Texas A&M
12-1,0-0
McNEESE STATE
8-5,0-0
No. 18 Texas A&M Slips Past McNeese St., 66-57
Dec 31, 2010 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon had to convince the Aggies that a win is what matters, not the margin of victory.
Khris Middleton scored 13 points and No. 18 Texas A&M overcame a double-digit deficit to beat McNeese State 66-57 on Friday.
The Aggies (12-1) trailed 28-18 with 7:51 remaining in the first half, and 37-30 at halftime before mounting a comeback for their ninth straight win.
"I talked to our players at halftime about not panicking - that we can't win every game by 20 points," Turgeon said. "We got back to being us in the second half. We had a little too much time off (for Christmas), and kind of a lackadaisical attitude at the start of the game."
The Aggies, who shot 38.5 percent from the field (20 of 52), hadn't played since an 86-51 victory over Wagner on Dec. 21.
"Blame it on the Christmas rust," Turgeon said of Friday's sloppy showing, especially on the offensive end.
The Cowboys (8-5) led 44-39 with 14:28 remaining in the game before the Aggies went on a 14-3 run over the next 7 minutes to lead 53-47.
Patrick Richard and P.J. Alawoya paced McNeese State with 12 points each.
The Aggies allowed their most points by an opponent in a first half (37) this season, only to counter by allowing only 20 in the second half - tying their mark for fewest points in a half by an opponent this season.
"We came in and fought hard," McNeese State coach Dave Simmons said. "We knew this was a tough environment, and I was a little nervous about their rebounding - they've got depth and size and everything we expected. But we gave them our best punch in the first half."
A&M, which entered the game ranked fifth nationally in rebounding margin (plus 12.1), outrebounded smaller McNeese 36-30. A&M outscored McNeese 32-22 in the paint - a big difference in the otherwise statistically similar contest.
"I was surprised by how many shots they were hitting - and their range," A&M forward Ray Turner said of McNeese, which hit 5 of 8 3-pointers in the first half. "In the second half we had to make sure that didn't happen again."
The Aggies did hold a sizable advantage at the free throw line, where they made 23 of 29, compared to 5 of 8 for the Cowboys.
"They didn't shoot very well (from the field), but they were able to get to the free throw line," Simmons said. "They took it inside more than we did."
The game wasn't decided until A&M guard B.J. Holmes quickly followed with a 3-pointer that iced A&M's 59th consecutive nonconference victory at Reed Arena.
The Aggies next host Nicholls State on Monday night, before opening Big 12 play at Oklahoma on Jan. 8.
"We're not ready today for Big 12 play, but we will be," Turgeon said, citing the sizable layoff for Christmas break. "We've got plenty of time to get ourselves ready for (Oklahoma)."
TEAM
- Today's win moved the Aggies to 12-1 on the season, matching the second-best start in school history ... this year's squad is just the fifth ever to begin the year 12-1 or better ... the 1919-20 team went 13-0 through their first 13 games, while the 2010-11 team joins the 1959-60, 2004-05, 2007-08 and 2008-09 teams with 12-1 starts to their seasons.
- Texas A&M won its ninth straight game, the team's longest win streak since the 2008-09 season.
- The Aggies have won 59 straight non-conference games at Reed Arena and 72 consecutive regular-season, non-conference home games ... A&M has won 26 of its last 27 home games overall.
- Texas A&M erased a 7-point halftime deficit, the largest the Aggies have faced this year ... Boston College led by 5 over Texas A&M back on Nov. 25 ... it was the fifth time this year A&M has trailed at the break, and the Aggies have come back to win four of those.
- A&M was outshot by its opponent for just the third time this year, but the Aggies have won two of those games (today vs McNeese and Dec. 18 vs Arkansas) ... A&M's lone loss when being out-shot came by two points to Boston College on Nov. 25.
- McNeese State had the best shooting half of any Aggie opponent, making 58.3 percent of its shots in the first half ... the previous high was the second-half effort of A&M-Corpus Christi (55.6 percent) ... the Cowboys put together only the fourth half of 50 percent or better shooting by an A&M foe this year.
- McNeese was then held to just 20 points, matching the fewest scored by an Aggie opponent this year (20 by A&M International, first half; 20 by Manhattan, second half; 20 by Wagner, first half).
- McNeese State's 37 points were the most by an A&M opponent in a first half this season ... the previous high was 35 by Arkansas on Dec. 18.
- Texas A&M took its first lead of the afternoon with 10:02 to play in the game at 47-45.
- The crowd of 8,209 was the second largest of the season at Reed Arena (10,296 vs Washington on Dec. 11).
INDIVIDUAL
- Ray Turner scored a season-high 8 points, one shy of his career best of 9.
- Khris Middleton's 8 rebounds were one shy of his season and career high, set earlier this year against Pacific.TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Mark Turgeon
"It was a good win. I thought McNeese was great. They were good the first half. They did everything they wanted to do, they used the clock, they made shots when it was going down, got the momentum and got confident. I just thought they were really good. We talked to the team at the half about not panicking. You can't win every game by 20. Just figure out a way to win the game by guarding. That was very uncharacteristic of us in the first half defensively, and then we got back to being us in the second half. W e guarded. We still weren't very good offensively, but we were good enough to win today."
On the first half... "A lot of it was them and a lot of it was us. I thought they were really good and focused. They rebounded better than they had all year. They added a few plays they didn't have in (on film). They had nine days to get ready for us. And it showed. They have really good guards. And the other part of it was us, a little too much time off and kind of a lackadaisical attitude at the start of the game."
On the second half... "I thought we guarded the ball well in the second half, made them take tough shots. We took care of the ball a little bit better in the second half too."
On getting to the free throw line... "We were aggressive, and we're bigger than they were. At the start of the second half we were really aggressive taking the ball to the basket and we got to the bonus pretty quickly."
On Ray Turner's day... "I've been on him about playing stronger and tougher. He got some offensive rebounds, some put-backs, and made his free throws. He had some big rebounds for us. Ray was good. Hopefully he can continue to grow and learn from being successful and get even better. We're going to need Ray once we get into the Big 12, there are much bigger bodies and Ray will be a bigger part of our rotation."
SOPHOMORE F Khris Middleton
On the difference in halves... "(It was) Just taking it one play at time, getting stops, trying to get 50/50 balls... just the little things. That really helped us out."
On McNeese's perimeter shooting... "Coming in to the game we knew all of the guards could shoot well. We just wanted to be there and shake hands while they were shooting shots. In the first half they were falling and as the game wore on they started going out."
SOPHOMORE F Ray Turner
On his game... "I just tried to play my role. Coach said to be ready when I go in the game. Everyone's shots weren't falling early, and when I got in there I told myself I have to pick it up, not just for myself but for my team."
