Feb. 8, 2011
Complete Game Notes (PDF)
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -
No. 22 Texas A&M begins the second half of the Big 12 schedule on Wednesday when the Aggies (17-5, 4-4) open a two-game road swing against the Colorado Buffaloes (15-9, 4-5) in Boulder. Tipoff at the Coors Events Center is set for 7:05 p.m. (MT) and the game will air nationally on ESPNU HD.
A&M, coming off a tough two-point overtime loss to Baylor on Saturday, will play five of its final eight Big 12 games on the road. CU, 12-1 at home this season, has lost 4 of its last 5, most recently an 89-73 loss at Missouri.
Wednesday will mark the final Big 12 regular-season meeting between the schools, before Colorado joins the Pac-12 this summer.
GAME 23: (#22/22) Texas A&M AGGIES (17-5, 4-4)
at Colorado BUFFALOES (15-9, 4-5)
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 • 7:05 PM (MT)/8:05 PM (CT) • TV: ESPNU HD
Coors Events Center (11,064) • Boulder, Colorado
TELEVISION: ESPNU HD
Dan McLaughlin, Play-by-Play
Kara Lawson, Commentary
RADIO: Texas A&M Sports Network
Dave South, Play-by-Play
Al Pulliam, Commentary
Local/Internet: WTAW-AM 1620/radioaggieland.com
Satellite Radio: Sirius 125 (CU broadcast)
Series: CU leads, 9-8
Current Win Streak: A&M, 7 games
In Boulder: Colorado leads, 4-3
At Coors Events Center: Colorado leads, 4-3
In College Station: A&M leads, 4-3
At Reed Arena: A&M leads, 4-2
At Neutral Sites: Colorado leads, 2-1
At Big 12 Tournament: Tied, 1-1
Longest A&M Win Streak: 7 games
Longest Colorado Win Streak: 5 games
Largest A&M Win: 86-53, 2005-06
Largest Colorado Win: 79-53, (1999-00)
Mark Turgeon vs. Colorado: 3-0
Tad Boyle vs. A&M: 0-0
Last Meeting: A&M, 67-63 (Jan. 23, 2010 in College Station)
THE MATCHUP
TEXAS A&M AGGIES
Record: 17-5, 4-4 Big 12
Ranking: 22nd (USAT/ESPN), 22nd (AP)
NCAA RPI / Sagarin Rating: 33 / 33
Streak: Lost 3
Last 5 / Last 10: 1-4 / 6-4
On the Road: 2-2
Last Game: lost to Baylor (H), 76-74 (OT) (Saturday)
Head Coach: Mark Turgeon (Kansas '87)
Record: 243-155 (13th year)
at Texas A&M: 90-36 (4th year)
vs. Colorado: 3-0
A&M Probable Starters
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG RPG APG GP / Min
5 Dash Harris G 6-1 175 Jr. 4.2 2.7 3.4 22 / 27.4
10 David Loubeau F 6-8 230 Jr. 10.8 5.2 0.4 22 / 25.6
11 B.J. Holmes G 5-11 175 Sr. 9.8 2.8 3.4 22 / 29.2
22 Khris Middleton F 6-7 215 So. 15.1 5.0 2.9 22 / 28.8
45 Nathan Walkup F 6-7 210 Sr. 9.5 5.5 1.2 22 / 23.8
COLORADO BUFFALOES
Record: 15-9, 4-5 Big 12
Ranking: NR
NCAA RPI / Sagarin Rating: 87 / 62
Streak: Lost 1
Last 5 / Last 10: 1-4 / 5-5
At Home: 12-1
Last Game: lost at (#14) Missouri (A), 89-73 (Saturday)
Head Coach: Tad Boyle (Kansas '85)
Record: 71-75 (5th year)
at Colorado:15-9 (1st year)
vs. Texas A&M: never faced
Colorado Probable Starters (based on previous game)
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG RPG APG GP/Min
1 Nate Tomlinson G 6-3 190 Jr. 3.2 1.7 2.4 23 / 20.7
5 Marcus Relphorde F 6-7 220 Sr. 11.6 4.3 2.5 24 / 28.7
10 Alec Burks G 6-6 195 So. 19.8 5.9 2.5 24 / 30.4
11 Cory Higgins G 6-5 180 Sr. 16.1 3.5 2.4 24 / 31.4
33 Austin Dufault F 6-9 225 Jr. 8.0 4.5 0.8 24 / 22.8
About Colorado (15-9, 4-5)
Colorado is 15-9 on the year and is in a tie for 7th place in the Big 12 at 4-5, one-half game back of the Aggies ... the Buffs are coming off an 89-73 road loss to No. 14 Missouri on Saturday night ... Colorado, which is 12-1 at home this year, defeated Iowa State 95-69 in its last league game at Coors.
CU returns 9 letterwinners and all 5 starters from a 2009-10 team that went 15-16 and finished eighth in the Big 12 at 6-10 ... the Buffaloes' last postseason trip was an NIT berth in 2006 ... Tad Boyle is in his first season in Boulder.
Series Notes
Colorado leads the series, 9-8, but Texas A&M has won 7 straight ... the Aggies have won the last 3 contests in Boulder, with CU's last win on its home court coming in 2003 ... Colorado's last victory in the series came in 2004 at Reed Arena (76-70).
Overall, the Buffaloes have won 4 of the 7 meetings at Coors Events Center, with all coming in the Big 12 era.
Last season, A&M hit 6 free throws in the final 30 seconds to hold off Colorado for a 67-63 win at Reed Arena ... the Aggies used a late rally in their last visit to Boulder, in 2009, to defeat the Buffaloes 72-66 ... A&M coach Mark Turgeon earned his 200th career victory in his last trip to the Flatirons.
Sidebars
A&M coach Mark Turgeon and new Colorado head coach Tad Boyle are very close friends and go a long way back ... Turgeon (c/o '87) and Boyle (c/o '85) played basketball together at Kansas ... the two then coached together for 11 seasons, first as assistants for three seasons under Jerry Green at Oregon (1994-97) ... one year later, Boyle was part of Turgeon's first staff as a head coach, at Jacksonville State (1998-00) ... Turgeon then brought Boyle with him to Wichita State, where the two were together for six years (2000-06) before Boyle got his first head job at Northern Colorado.
Colorado assistant coach Mike Rohn was the director of basketball operations for Mark Turgeon at Texas A&M for the previous three seasons (2007-10) ... Rohn also spent the seven seasons prior to Aggieland on Turgeon's staff at Wichita State (2000-07).
Colorado assistant coach Jean Prioleau spent five seasons on Mark Turgeon staff at Wichita State (2000-05).
A&M/COLORADO RECAPS
Last Time Out: Texas A&M 67, Colorado 63
COLLEGE STATION (Jan. 23, 2010)--Donald Sloan scored 18 points, including four late free throws, as Texas A&M beat Colorado 67-63 to extend the Buffaloes' Big 12 road misery. The win was Texas A&M's seventh straight over the Buffaloes and extended the Colorado's conference road losing streak to 32 games. The Aggies (14-5, 3-2) were up 59-53 before Colorado scored six quick points, aided by A&M turnovers, to tie it 59-59 with 48 seconds to play. A put-back dunk by Bryan Davis put the Aggies back on top with 30 seconds remaining. Texas A&M made six free throws after that, including four by Sloan to secure the win. Cory Higgins and Alec Burks had 19 points each to lead Colorado (10-9, 1-4), which hasn't won a conference road game in more than four years.
Last Time at Coors: Texas A&M 72, Colorado 66
BOULDER (March 4, 2009)--Josh Carter scored 18 points, Mark Turgeon career. In his 11th season as a head coach, and his second at A&M, Turgeon is 200-138. Donald Sloan had 14 for the Aggies (22-8, 8-7), who have won five straight heading into their final Big 12 game against No. 15 Missouri. Cory Higgins had a game-high 27 points for the Buffaloes (9-20, 1-14), who lost their 10th straight Big 12 game. The Aggies trailed 54-46 with 5:50 left before going on a 20-4 run to take control. They led 67-60 with less than a minute remaining when Colorado hit two 3-pointers to pull within 68-66. Texas A&M closed it out with four free throws in the final 15 seconds. The Buffaloes, whose last win came against Iowa State on Jan. 27, led at halftime for the first time this season in conference play.
GAME NOTES
Aggie Trends
Under Mark Turgeon, the Aggies have won 12 of their last 15 games following a loss.
Texas A&M is 12-1 this season when leading (or tied) heading in to the locker room ... the Aggies have overcome halftime deficits 4 times.
The Aggies are a perfect 14-0 this year when having the lead with 5 minutes to play.
A&M is 16-2 this year when it holds foes to under 50 percent shooting, and 15-1 when the Aggies hold opponents to under 45 percent from the floor.
One of A&M's goals every game is to make more free throws than the opponent shoots, which emphasizes the need to get to the charity stripe ... this year, that strategy has proven true, as the Aggies are 15-1 when they shoot more free throws then their opponents.
Texas A&M has emerged victorious in 17 of 19 games where the Aggies win the rebounding battle.
Turgeon has called this one of the best passing teams he's ever had ... when Texas A&M totals 10 or more assists, the team is 16-2 this year.
The Aggies are 16-3 this year (78-14 all-time under Turgeon) when holding foes to under 70 points.
Three of A&M's 5 losses this year have come by 9 or fewer points ... two (BC and Baylor) have gone down to the final possession, and a third (Nebraska) was a one-possession game with 1:11 to play.
Road Warriors
Texas A&M is 5-3 away from Reed Arena this season ... in those games, the Aggies are holding opponents to 59.9 points and 42 percent shooting per game ... A&M has out-rebounded teams away from home this year by an average of 8 boards (35-27).
The Aggies have won 11 of their last 17 games away from Reed Arena dating back to early February of last season ... three of those six 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), on Thanksgiving Day vs Boston College (67-65) in Orlando, at No. 10 Texas (81-60) and most recently at Nebraska (57-48).
Battling Back
With 10:30 to play on Saturday, the Aggies found themselves down 11 points (63-52) to a hot-shooting Baylor squad ... up to that point in the game, the Bears were hitting 61 percent from the field (25-41) ... over the remainder of the game (including overtime, 15:30), A&M held Baylor to just 27 percent shooting and 13 points ... over the last 10:30 of regulation, Aggie defenders locked the Bears down to just 1-of-8 from the floor and 6 points (4 of those coming from the free throw line).
The 11-point second-half deficit wasn't the largest of the game for the Aggies, as they found themselves down 14 with 6:12 to play before halftime ... A&M's defense locked down again, holding the Bears to two late field goals and pulling all the way to within one before entering the locker room trailing 43-40.
The 14-point deficit was the fifth double-digit deficit Texas A&M has erased this season ... the Aggies have rallied to win 3 of those games in which they've erased a double-digit deficit, with the two losses both coming by two points.
BIG COMEBACKS (10+ POINT DEFICITS)
Opponent Largest Deficit Score / Time Final
Baylor 14 25-39 / 6:12, 1st L, 74-76 (OT)
Missouri 12 7-19 / 13:00, 1st W, 91-89 (OT)
McNeese State 10 18-28 / 7:51, 1st W, 66-57
Arkansas 10 35-45 / 17:26, 2nd W, 71-62 (OT)
Boston College 11 38-49 / 13:50, 2nd L, 65-67
Aggies in the NCAA Rankings
In the latest NCAA rankings (as of Feb. 7), A&M ranked 5th nationally in rebounding margin (+8.8) ... the Aggies have out-rebounded 19 of 22 opponents this season ... A&M is 81-13 under Turgeon (17-2 this year) when matching or out-rebounding their foes.
A&M also ranked 16th in the country in scoring defense (60.0 ppg) ... Stephen F. Austin, whom the Aggies beat at Reed Arena on Dec. 2, leads the nation (53.8).
At the statistical release, the Aggies were holding opponents to 29.8 percent shooting from 3-point range, which ranks 18th nationally.
Protecting the Ball
Texas A&M has done a good job limiting turnovers of late ... over the last 10 games, the Aggies have averaged 11.3 turnovers per game (14.6 average through first 12 games) ... A&M has avoided double-digit turnovers three times this year, all coming in the last month (9 vs McNeese State, 9 vs Missouri, 8 at Texas).
The Aggies entered the Jan. 22 game with Kansas State averaging 13.1 turnovers per game, but committed 13 TOs in the first half alone (a season high) ... A&M committed just four in the second half, with two of those coming in the first 2 minutes of play after the break ... the Aggies turned the ball over just twice over the game's final 18 minutes, outscoring K-State 35-24 over that span en route to an 8-point victory.
Success Against Ranked Teams
The Aggies are 4-2 this season against ranked opponents, picking up a 54-51 win over Temple (No. 20 USAT/ESPN, No. 21 AP) on Nov. 28 at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, a 63-62 win over Washington (No. 21 AP, No. 22 USAT/ESPN) on Dec. 11 at Reed Arena, a 91-89 home victory over Missouri (No. 12 USAT/ESPN, No. 15 AP) on Jan. 15, and a 64-56 defeat of Kansas State (No. 24 USAT/ESPN) on Jan. 22 ... the Aggies' only losses have come to Texas.
Texas A&M has the second most ranked wins (4) in the Big 12, behind Texas (6) ... only Texas (8) and Kansas State (7) have played more ranked teams than the Aggies (6).
The four wins against ranked opponents ties for the second-most in school history and is one shy of the all-time record, held by the 1978-79 team (5) ... both last year's squad and the 2006-07 Sweet 16 team had 4 wins vs ranked foes.
MOST TOP-25 WINS, SCHOOL HISTORY
Season Wins Teams (ranking)
1. 1978-79 5 Indiana (10), UNLV (15), USF (19), Kentucky (11), Arkansas (11)
2. 2010-11 4 Temple (20), Washington (21), Missouri (12), K-State (24)
2009-10 4 Clemson (19), Minnesota (16), Baylor (20), Texas (21)
2006-07 4 Oklahoma St (12), Kansas (6), Texas (25), Louisville (16)
5. 2005-06 3 Colorado (25), Texas (6), Syracuse (21)
Senior Watch
A&M's senior class needs 11 more wins to become the winningest class in school history ... it is just the fourth class in school history to total at least 90 victories ... the Class of 2011 is 90-36 (.714) entering Wednesday's game at Colorado, trailing only the 2010 (100-38, .725), 2009 (98-37, .726) and 2008 (95-37, .720) classes in the record books.
An NCAA bid would make the 2011 seniors just the third class in school history to advance to four NCAA Tournaments, joining those from the Classes of 2009 and 2010.
Balancing Act
The loss of A&M's top three scorers from last year (B.J. Holmes (9.8) and Nathan Walkup (9.5).
A total of 9 players have combined for 66 double-figure outings (Middleton 18, Holmes 12, Walkup 11, Loubeau 10, Hibbert 6, Roberson 6, Turner 1, Harris 1, Lewis 1) through 22 games.
Reed Arena Struggles for Foes
A&M is 12-2 at home this year, a feat due in no small part to the Aggies' defensive effort all season long ... opponents are shooting 40.5 percent inside Reed and averaging 60 points per game.
Only 5 teams have shot better than 40 percent on A&M's home floor--Missouri (52.2), Baylor (51.8), Texas (50.0), McNeese State (41.8) and Pacific (41.4).
Only 5 teams have scored more than 60 points on A&M's home floor--Missouri (89 in OT), Texas (69), Baylor (76 in OT), Prairie View A&M (63) and Washington (62).
Home, Sweet Home
A&M has won 30 of its last 33 home games, including 13 of its last 16 in Big 12 play ... the Aggies are 43-5 at home since the start of the 2008-09 season with a 16-5 mark in conference games ... those 4 losses have come to Kansas (#1), Texas (#3), Oklahoma (#5), Baylor and Kansas State.
The Aggies are 77-8 (.906) at home since the start of the 2006-07 season and are 109-14 (.886) since the start of the 2004-05 campaign.
A&M has won 25 of its last 26 home games against unranked opponents (9 of last 10 in Big 12 play) ... under Turgeon, the Aggies are 48-4 against unranked opponents at Reed Arena, including a 13-4 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 151-56 (.729) in its 13th season at Reed Arena ... the Aggies were 41-41 the first six years at Reed and are 110-15 since.
The Aggies have won 60 straight non-conference games at Reed Arena ... the streak dates back to the start of the 2005-06 season and includes wins over Arizona, Alabama, LSU and Washington, 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 92-9 all-time in non-conference games at Reed (.911).
Texas A&M has won 73 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.
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 20 single-game attendance marks in A&M history have been set since the start of the 2005-06 season ... the top 15 non-conference attendance marks also have been set in that time span ... a list of Reed's largest crowds is on page 11.
2010 marked only the third time in school history that an A&M team has scored at least two regular-season wins against ranked non-conference foes ... two of the three times have come under Mark Turgeon (2009-10 and 2010-11) ... legendary coach Shelby Metcalf won 4 in the 1978-79 season.
Mark Turgeon is 4-2 at A&M in games against ranked non-conference opponents during the regular season ... his teams have won three straight.
A&M played 12 ranked teams last season and six already this year (Temple, Washington, Missouri, Texas twice, K-State).
Big 12 Notables
The Aggies won 4 of their first 5 Big 12 games, matching the 2006-07 team for the best Big 12 start in school history.
Texas A&M matched its best-ever finish in Big 12 play last season, tying for second place with an 11-5 record ... it was the Aggies' second-best record in league history, trailing only the 2006-07 squad (13-3) ... A&M was 7-1 at home and 4-4 on the road in conference tilts in 2010.
The Aggies have won 45 Big 12 games since the start of the 2007 league season ... prior to that, A&M had totaled only 43 victories in the first 10 years of Big 12 play.
With a win at Oklahoma on Jan. 8, Texas A&M has now won 4 of its last 5 Big 12 openers after going winless in its first 10 tries.
Making a Stand
A&M has held 9 of its opponents under 38 percent shooting from the field ... under Turgeon, the Aggies are 50-4 (10-0 this year) when their opponent shoots under 40 percent and are 81-21 (16-2) when they make under 50 percent.
A&M faced the nation's leading scorer, Nicholls State's Anatoly Bose (25.0 PPG), on Jan. 3 ... the Aggies held Bose to just 6 points on 1-of-12 shooting ... 4 of his 6 points came from the free-throw line ... Bose had hit double figures in 23 consecutive games dating back to last year and had not scored fewer than 15 points this season ... his only field goal came with just under 17 minutes left in the game.
Texas A&M's defense, which had been strong all season, faced a tough test on Dec. 11 from the nation's best offense in Washington and shined brightly ... A&M held Washington, who entered the contest averaging 95.5 points per game, to a season-low 62 points ... the Aggies held the Huskies to a season-low 37.7 percent shooting (entered averaging 51.3%) ... A&M's defense allowed UW 6-of-22 (27.3%) shooting from the 3-point arc (entered averaging 47.5%) ... A&M forced Washington into a season-high 20 turnovers.
Locking it Down
The Aggies have used quite a few key defensive showings en route to their 17-5 start ... a look at some of the defensive efforts that have led to victories so far this season:
A&M'S LATE-GAME DEFENSIVE STANDS
Opponent Clock Situation Opponent rest of game Result Notable
Kansas State 4:55 left tied (48-48) 2 FG, 2 FT W, 64-56 late 3-ptr came with :12 left & 9-pt lead
Missouri 1:35 left-OT down 2 (87-85) 1 FG, 0 FT W, 91-89 (OT) MU's bucket came on tip-in at end of game
Oklahoma St. 15:08 left up 3 (43-40) 1 FG, 6 FT W, 71-48 OSU scoreless over final 5:41
Nicholls St. 4:09 left up 9 (62-53) 0 FG, 2 FT W, 66-55
McNeese St. 3:43 left up 3 (56-53) 2 FG, 0 FT W, 66-57 last MSU FG came w/:00.1 left in game
Arkansas 6:42 left down 6 (58-52) 0 FG, 2 FT W, 71-62 (OT) UA also scoreless in OT until layup w/:16 left
Washington 5:02 left up 5 (61-56) 2 FG, 2 FT W, 63-62
Pacific 5:19 left up 9 (63-54) 1 FG, 2 FT W, 79-59 FG was 3-pointer with :06 left in game
SFA 3:00 left up 7 (57-50) 1 FG, 0 FT W, 62-53
Temple 6:42 left down 1 (47-46) 1 FG, 2 FT W, 54-51
Manhattan 12:49 left up 5 (43-38) 2 FG, 3 FT W, 74-45
In the last 3 minutes of games this season, the Aggie defense has held foes to 28.3 percent shooting (28-of-99) from the field and 23.4 percent (11-of-47) from 3-point range.
Hot Start
Texas A&M matched the best 20-game start in school history with a 17-3 record to open the year.
BEST 20-GAME STARTS, SCHOOL HISTORY
Season 20-Gm Record Final Record Postseason
1. 2010-11 17-3 ?? ??
2006-07 17-3 27-7 NCAA Sweet 16
1959-60 17-3 19-5 --
4. 2007-08 16-4 25-11 NCAA 2nd Round
1978-79 16-4 24-9 NIT Final 6
1975-76 16-4 21-6 --
7. 2008-09 15-5 24-10 NCAA 2nd Round
2004-05 15-5 21-10 NIT Quarterfinals
1979-80 15-5 26-8 NCAA Sweet 16
Mark Turgeon other A&M teams were 16-4 (2007-08), 16-4 (2008-09) and 14-6 (2009-10) through 20 games.
Of note, the 1919-20 team had the best start (and finish) in school history, completing the year a perfect 19-0.
Thirteen in a Row
Texas A&M rattled off 13 straight wins over just under a two-month span from Nov. 26-Jan. 15 ... the 13-game streak was the longest in 91 years and the third-longest in school history, and included wins over then No. 12 Missouri, then No. 20 Temple, then No. 21 Washington and against Arkansas on a neutral court in Dallas.
LONGEST WIN STREAKS, TEXAS A&M HISTORY
Year(s) Wins
1. 1919-21* 25
2. 1914-16* 20
3. 2010-11 13
4. 2004-05 11
1921-22 11
* spanned two seasons
The 13-game win streak was A&M's longest since the school-record 25-game streak which spanned the 1919-20 and 1920-21 seasons ... it also was the longest in Mark Turgeon coaching career, as his 2006-07 Wichita State team won its first 11 games of the season ... it was the third time a Turgeon-coached A&M team has won at least eight straight games (13 games, 2010-11; 10 games, 2008-09; 8 games, 2007-08).
Over the 13-game win streak, Aggie foes averaged just under 55 points per game and were out-rebounded by a margin of 10.4 boards ... a closer look at the numbers:
WIN STREAK STATS
Category
A&M Points/Game 72.2
Opponent Points/Game 57.4
Margin of Victory +14.8
Opponent FG Pct. .386
Opponent 3-Pt FG Pct. .286
Rebound Margin +10.4
Opp. Combined Record (as of 1/17) 127-88 (.591)
Every Aggie opponent on the 13-game streak was held under its season average (not counting overtime periods) ... in addition, only two teams on the streak shot better than their season average (Missouri and Pacific).
In the last 3 minutes of games on the win streak, the Aggie defense held foes to 24.2 percent (16-of-66) from the field.
Cracking the Top 10
Texas A&M earned its first top-10 ranking in over three years this month, checking in at No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll (Jan. 17) ... the last time the Aggies sat in the national top 10 was on Nov. 26, 2007, when they were ranked ninth in both major polls.
It also marked just the fifth time in school history that a Texas A&M team has broken the top 10 in a season, joining the 1959-60, 2006-07 and 2007-08 squads ... A&M's school-record ranking in the polls is No. 6, set in the 2006-07 season.
Miscellaneous
Texas A&M has won nearly 75 percent of its games since the start of the 2006-07 season (117-43, .732) ... the Aggies are 160-61 (.724) since the beginning of the '04-05 campaign.
Mark Turgeon (90 wins) has matched D.X. Bible (90 in seven seasons) as the third-winningest coach in school history ... Turgeon needs 3 more to eclipse Bob Rogers (92 in six seasons) as the second-winningest coach in A&M annals ... Shelby Metcalf (438 wins in 26 1/2 seasons) is the Aggies' all-time winningest coach.
Up Next
Following the CU game, the Aggies will play four of their next six on the road ... next up is a trip to Lubbock against Texas Tech (12:45 p.m. Saturday, Big 12 Network) ... A&M's next home game is Wednesday, Feb. 16 vs Iowa State.
LAST TIME OUT: Baylor 76, (#16) Texas A&M 74 (OT)
COLLEGE STATION (Feb. 5)--Anthony Jones' layup with 3.1 seconds left in overtime lifted Baylor to a 76-74 win over No. 16 Texas A&M on Saturday. Perry Jones, who led the Bears (15-7, 5-4 Big 12) with a season-high 27 points, gave them a 74-73 lead with his 3-point play with just over a minute left in overtime. Texas A&M's B.J. Holmes made one of two free throw attempts to tie it at 74. Texas A&M got the ball back, but Middleton was called for a foul for pushing off as he drove to the basket, setting up the shot by Jones. He got the offensive rebound off a missed shot by LaceDarius Dunn just before the shot clock expired and hit the eventual game-winner. A.J. Walton stole the ball from Khris Middleton as the Aggies tried for a desperation shot. Holmes finished with 19 points to lead Texas A&M (17-5, 4-4). Dunn scored 17 for Baylor and Anthony Jones and Quincy Acy had 10 points apiece. The Aggies tied it 69-all on a 3-pointer by Nathan Walkup with 48 seconds remaining. Anthony Jones stepped out of bounds on the other end, giving Texas A&M the ball back with 19 seconds remaining. Walkup had a chance for the win, but his 3-point attempt fell short. The Aggies made just 18 of 30 free throw attempts, including three misses in overtime. Baylor was up by 14 with about five minutes left in the first half before the Aggies used a 15-4 run to cut the lead to 43-40 at halftime. Texas A&M frazzled Baylor with its full-court press in that span, getting three steals off of it including two straight in the last minute. Texas A&M's leading scorer, Middleton, rebounded from a shutout performance in Monday's loss to No. 3 Texas with 18 points and nine rebounds. David Loubeau added 15 points for the Aggies.
Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon: "We started another game awful and gave them confidence. I thought Baylor played great. Perry Jones was fantastic. We missed a lot of open ones, missed a lot of free throws. Our defense, it was atrocious until about the 10-minute mark of the game, then it was really good. But it was too late. The bottom line, the way you start the game gave them a ton of confidence. I've got to get our guys playing more aggressively defensively early in the game. We worked hard Wednesday and Thursday, like the season just started, and there was no carry over. You need every game. I just want us to play well, and I think we did down the stretch of this game, we couldn't make enough shots. Hopefully the last ten minutes of the game will carry over. It comes down to making close plays, and when you're lacking confidence, those things happen. All you can do is keep plugging."
Postgame Notes: Baylor
Khris Middleton set a new career high with 7 assists on the day ... his 9 rebounds matched a career high.
Kourtney Roberson's 11 points and 8 rebounds were both season highs in a Big 12 game.
Naji Hibbert set a career high with 3 steals.
B.J. Holmes (41), David Loubeau (36), Naji Hibbert (33) and Kourtney Roberson (24) all set new career highs in minutes played.
B.J. Holmes matched a season high with 4 treys on the afternoon ... Holmes (167) is now 8 shy of current team staffer Dominique Kirk (175, 2004-07) for fourth all time on the school's 3-point field goal chart.
Texas A&M's 10 steals were the second-highest total of the season..
ADDITIONAL NOTES: DEFENSE
Rebounding
In the latest NCAA rankings (as of Feb. 7), A&M ranked 5th nationally in rebounding margin (+8.8) ... the Aggies have out-rebounded 19 of 22 opponents this season ... A&M is 81-13 under Turgeon (17-2 this year) when matching or out-rebounding their foes ... A&M is just 8-20 under Turgeon (0-3) when being out-rebounded.
Texas A&M has out-rebounded three teams this year by 20 or more boards ... the Aggies beat Alcorn State on the glass by 20, A&M International by 25 and Wagner by 27 ... A&M did not out-rebound anyone last season by more than 18.
Four players are averaging at least 4 rebounds per game--Nathan Walkup (5.5), David Loubeau (5.2), Khris Middleton (5.0) and Kourtney Roberson (4.0) ... by comparison just two did so last season--Bryan Davis (8.1) and Loubeau (4.7).
The Aggies out-rebounded Wagner by 27 (47-20) in an 86-51 win on Dec. 21 ... the 27-board advantage was A&M's largest since besting Louisiana-Monroe by 27 rebounds on January 3, 2004.
Forcing Turnovers
Texas A&M is averaging 16.2 points off turnovers per game ... under Turgeon, the Aggies are 56-11 (11-2 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.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: OFFENSE
Fast-Paced Offense
Texas A&M is 39-2 under Mark Turgeon when scoring at least eight fast-break points (9-0 this year) ... the Aggies' 21 fast-break points against Prairie View (Dec. 8) were a season high.
The Aggies are 26-3 under Turgeon (5-0 this year) when scoring at least 80 points and 57-6 (10-1) when scoring at least 70 ... A&M has scored 74 or more in 8 of its 17 wins this year.
A&M is 71-12 under Turgeon when leading at halftime (12-1 this year), and 16-22 when trailing (4-4).
Sharing the Ball
Texas A&M is averaging 14.0 assists per game this year, on pace for its highest average since the 2006-07 season.
The Aggies 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 (Dec. 4) and added 20 in a win over Prairie View (Dec. 8) ... the last Aggie team to accomplish that feat was the 2006-07 squad.
Texas A&M dished out a season-high 21 assists in a win over Pacific (Dec. 4) ... 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.
Make Shots, Win Games
Texas A&M is 60-7 under Turgeon (10-1 this year) when hitting better than 45 percent from the field and a perfect 33-0 (3-0) when hitting at 50 percent or higher.
Strong Down Low
Texas A&M has scored at least 40 points in the paint in three games this year ... A&M did so four times last year ... this season, the Aggies are averaging 28 points down low (28.6 average in 2009-10).
Under Turgeon, A&M is 85-26 when scoring at least 20 points in the paint (15-3 this year).
Take Another Chance
The Aggies are averaging 14.3 second-chance points through 22 games (10.9 per game last year).
TURGEON QUOTEBOARD (2/7 press conference)
Do you look forward to playing these games against old friends?
"Not really. You know, I've got a lot of respect for Tad, and a lot of the success I've had as a head coach is because of Tad. He was a great recruiter. Times like these, what I'm going through right now with this team, Tad was always the best to help me get through it. I've had a lot of success with him. But hopefully this is the only time that we'll ever have to play. Hopefully we won't have to do it in the future. I just hope we win. I'll have to hear it from all our friends if we don't. We've got a group of buddies coming out and they'll be at the game. It will be good to see them. Tad and I aren't really looking forward to this game, to be quite honest with you."
How does this stretch compare to the rough patches you hit in conference play in your first two seasons?
"Yeah, this reminds me a lot of those. Last year we really didn't have a rough patch. The hardest part was when D-Ro (Derrick Roland) got hurt. We were adjusting our lineup, and we lost by 20-something at K-State. We really just weren't very good and obviously K-State was. We really never had a down time last year. I know we were 3-3 at one point in the league last year, and lost at Oklahoma State, but the guys were continuing to get better. This reminds me of our first two years. We had stretches where it wasn't a lot of fun and you weren't playing the way you were capable of playing. The league's too good to do that. Hopefully we'll respond like those other two teams did. That's the key, if you respond the right way. We've got 5 of our last 8 on the road, and we've been an okay road team, but we haven't been great. Hopefully we'll become a really good road team here down the stretch."
Obviously you hated the result on Saturday, but did you see some signs of good things? Maybe B.J.'s game and the late comeback?
"Yeah, that's two in a row for B.J., he really played well. That's encouraging. I thought Kourtney gave us his best minutes of the year. That was the hardest I'd ever seen Naji compete. I could care less if he missed all his shots, with the way he competed. We all know Naji's going to make shots. Those were two really good signs. Yeah, we did some things down the stretch. We competed. Our last eight minutes of regulation, and all of overtime, our defense was really good. You think about their three baskets in overtime, one was a runner where the shot clock was going down, and the other two were offensive rebounds. One was on me and one was on the team. We've got to have those rebounds. But they really stepped up defensively. We looked like the A&M of the first semester and part of the second, so that was encouraging. They were at like 67 percent field goal percentage with 12 minutes to go in the game. I've never seen anything like it. So we got better down the stretch. I thought we really executed well...we all know we missed free throws and we missed a lot of wide open shots. We've just got to get their confidence back and make those plays. It's just such a fine line. I've just felt so bad since the game ended Saturday. And let's say they don't get an offensive rebound for a basket, or we hit the shot at the buzzer. That's the difference. It's such a fine line and we have to figure out a way to get on the other side of that line."
Does the fact that your previous teams shook off bad stretches and finished strong give you confidence that it will happen this year, or is each team unique?
"Each group's unique. We've got to have a lot of guys step up for us to finish strong here. I think our leadership's been pretty good. It's a hard team to lead, but I think we're getting there. And we're pretty humbled right now, which should make it easier for me to coach and easier for the leaders to lead. But we need players to get better. We need effort like that out of Naji every game. We need Kourtney to continue to improve. We need Ray Turner to get healthy. He's not healthy. I don't plan on playing Ray Wednesday, don't plan on even suiting him up. We've got to have guys get better. You either stay the same, or you go the other direction, or guys buy in and get better. For the most part our teams have bought in and gotten better as the season's gone on. This team...we'll see. We're pretty humbled right now, so it'll be interesting to see if the guys really focus in these last 8 games and really try and improve. That's all I'm asking for. The outcome was awful Saturday, but man, they showed me some signs that there is some fire in there and they still believe in what they're doing. Our execution was really good against the zone and we got some great looks. Our help defense and rebounding was good there in that stretch when we came back. There's hope we can still do it right, we've just got to individually keep improving and buying in and being committed. If that happens I think good things will happen down the stretch."
Did BJ's minutes at the point guard position Saturday kind of encourage you or give you some things to think about?
"Well, that was just because they zoned. Certain teams guard us a certain way. We ask BJ to do a lot, and in the zone there's not a lot of pressure so you can get into your offense a little bit easier. We kept shooters on the floor, and that's what we were trying to do, and it worked for us. But we've got to be a deeper team than we were Saturday. We got a little bit fatigued. Khris had to play 43 minutes. He came up short on some shots late in the game, some free throws. Shots we expect Khris to make. So we've got to be a little bit deeper than we were. But you coach to win the game, and I felt the guys we were playing were the guys that could help us win the game. We just came up a little bit short."
Can you talk about the challenge of Alec Burks and Cory Higgins at guard for Colorado?
"Yeah, they're fantastic. (Alec) Burks is an unbelievable player. They're really good at home. They're tough matchups for us because they're tall guards. They're big. Really, the whole team's hard to guard. Their fours and fives can drive and shoot it. (Marcus) Relphorde, their starting four, is shooting 43 percent I believe from three. They're just a really hard team to guard. They're averaging 81 points for the year. They scored 78 against Kansas, and that shows you how good they are offensively. That shows you how tough it's going to be, especially with the way we've been guarding. We're really going to be challenged, and hopefully they'll have an off night. You've got to keep Burks off the foul line as best you can. He's averaging seven free throws a game. You have to keep him off the line and make him shoot jump shots over hands as best you can. Then we have to make them guard us at the other end, execute and be more efficient offensively than we've been most of the season. They're good, really good players." 
