March 6, 2011
IRVING, Texas - Texas A&M sophomore B.J. Holmes were honored Sunday as the All-Big 12 teams were announced by the conference office.
Middleton was a second-team honoree, Loubeau a third-team pick and Holmes an honorable mention selection. It is the first such honor for each Aggie player.
A 6-7 forward from North Charleston, S.C., Middleton paced A&M in scoring at 14.4 points per game and was second on the team in rebounds (5.2/game). He hit double figures in 25 of the Aggies' 30 regular-season games, led the squad in scoring a team-high 14 times, and was tops in rebounding a team-best 12. Middleton earned conference and national player of the week accolades in late December after scoring a career-high 31 in an overtime win over Arkansas in Dallas.
A 6-8 forward from Miami, Loubeau was second on the team in scoring (11.6), field goals (132), field-goal percentage (.506) and blocks (12), and ranked third in rebounds. The junior recorded the first double-double of his career against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, scoring 18 points and grabbing 12 boards in the Aggies' 21-point win. A big key to A&M's strong finish, Loubeau is averaging a team-best 15.4 points over the last five games.
A 5-11 guard from Houston, Holmes led the team in three offensive categories and ranked second in several others. Among the school's all-time leaders in 3-point field goals, 3-point percentage and free-throw percentage, he enters the postseason needing just 44 points to reach 1,000 for his career. Holmes averaged 9.4 points and shot 40 percent from 3-point range this year, including his game-tying trey with 1.9 seconds left at Colorado that sparked a 5-game win streak and will go down as one of the Aggies' biggest plays of the season.
The official All-Big 12 awards are selected by the league's head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.
Texas A&M (23-7) earned the No. 3 seed for this week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, the second-highest in school history, after finishing the conference season with a 10-6 record. The Aggies received a first-round bye and will open play at Sprint Center in Kansas City on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (CT) on ESPN2. A&M will face the winner of No. 6-seed Missouri and No. 11-seed Texas Tech in quarterfinal action.
2011 PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Kansas City, Missouri [Sprint Center]
First Round: Wednesday, March 9
No. 8 Nebraska vs. No. 9 Oklahoma State, 11:30 a.m. (Big 12 Network)
No. 5 Colorado vs. No. 12 Iowa State, 2 p.m. (Big 12 Network)
No. 7 Baylor vs. No. 10 Oklahoma, 6 p.m. (Big 12 Network)
No. 6 Missouri vs. No. 11 Texas Tech, 8:30 p.m. (Big 12 Network)
Quarterfinals: Thursday, March 10
No. 1 Kansas vs. NU/OSU winner, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2)
No. 4 Kansas State vs. CU/ISU winner, 2 p.m. (Big 12 Network)
No. 2 Texas vs. BU/OU winner, 6 p.m. (Big 12 Network)
No. 3 Texas A&M vs. MU/TTU winner, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2)
Semifinals: Friday, March 11
Thursday Afternoon Winners (6 p.m., Big 12 Network)
Thursday Evening Winners (8:30 p.m., Big 12 Network)
Championship: Saturday, March 12
Semifinal Winners (5 p.m., ESPN)