The game is the first of two in a row at home against the Big 12's top teams, as A&M will welcome in No. 4 Kansas on Wednesday evening. Should KU maintain its ranking over the weekend, it will mark the first time in school history that the Aggies will play top-five opponents in consecutive games.
Saturday's game with Mizzou also marks the Aggie Basketball Reunion Weekend on campus, as nearly 100 former letterwinners from the Texas A&M hoops program will be in attendance on Saturday.
The Aggies have won eight of their last nine matchups with the Tigers, including the last five meetings in College Station.
Tickets are available to the game by logging on to aggieathletics.com or by calling 888-99-AGGIE. Fans who have a ticket to the women's basketball game later that evening (7 p.m.) can gain admission to the men's game for just $5. In addition, everyone who signs up to work for The Big Event-the nation's largest student-run community service project-will receive two free tickets to the game against Mizzou.
GAME 26:
Texas A&M AGGIES (13-12, 4-9) vs (#3/3) Missouri TIGERS (24-2, 11-2)
Saturday, February 18, 2012 • 1:05 PM CT • TV: ESPN HD
Reed Arena (12,989) • College Station, Texas
Media Coverage
TELEVISION: ESPN HD
Dave Flemming, Play-by-Play
Fran Fraschilla, Commentary
RADIO: Texas A&M Sports Network
Dave South, Play-by-Play
Al Pulliam, Commentary
Local: WTAW-AM 1620
Satellite Radio: Sirius/XM 91
LIVE AUDIO/STATS: aggieathletics.com
Snapshot: Texas A&M
Record: 13-12, 4-9 Big 12
Ranking: NR
Streak: Won 1
Last 5 / Last 10: 1-4 / 4-6
at Home: 11-4
Last Game: def. Texas Tech (A), 47-38 (Tue.)
Head Coach: Billy Kennedy (SE Louisiana '86)
Record: 224-191 (14th year)
at Texas A&M: 13-12 (first year)
vs. Missouri: 0-3
Snapshot: Missouri
Record: 24-2, 11-2 Big 12
Ranking: 3rd (AP), 3rd (ESPN/USAT)
Streak: Won 6
Last 5 / Last 10: 5-0 / 9-1
on the Road: 9-2
Last Game: def. Oklahoma St (H), 83-65 (Wed.)
Head Coach: Frank Haith (Elon '88)
Record: 153-103 (eighth year)
at Missouri: 24-2 (first year)
vs. Texas A&M: 1-0
Series History: Missouri leads, 12-10
A&M streak: Lost 1
In College Station: A&M leads, 6-3
At Reed Arena: A&M leads, 5-2
In Columbia: Missouri leads, 6-3
At Mizzou Arena: A&M leads, 3-1
At Neutral Sites: Missouri leads, 3-1
At Big 12 Tournament: Missouri leads, 2-1
Longest A&M Win Streak: 8 games
Longest Missouri Win Streak: 6 games
Largest A&M Win: 28 (91-63, 02/05/05)
Largest Missouri Win: 31 (93-62, 01/29/00)
Billy Kennedy vs. Missouri 0-3
Frank Haith vs. A&M 1-0
- A&M has won 8 of the last 9 meetings between the schools ... Missouri snapped an 8-game skid against the Aggies with a 70-51 win in Columbia last month.
- the Aggies swept the Tigers in two meetings last year, in overtime at Reed Arena (91-89 on Jan. 15, 2011) and in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City (86-71 on March 10, 2011).
- A&M has taken 5 of the 7 meetings all-time inside Reed Arena, including the last 5 ... the Tigers' last victory in College Station came in 2001 (97-90).
Last 10 Meetings:
Date AM/Op Rk Site Score
2004 M11 Dallas L 68-74
2005 F5 College Station W 91-63
2006 F21 Columbia W 54-51
2007 M3 6 /- College Station W 94-78
2008 F9 18/- Columbia W 77-69
2009 M7 -/12 College Station W 96-86
2010 F3 Columbia W 77-74
2011 J15 13/12 College Station (OT) W 91-89
2011 M10 21/- Kansas City W 86-71
2012 J16 -/ 5 Columbia L 51-70
Tale of the Tape
A&M MU
61.4 points/game 80.3
59.8 opp. points/game 64.0
+1.6 scoring margin +16.2
.436 field goal % .501
.392 opp. field goal % .435
.334 3-point % .387
35.3 rebounds 32.6
+2.7 rebound margin +0.8
12.0 assists 16.0
14.0 turnovers 10.4
5.6 steals 8.7
2.4 blocks 2.9
Quick Hits
- Missouri (No. 3 AP/USAT) will mark A&M's fourth top-5 opponent this season, setting a new school record ... the previous high was three, set several times ... all of the top-5 foes have come in Big 12 play, also a school record.
- Assuming Kansas (No. 4) maintains its top-5 ranking over the weekend, the Aggies will play consecutive games against top-five teams for the first time in program history.
- Six of A&M's 12 losses this year have come to teams currently ranked in the top 25 nationally, all but one away from home (#3 Missouri, #4 Kansas,#9 Baylor [twice], #12 Florida, #23 Miss. State).
- The Aggies' conference road losses this year have come to Baylor, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State, squads that have combined to go 78-9 at home.
- The Aggies lead the Big 12 in two defensive categories (through Feb. 17): scoring defense and 3-point FG% defense; A&M ranks second in field-goal percentage defense and defensive rebound percentage.
- Through games of Feb. 12, Texas A&M ranked 23rd nationally in field-goal pct. defense and 11th in 3-point FG% defense.
- The Aggies have won 53 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 (53-38 since 2006, 43-116 from 1997-2006).
- A&M has finished .500 or better in Big 12 play in each of the past 7 years, one of just 3 teams to do so (Kansas, Texas).
- A&M is one of just 12 schools that have made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 6 seasons (Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Marquette, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Villanova, Wisconsin, Xavier).
- Texas A&M is one of only 8 schools in the entire country that have won 24 or more games in each of the last 5 seasons (Butler, BYU, Kansas, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M, VCU, Xavier).
Historic Defensive Effort
- Texas A&M recorded one of its strongest defensive outings in decades in Tuesday's 47-38 win over Texas Tech in Lubbock ... the 38 points allowed were the fewest in a conference game for A&M since 1959 (73-29 win over Texas, Jan. 16, 1959).
- A&M's previous low for points allowed in a Big 12 game was 43 (46-43 win over Texas, March 1, 2006).
- Texas Tech's 38 points were the fewest a Red Raider team had scored in the shot clock era (1985-86 season) ... it was also the fewest points Tech had ever scored against an Aggie team (126 meetings).
- Tech led the game, 24-9, with 6:32 left in the first half ... A&M held the Red Raiders to 14 points over the final 26 minutes, 32 seconds of the contest ... Tech shot 61% (11-of-18) en route to the 15-point lead but was held to 23% (6-of-26) from that point on, and did not score in the final 5:05 of the game.
Scouting Missouri
- Missouri is 24-2 on the year and tied atop the Big 12 standings with rival Kansas-A&M's next opponent-at 11-2 ... the Tigers are ranked third nationally in both major polls ... both of MU's losses this year have come in league play and on the road (at Kansas State, at Oklahoma State) ... the Tigers, who are coming off an 83-65 win over OSU on Wednesday, have won 6 in a row ... Mizzou leads the Big 12 and ranks seventh nationally in scoring (80.6 ppg).
- Mizzou features a very balanced offense, with four players averaging 12 or more points per game in Marcus Denmon (17.9 ppg), Ricardo Ratliffe (14.0), Kim English (13.9) and Michael Dixon (12.5) ... Phil Pressey averages 9.8 points per game and leads the Big 12 with 153 assists (5.9/gm).
- Frank Haith is in his first season in Columbia (24-2) ... in his eighth season as a head coach, Haith sports a record of 153-103.
Sidebars
- A&M coach Billy Kennedy is close friends with Missouri head coach Frank Haith ... after eight years as a head coach, including leading Southeastern Louisiana to the NCAA Tournament in 2005, Kennedy joined Haith's staff at the University of Miami as an assistant for the 2005-06 season ... upon helping lead Miami to the quarterfinals of the NIT that year, Kennedy got the head job at Murray State, where he spent five seasons.
- Mizzou assistant coach Issac Chew spent four seasons on Billy Kennedy's staff at Murray State (2007-11).
- Haith spent four seasons in Aggieland on Tony Barone's staff in the 1990s ... Haith was an assistant for three years (1992-95), helping the Aggies to the NIT in 1994-their first postseason trip in seven years ... he then went to Penn State for one season before returning to A&M as Barone's associate head coach for one year (1996-97), the Aggies' first in the Big 12.
- Aggie junior Khris Middleton spent several days this summer with Missouri's Marcus Denmon and Kim English, as the trio were part of the USA Basketball World University Games Team Training Camp in Colorado Springs.
Aggie Trends
- A&M is shooting 39.2 percent from 3-point range over its last 8 games (averaging 6.1 threes per game) ... the Aggies rank fourth in league games in 3-point field goals (5.8/game) and fourth in 3-point percentage (34.6).
- Texas A&M's starting rotation has seen lots of action in conference play ... in Big 12 games, A&M starters are averaging 29.0 minutes a game (after averaging 25 a game in non-conference play) ... all five starters played at least 30 minutes against Texas (Jan. 11), the first time that's happened on an Aggie team since March 2007 (Big 12 quarterfinal vs Oklahoma State).
- The Aggies have allowed just one Big 12 opponent to score more points than its season average (Oklahoma, who needed OT to do so).
- A&M has averaged 15.9 bench points in its last 10 league games, after averaging just 9.0 in the first 3.
- A&M has seen its free-throw percentage take a slight up-turn in Big 12 play ... the Aggies shot 61.6 percent from the line in non-conference play, but has shot 66.2 percent in Big 12 action.
- A&M is shooting 69.1 percent from the line in the second half of Big 12 games ... the Aggies have shot just 59.4 percent in the first half.
- The Aggies are 12-0 this year when leading with 5 minutes to play and 11-3 this year when leading at halftime (losses at Kansas, at K-State, home Texas).
- A&M is 11-2 when holding opponents under 40 percent from the field (both losses to Baylor).
- The Aggies have held 11 of their opponents under 60 points and are unbeaten in those games.
- A&M has held 8 opponents under 35 percent shooting (8-0).
- The Aggies are 9-2 this year when shooting more free throws than their opponent (loss to Texas, at Iowa State) and 10-1 when out-rebounding them (loss is to Texas).
- A&M has already bested last year's total for blocks, and did so in just 20 games ... the Aggies are averaging 2.4 blocks per game this year (61 blocks), up from last year's average of 1.5 (51 in 33 games).
- The Aggies have won 4 of their last 5 overtime games dating back to last season.
- A&M has won over 70 percent of its games since the start of the 2006-07 season (137-57, .706) ... the Aggies are 179-75 (.705) since the start of the '04-05 campaign.
Player Notables
- has slid over and started at the point in each of the last 6 games for the injured Dash Harris ... is averaging 36.3 minutes in those contests.
- in the top 10 of the Big 12 rankings in four categories (points, minutes, 3-point field goals, 3-point field goal percentage) this season.
- Over his last 8 games, is averaging 17.5 pts, 4.1 rebs and 3.0 assists ... became the first Aggie since Acie Law in 2007 to score 20-plus in three straight Big 12 games (23 vs OU - 1/21, 24 at KU - 1/23, 23 vs OSU - 1/28).
- averaging 16.2 points per game in Big 12 play, sixth-best in the league.
- In four games against ranked opponents, is averaging 17.2 points, 4 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
- has scored 10-plus points in 12 of the last 14 games and in 20 of 25 overall this year ... he did so just 9 times in 66 games in two seasons at Washington.
- minutes have sharply increased over the last 5 games, averaging 29.4 per game over that span ... 7.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 2.4 ast in last 5 games ... poured in a season-high 14 against Kansas State (2/4).
- shooting 40% from floor and 46% from 3-point range in Big 12 play ... shot 31% from field and 14% from beyond the arc in non-conference action.
- in his last 9 games, is averaging 12.3 points and 4.9 rebounds (averaged 6 pts, 3 reb in first 4 Big 12 games).
- became only the 16th player in school history this year to score 1,000 career points and grab 500 career rebounds ... ranks 24th all-time in scoring (1,137 points) and needs 25 points to become one of the top 20 most prolific scorers in school history ... ranks 19th all-time in rebounds (550).
- has played in 126 career games, eighth all-time in program history.
- saw just 3 minutes of action in Tuesday's win over Texas Tech ... over previous 6 games, averaged 6.8 points and 3.7 rebounds, connecting at 48% clip from long distance ... has hit at least one trey in 7 of last 10 ballgames overall.
- set career highs in consecutive games recently, scoring 12 against Baylor (2/1) after posting 11 against Oklahoma State (1/28) on 5-of-6 shooting.
- moved into starting rotation for a bit with injuries to Khris Middleton and Dash Harris ... started four straight games, averaging 30.8 minutes a contest.
- has started all but two Big 12 games for the Aggies at the "5" position ... averaging 20.3 minutes in league play.
- named to the Academic All-Big 12 second team this week.
- averaging 7.0 points and 4.8 rebounds off the bench in Big 12 play (12 games) ... averaging 12.5 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds at home (15 games).
- has scored 10-plus points in 14 games this year ... the Aggies are 9-5 in those contests.
- has posted four double-doubles-the first of his career-including a 13-point, 12-rebound effort against Iowa State (1/7) and a 13-point, 11-board game against Baylor (2/1)... his 15 boards vs Arkansas Tech (12/29) were a career high and the most by an Aggie in a game since March 2010.
- played a career-high 32 minutes in Tuesday's win at Texas Tech ... scored 9 points and matched a season high with 5 rebounds while dishing out a team-best 3 assists.
- spent majority of K-State game (2/4) guarding Wildcats' leading scorer, Rodney McGruder (15.4 ppg, 19.3 ppg in Big 12 play) ... helped limit McGruder to a Big 12 season-low 5 points on 1-of-9 shooting.
- strong 31 minutes of play against OSU (1/28) after getting the starting nod ... scored 8 points on 4-of-6 shooting, a personal best in Big 12 play ... primary focus was limiting Cowboys' guard Keiton Page (entered 14.7 ppg), and held him to 2-of-13 from the floor and 9 total points.
- has missed last 6 games recovering from right foot injury suffered at end of first half at Kansas (1/23).
- over his last 8 games, is averaging 7.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 4.0 assists ... Harris has scored in double figures in 5 of his last 9 outings ... he matched a career high with 14 in the win over Oklahoma (1/21).
- leads the team and ranks seventh in the Big 12 in assists (4.3/game) ... he leads the squad and ranks third in the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3) ... he was named to the Bob Cousy Award watch list.
- moved into the top 10 in school history in career assists and steals in win over Texas Tech (Jan. 14) ... ranks ninth in both categories (358 assists, 133 steals) ... he is one of only 8 players in A&M history to record 300 assists and 100 steals (list on page 9).
- has seen action off bench in last 2 games, averaging 7 points, 4 rebounds and 22 minutes ... missed the previous 5 games after re-injuring knee early in OT win over Oklahoma (1/21) ... underwent surgery (11/11) to repair partially torn meniscus in right knee ... suffered injury in season opener vs Liberty (11/9) ... missed 7 games, returned vs ULM (12/10).
- picked up first double-double of career at Texas (1/11), 19 pts, 10 rebs ... 10 boards were a career high.
- reserve senior walk-on point guard played 21 minutes against OSU (1/28) in lieu of injured Dash Harris, dishing out 3 assists, posting 0 turnovers and grabbing 4 rebounds ... took the floor against the Cowboys with a total of 6 career minutes of action in 8 games played.
- played 9 minutes (0 assists, 0 turnovers) and grabbed 2 boards against Baylor (2/1).
Big 12 Bullets
- The Aggies have won 53 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 (53-38 since 2006, 43-116 from 1997-2006).
- A&M has finished .500 or better in Big 12 play in each of the past 7 years, one of just 3 teams to do so (Kansas, Texas).
- The Aggies are coming off back-to-back 10-plus win seasons in Big 12 play for just the second time ever (2006, 2007 and 2010, 2011) ... it is only the second time in the last 25 years that an A&M team has accomplished that feat ... prior to '06-07, the last time an Aggie squad recorded consecutive 10+ win seasons in conference play was in 1985 (10) and 1986 (12).
- 2011 was A&M's third consecutive winning season in Big 12 play, the first time the Aggies have accomplished that feat in the Big 12 era (9-7 in 2009, 11-5 in 2010, 10-6 in 2011) ... it marked the first time since the late 60s (1967-70) that a Texas A&M team finished above .500 in league action for three straight seasons.
Aggie Hoops Turns 100
- The Aggies are in the midst of the 100th season of basketball at Texas A&M University ... the first team was fielded for the 1912-13 campaign.
- The inaugural team was coached by F.D. Steger and won its first ever game (date unknown) over Marlin (Texas) High School, 78-8 ... the first "collegiate" opponent for the program was later that season with a pair of games against Sam Houston Normal Institute (now Sam Houston State University).
This Week in History
- FEB. 16,1965: The Aggies eclipse the century mark for the first time in program history, downing Rice 104-93 ... John Beasley scores 37 points in the win.
- FEB. 20, 1973: Randy Knowles goes 20-of-30 from the field (42 points) in a 108-82 win over Arkansas.
- FEB. 24, 2009: Josh Carter drains a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Aggies a 57-55 win over Nebraska in Lincoln, a shot that sparked A&M's late-season run to the NCAA Tournament.
Up Next
- Texas A&M wraps a two-game homestand on Wednesday by hosting No. 4 Kansas (8 p.m., ESPN2).