0) and Nathan Walkup (9.9).
A total of 8 Aggie players have combined for 33 double-figure outings thus far (Middleton 8, Holmes 6, Hibbert 5, Walkup 4, Loubeau 4, Roberson 4, Harris 1, Lewis 1) through the first 9 games.
