Texas A&M
12-8, 3-5
Oklahoma State
10-11, 3-5
Hot-Shooting A&M Downs OSU, 76-61
Jan 28, 2012 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION--Elston Turner scored 23 points to lead Texas A&M to its third straight home win, a 76-61 victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday.
David Loubeau added 13 points for the Aggies (12-8, 3-5 Big 12), who led by a point at halftime and never trailed in the second half.
Texas A&M was without second-leading scorer Khris Middleton, who missed his second straight game, and point guard Dash Harris, who didn't play after injuring his right foot Monday against Kansas.
Markel Brown's 19 points led Oklahoma State (10-11, 3-5) which wasn't able to build on Wednesday's 79-72 upset of second-ranked Missouri.
Texas A&M led by seven points with about 10 minutes remaining before using a 12-4 run to extend its lead to 63-48. Daniel Alexander and Zach Kinsley each hit a 3-pointer in that span.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME NOTES
Team
- The Aggies shot 58.3 percent from the field, a Big 12 season high and the second highest this season (65.4 vs Liberty, 11/9).
- A&M's field goal percentages of 57.1 (first) and 59.3 (second) were the team's two best halves in Big 12 play this year.
- The victory was the Aggies' fourth in a row over Oklahoma State and fifth in a row over the Cowboys at Reed Arena.
- Saturday's win was A&M's third in a row at home ... A&M improved to 11-2 this year at Reed Arena.
Individual
- Alex Baird played a career-high 21 minutes at the point, collecting 3 assists and posting no turnovers ... Baird, a senior walk-on in his second year in the program, entered the game with a total of 6 minutes of action in 8 career games.
- Elston Turner was one shy of his career high in points with 23, set on Monday at Kansas ... Turner has averaged 23.3 points in his last 3 games ... he dished out a career-high 5 assists on the day.
- Daniel Alexander scored a career-high 11 points.
- Zach Kinsley matched an A&M career high with 8 points.
- A&M played without senior G Dash Harris, junior F Khris Middleton and sophomore F Kourtney Roberson, all out with an injury.
TEXAS A&M POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening statement
Obviously I'm real proud of our guys. This is what A&M is all about, character, toughness. Alex Baird, believe it or not, I was very confident putting him in the game. I made a conscious effort to tell him that we're going to play him. Obviously he gave a big lift to our team and our bench.
On Alex Baird's confidence
He's confident because he prepares himself. He's an upperclassman. I knew he wouldn't be afraid. I didn't know how well he would play or how he would execute. Everyone who played tonight gave us some good effort.
On Daniel Alexander's play
Daniel had two big threes against Kansas. His practice efforts and confidence have been better.
On Elston getting to slip to the two with Alex playing
I really went to him early in the first half to get him some time because I thought we would need him. I thought Elston was pushing too hard at the 1 and when we were able to bump him to the 2, we had a much better balance.
On getting effort from the whole team
We talked about it all week. We're beat up, we need everyone to give a little more. We need to pay attention to details- those are the things we can control.
What was the difference in the team's effort
I thought our guys were a little hungrier. I thought they were more excited to play, and once they believed we could win, I think that gave them a lot of confidence.
Is this one of the best things about coaching?
I told the TV after, it's one of my better wins. Because when you do the right things, it pays off.
What does this win do for the rest of the season?
Hopefully it breeds confidence. Baylor obviously is very confident; they've only lost two games this season. I think we're a much team then when we played them last, I think we're going to have to have a spectacular effort against a good team.
JUNIOR GUARD ELSTON TURNER
On Alex Baird's play
We needed that, it was big. We've always had confidence in him and have seen him play. He was just waiting for his time, he finally got it and used the best of it.
On getting an overall team effort
I feel like everyone stepped up. We preached it all week, if Dash doesn't go then we'll rely on us and our bench. Everybody stepped up today, and we get that consistent effort then we're going to be a tough team to beat.
On the team's mentality going into the game
Before the game, coach told everyone to have fun, and I feel like we took that approach and when you combine those things, you have fun winning.
SENIOR GUARD ALEX BAIRD
Talk about getting to play out there
Pretty surreal moment for me. Probably the most insanely awesome thing I've ever done. I just wanted to win because we're down two players. They gave me the "you might need to be ready to go" and I gave everything I had for my team.
What does it show that this team wins with so many players out
It shows you how much your bench can have impact on games. If everyone goes hard in practice, including the guys who don't start, then it's good when the bench guys need to come in and play.
On the crowd and the intensity of the game
At first everything was tuned out to me, but towards the end when we were making big plays, the crowd was really everything.
FRESHMAN FORWARD DANIEL ALEXANDER
What worked for you out there tonight?
I think it was just the energy and intensity from everyone that made it a lot easier. You have communication, everyone is where they're supposed to be- it makes it easier to make a play. You have to give credit to everyone else- it was a team effort for sure.
On the team playing open at the end of the game
I think it was kind of a culmination of everything and it paying off . We got to do something we like, which is play free and have fun with the sport that we love.
On his alley-oop dunk from Jordan Green
It was cool because we were playing almost kind of like a pick up game. I pointed up, he saw me, we both smiled and it was easy from that point on.
OKLAHOMA STATE POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH TRAVIS FORD
Opening statement
Just give A&M credit, they played really well ,really hard. Kind of like us the other night, they were desperate for a win. They had a lot of hunger and a lot of fight to them. It was all about them.
On struggling at the end of the first half
Michael Cobbins got in foul trouble, that didn't help us. We were in attack mode and then got on our heels and started having to have guys play different positions that they're not used to. We went through a stretch there where we were just trying to survive.
On scouting for players and then seeing players off the bench you wouldn't normally see
It's a good question, yes and no. It is because you spend time thinking about it and talking about it, but it's not an excuse. It is what it is. I don't think that played a huge role in it.
On turnovers
It killed us. It allowed them to get easy baskets, and you don't want to do that. It allowed them to get easy baskets, and we had a 7- or 8-point lead and we turned it over. When you're playing a team at their court, you don't want to give them anything to build on. And they forced them, their kids are feisty, and that's dangerous.
On Le'Bryan Nash's play and him being a freshman
It's going to happen, it's a part of it. At some point he'll be more consistent. He didn't take a lot of bad shots tonight, some of those same shots he took the other night just didn't fall tonight.
FRESHMAN FORWARD BRIAN WILLIAMS
On OSU not making a basket in a stretch of 6 minutes
Stretches like that do happen, we have to make stops.
A&M was undermanned, did they show you some players that you hadn't seen?
We knew about every player that they put in. We knew that they would be playing short-handed tonight, we just didn't respond.
Was the difference in the second half more on your defense or A&M's offense?
I felt it was 100 percent us, we've seen a lot of defenses and a lot of looks, but we didn't respond to how well they shot on the offensive end.
SOPHOMORE GUARD MARKEL BROWN
Is this a let down after the Missouri game
Not really, the Missouri was over with and we came into this game nonchalant and Texas A&M took advantage of it.
What do you mean you came in nonchalant?
We were ready to play, but we made silly plays and a lot of turnovers that led to transition points for them. Not boxing out, rebounding and not rotating on defense.
On starting off with a decent lead
We got out to a pretty good lead, but we still weren't making stops. They came out shooting the ball well, and they came out second half and shot like 60 percent on us. They were undermanned, and we didn't take advantage of it.
