Texas A&M
18-7, 7-4
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
KANSAS
25-1, 11-0
Texas A&M Falls to No. 1 Kansas
Feb 15, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Xavier Henry scored 12 points, including several free throws down the stretch, to help top-ranked Kansas escape with a 59-54 win over No. 24 Texas A&M on Monday night.
It's the 11th consecutive victory for Kansas (25-1, 11-0 Big 12) and breaks a 16-game home winning streak for Texas A&M (18-7, 7-4).
Kansas trailed for much of the second half and was behind by four before going on a 7-2 run, capped by a free throw by Henry, to take a 55-54 lead with 3 1/2 minutes remaining. The Jayhawks pushed the lead to 57-54 moments later when Bryan Davis was called for goaltending on a shot by Cole Aldrich.
Henry hit two more free throws with about 30 seconds remaining to seal the win.
Marcus Morris and Aldrich added 12 points apiece for Kansas.
Texas A&M was led by Donald Sloan had 15.
Postgame Quotes
KANSAS JUNIOR CENTER COLE ALDRICH
On the defense in the last four minutes: “I think usually, and Coach will tell you this, if we play defense than the offense takes care of itself. Towards the end we started to defend and we gave up 20 offensive rebounds, which is unacceptable. That's on our bigs. Us as bigs, we have to take care of that and make sure they don't get those second-chance points. The key was mainly trying to keep them off the glass. They had almost more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds. That was big on their part. But we just came together in the huddle and said we have to hunker down and play defense.”
On what it says about the team with wins at K-State, Texas and A&M: “After the way we played today we didn't play particularly well. A lot of that was because of A&M's style. But we showed a lot of heart. We've shown a lot of heart over the six road games we've played in conference, and we just have to continue to do that.”
On the team's mindset while playing in this type of atmosphere: “We love it. We do. I personally love it. It's one of those things where you have to have a tight huddle and make sure everyone is on the same page, and you have to have your blinders on.”
On thinking about going undefeated: “There's still five games left in Big 12 play. We have a good Colorado team coming up, which really hung in there with us in Boulder. We still have two rivalry games with K-State and Missouri, and another Big Monday game with Oklahoma. We're not counting anything. It's going to be tough.”
KANSAS FRESHMAN GUARD XAVIER HENRY
On the free throw shooting down the stretch: “It was big. We won by a few, so it was just taking advantage of every possession. Shooting free throws is easy, it's just a focus thing.”
On the offense: “Our offense is good. Tonight we were out of rhythm, and that happens every now and then. We rely on defense when that happens, and tonight we came out with a win.”
KANSAS HEAD COACH BILL SELF
On the play of the defense at the end: “I thought early in the game we didn't guard them very well. Donald (Sloan) got off to a good start. Over the last 25 to 26 minutes they scored 40 points. Our first shot defense was good, we just didn't rebound the ball. I thought the last five minutes our defense was really good. We got some stops and some key rebounds, which was the difference. Sometimes you get lucky when they miss open looks and you get unlucky when they make guarded ones.”
On the offensive struggles: “I don't think we had any offensive rebounding tonight. If Marcus (Morris) isn't going to play much and Sherron (Collins) has the night that he had, it's amazing to me that we won the game. We won the game muddy. It's a good thing for us to know we can win a game away from home when we know it was a really muddy game. Even though it wasn't pretty, we didn't turn it over much and we got fouled.”
On A&M's interior play: “I thought (David) Loubeau and (Bryan) Davis were better than our three bigs tonight. But our bigs did play well down the stretch. I thought their whole team, in the first half especially and before Bryan (Davis) got in foul trouble, their whole team did a great job playing behind and pushing us out. We didn't get a lot of good angles, which was one reason I think we weren't very good offensively.”
A&M SENIOR GUARD Donald Sloan
On the last four minutes: “I thought they had pretty good defense the whole game. Our elbows got tight and our legs got a little stiff, and a lot of shots didn't go in for us that were going in the whole game. They played outstanding defense the whole game, so I don't think they took it up to another level. We just weren't able to make plays down the stretch. We had a lot of good looks and a lot of opportunities for put-backs. We had some shots roll in and out. We got the ball to good shooters and got those guys shots, they just didn't fall for us.”
On trying to bounce back: “We have to come ready to practice hard the next day. Obviously this game is over. It was a good one. We knew it would be tough coming in. We just have to get our heads right and come ready in practice. Iowa State isn't a team that you can push around. We have to try to play as a team up there and win.”
A&M SOPHOMORE FORWARD Mark Turgeon
“I was disappointed with the outcome. But I was not disappointed with the effort. I thought we were in control the whole game until about really the 3:55 mark. The difference in the game was free throws, their ability to get there and our ability to not get there. We have done a nice job getting to the free throw line but we were not able to do that tonight, and their bigs had a lot to do with that. Our defense was phenomenal. Our fans were fantastic. I hate to let it slip away. I thought we had it. We're all pretty disappointed right now. I wasn't sure how good they were watching film, but they are much better than I thought after watching in person. And they're getting better. It was an unbelievable atmosphere, we had great effort. We had it but we just couldn't finish it off.”
On the late offensive looks: “Yeah, I thought B.J. (Holmes) had two good looks. Wasn't in love with dash's shot but he was only one making shot so he had to take it. We couldn't get ball to basket against them. Our seniors have been carrying us. They played great defense and had great leadership, but they didn't have their best games tonight.”
On bouncing back: “We'll bounce back. When you get outscored 13 at the line, you don't score the last six minutes of the game and you a have chance to tie it with a minute to go against the number one team, you have a pretty good team. My team showed me something tonight. Kansas is great. They are 25-1, and our league is good and they are 11-0. If they stay focused, I don't know who is going to beat them. I told our guys I was proud of their effort but I was disappointed in outcome. We're going to learn from this. We've got to execute a little better down the stretch. Hopefully we'll get on another run here, but we'll see. The schedule is tough. But it's tough for everyone. Our day is coming. I'm proud of our group…are you kidding me? We're getting better. To this point with all the things we've gone through…this group's been phenomenal for me. We're right there.”
On the offensive struggles: “We had 20 offensive rebounds and we only scored 54 points. We couldn't finish. We were fumbling the ball around. We had so many opportunities, we just couldn't make one. There's a reason Kansas is the way they are, they figure out ways to win games like that.”
On the play of David Loubeau: “David was great. We tried to iso him at the end on Xavier Henry, and he kind of gave up on the post-up. But other than that he was fantastic.”
|
Mark Turgeon [mp3] Donald Sloan & Cole Aldrich & Bill Self [mp3] |
