Aggies Return to Reed; Host Auburn Saturday

Aggie Basketball Game #28:

Auburn (12-16, 4-11 SEC) at Texas A&M (19-8, 10-5 SEC)

Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015 · 7:30 p.m. (CT)

Reed Arena (12,989) · College Station, Texas

 

TV: SEC Network (For more info – 12thMan.com/TV)

  Dave Neal, Play-by-Play

  Darrin Horn, Commentary

  Kayce Smith, Reporter

 

RADIO: Texas A&M Radio Network

  Dave South, Play-by-Play

  Mike Caruso, Commentary

  Local: WTAW 1620 AM (College Station/Bryan)

  Satellite Radio: Sirius Ch. 90 / XM Ch. 190

 

LIVE AUDIO/STATS: 12thMan.com

LIVE MOBILE LIVE STATS: tamustats.com

--

COLLEGE STATION – Three regular season contest remains for the Texas A&M men's basketball team as the Aggies continue their push for the postseason on Saturday when they entertain Auburn at 7:30 p.m. inside Reed Arena.

Texas A&M (19-8, 10-5 SEC) enters the home stretch of the regular season with much on the line as the Aggies currently sit in a tie for third place in the SEC standings alongside Ole Miss. The top four teams in the league standings receive a double-bye in the upcoming SEC Tournament in Nashville.

The Aggies are led by one of the country's hottest players in junior guard Danuel House, who is coming off a career-best 28-point performance during Tuesday's contest at No. 18 Arkansas. The Fresno, Texas, native is averaging 20.2 points per contest during his last six contest and ranked seventh nationally shooting 43.8 percent from 3-point range.

Junior Jalen Jones also enjoyed a solid outing against the Razorbacks, recording the 11^th double-double of his college career by scoring 10 points and pulling down a season-best 13 rebounds.

Freshman Alex Robinson scored 11 points off the A&M bench in Tuesday's affair to reach double-digit scoring for the fifth time this season. It stood out as the first time Robinson has cracked 10 points since the season's first meeting with the Tigers when he made 6-of-9 shots to finish with 12 points in a 71-61 Aggie road win at Auburn on Jan. 27.

Auburn, meanwhile, comes to Aggieland with a 12-16 overall record and a 4-11 SEC mark under first-year head coach Bruce Pearl. The Tigers feature the SEC's top scorer in senior KT Harrell, who paced the league with 17.7 points per contest this season, as well as junior college transfer big man Cinmeon Bowers, who averaged a double-double on the year at 12.9 points and 10.3 rebounds per outing.

 

QUICK HITS

• The Aggies look for a season sweep of the Auburn Tigers on Saturday at Reed Arena ... Texas A&M earned a 71-61 win at Auburn Arena on Jan. 27, Danuel House led all scorers with 22 points in the contest, connecting on 6-of-7 3-point field goal attempts ... House was joined in double-figure scoring by Jalen Jones (13) and Alex Robinson (12).

• A win would give the Aggies their 20^th victory of the season ... the program has reached the 20-win plateau in 13 previous seasons, most recently in 2010-11.

• A career-high 28-point performance Tuesday in Fayetteville highlighted Danuel House's emergence as one of the SEC's top scorers ... the Fresno, Texas native, who has reached the 20-point plateau seven times this season, is averaging 20.2 points during his last six contests.

• The Aggies are 12-2 on their home court this season and 29-5 at Reed Arena the last two years.

• Junior Jalen Jones has played an intricate role in the A&M's success with the Aggies owning a 19-1 record when he scores 10 or more points in a game this season ... The Dallas native ranks 11th in the SEC, averaging 13.4 points per conference game.        

  

SERIES HISTORY VS. AUBURN (A&M LEADS 6-3)

• Saturday will be the 10^th meeting between the Aggies and Tigers on the hardwood ... A&M owns a 6-3 edge in the all-time series.

• The game will mark the second time this season that the two schools have faced off as on Jan. 27 the Aggies earned a 71-61 win at Auburn Arena ... Danuel House led the way, connecting on 6-of-7 3-point shot attempts to finish with a game-high of 22 points ... Jalen Jones (13 points) and Alex Robinson (12 points) joined House in double-digit scoring for A&M.

• Last season, the Tigers came to Reed Arena on the final day of the regular season and defeated the Aggies 69-64.

• The first meeting between the schools came on Dec. 22, 1961, in Houston ... The Aggies prevailed with a 62-50 win.

• Prior to the Aggies joining the SEC, the schools most recently played a home-and-home series in back to back seasons with A&M winning 72-67 in College Station on Dec. 22, 2005, before earning a 87-58 victory in Auburn on Dec. 22, 2006.   

 

UP NEXT

The Aggies hit the road next week to face Florida inside Gainsville's O'Connell Center on Tuesday at 8 p.m. (CT) ... A&M will be searching for the season sweep of the Gators, who they defeated 63-62 in College Station earlier this season.

               

TEXAS A&M-AUBURN CONNECTIONS

• A&M's Mitch Cole -  Texas A&M's special assistant spent time at Auburn (1993-95) as a graduate assistant coach under Tigers' head coach Cliff Ellis ... Cole received his master's of education from Auburn in 1995.

 

HOUSE STANDS OUT AS ONE OF THE NATION'S TOP SCORERS

During his first season in Aggieland junior Danuel House has emerged as one of the SEC's most explosive and consistent scorers. The Fresno, Texas, native enters the Auburn game ranking fourth in scoring during SEC play this season, averaging 17.3 points per contest.

Here's a look at some of House's impressive scoring numbers...

• Ranks fourth among all SEC players in scoring during league game at 17.3 points per game.

• During SEC play, leads the league by averaging 2.9 3-pointers made per game; ranks 2^nd in 3-point shooting at 46.8 percent.

• For the season, ranks 12^th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at 43.8 percent.

• Beginning with a 25-point outing vs. top-ranked Kentucky on Jan. 10, is averaging 18.2 points per game during his last 14 contests.

• Beginning with a 20-point effort at Missouri on Feb. 7, is averaging 20.2 points per game during his last six contests.

• Scored 20 or more points in seven games this season, including three outings with 25 or more points.

• Has 1,102 career points (Includes 733 points in two seasons at Houston).

• Only Auburn's Antoine Mason, who scored 28 points vs. Kentucky on Feb. 21, has put up more than House's 25 points against the top-ranked Wildcats this season.

 

AGGIES BOAST THREE 1,000-POINT SCORERS

The Aggies standout as just one of two SEC schools (Alabama being the other) with three active 1,000-point scorers. Two of A&M's three members of the 1,000-Point Club are juniors, Danuel House and Jalen Jones, with senior Kourtney Roberson the only member of the trio to score all of his points while wearing the Maroon & White.

The next closest Aggie to 1,000 career points is junior Alex Caruso with 736 career points.