Texas A&M
20-8, 11-5SEC
Auburn
12-17, 4-12SEC
Men's Basketball Grabs 20th Win of Season
Feb 28, 2015 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Jalen Jones scored 19 points as Texas A&M ran away from Auburn 80-55 on Saturday night.
KT Harrell scored 18 points in leading the Tigers (12-17, 4-12 SEC), who were without second-leading scorer Antoine Mason (15.1 points per game). Mason was with his family following the death of his father, former NBA forward Anthony Mason, on Saturday morning. A&M honored Anthony Mason with a moment of silence prior to the game.
A&M (20-8, 11-5 SEC), which hadn't won more than eight SEC games in its three previous seasons under coach Billy Kennedy, continued on a likely quest to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011.
The Aggies led 36-28 at halftime despite a poor first 20 minutes from leading scorer Danuel House. The transfer from the University of Houston was 3 of 13 from the floor in the first half, missing all seven of his 3-point attempts.
TEAM RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
● Texas A&M improved to 20-8 on the season and took sole possession of third place in the SEC standings with an 11-5 league record following an 80-55 win over Auburn on Saturday night at Reed Arena.
● The 20-win season is the 14th in program history and the first since the 2010-11 campaign.
● Texas A&M is now 13-2 on its home court this year and 30-5 at Reed Arena in the last two seasons.
● A&M has dropped back-to-back games just once this season as the Aggies are is 7-1 following a loss.
● The all-time series between the schools now stands at 7-3 in favor of the Aggies.
TEAM NOTES
● The victory was the largest for Texas A&M in a conference game since a 98-54 win over Texas Tech on Feb. 27, 2008.
● Texas A&M owned a 44-30 edge in the rebounding column, its fourth-best margin on the glass this season.
● A&M put four players in doubled-digit scoring four the ninth time on the campaign.
● In the paint, the Aggies owned a 34-24 advantage to mark the 23rd time in 28 games that A&M has outscored its opponent in the interior.
● A&M was charged with nine turnovers in the game leading to a 10-2 advantage in points off turnovers … it stood out as the ninth game this season that the Aggies have committed less than 10 giveaways.
● A&M owned a 36-28 halftime advantage.
● The Aggies used the starting lineup combination of Alex Caruso, Jordan Green, Danuel House, Jalen Jones and Kourtney Roberson for the 19th time this season (14-5).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
● Senior forward Kourtney Roberson recorded his third double-double of the season (10th career) by scoring 12 points and pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds … in his last nine games, the Arcadia, La., native is averaging 11.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per outing.
● Junior forward Jalen Jones led all scorers with 19 points on the night, going 5-of-10 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line … Jones has now reached double-digit scoring in 21 of 26 games played this season with the Aggies owning a 20-1 record when he scores 10 or more points.
● Junior guard Alex Caruso was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field Saturday night, including a sterling 4-of-4 ledger from 3-point range, to finishing with 14 points … the four 3-point baskets was a season high for Caruso and one shy of his career high set against Missouri in last season's SEC Tournament.
● Junior guard Danuel House also reached double-figures with 15 points.
● A&M head coach Billy Kennedy is now 70-57 in his fourth season at Texas A&M and 281-236 in 17 years as a head coach.
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 HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening statement…
“That was a good win. Students were here and I appreciate the fans coming out with the weather being the way it was. I thought the atmosphere got us going. We made some shots in the second half. I thought Auburn was having some issues and, obviously, they don't have a lot of bodies right now. I thought they slowed the pace down in the first half. We played at that pace, and offensively we missed a lot of shots and forced some. Jalen Jones had a great pace offensively, the best he has had the last four or five games. Alex made open shots when we started moving the ball and making some shots, the second half we were able to break the game open.”
On first time to get 20 wins…
“Anytime you get 20 wins in Division 1 basketball it's a good year. We aren't finished yet, we have a lot ahead of us. I think we can get better and I don't think we played our best. We have had some great basketball, great 25 minutes at a time, but we can play better especially defensively. I don't think the second half we were good defensively.”
On having Mason out…
“It definitely hurt them; he is a very good player. They are an older team, he is a really great player and his situation is unfortunate. Not having him really hurt their team.”
On being able to get the bench players some time…
“We have good guys and those kids work hard. I was glad those kids were able to get in the game because they help us every day in practice in so many ways. It was good to see them get rewarded and play some. Space was good, I told him going into the second half I was going to play him early, we needed somebody who could move the ball, score, and he did a good job. Dobbins wanted to give his power move; it was good that he made the layup. I was happy for him; he is a tremendous student athlete here and does so much for our team. He is very valued by me so when something good happens for him I am happy for him.”
TEXAS A&M SENIOR JORDAN GREEN
On what the win means for the season…
“First off, I just want to give all the glory to God. This season has been such a tremendous turnaround from our past. Credit to leadership, our staff and all the players. It feels great just to get a win in front of our home crowd. All the glory to God.”
On last year's senior night…
“That's what we are going into Florida thinking about. Auburn, last year was senior night for Blake and Faybon and we didn't get the job done, so we had to get the job done today.”
On gameplan changing with Auburn' Antonine Mason absent…
“No, our game plan stayed the same. We had to do the job on [Auburn players] Harrell and Bowers. Our principles and everything that we do coming into a game never change just because of one player. We still have to play as a team.”
TEXAS A&M JUNIOR JALEN JONES
On picking up slack from Danuel House's shooting trouble…
“I think it was a team effort, everybody came out aggressive. I think House started off a little slow and he found his rhythm a little in the second half. Collectively, throughout the whole game we were all aggressive and found each other in the right spots and we were able to finish baskets.”
On Auburn being physical…
“They are going to get you down low; we just had to stay strong. We had to finish through contact, box out, and get rebounds. Every team will try to battle you down low, you just have to be physical, finish baskets, and be tough back as well.”
On getting to 20 wins…
“It feels great; I have not won 20 games since I have been in college. I think this is a fun team to play on and it is a great accomplishment. We now have bigger things to look forward to and we are just going to keep playing hard throughout the season and win these last two games to get our momentum going into the SEC tournament and take it from there.”
AUBURN HEAD COACH BRUCE PEARL
Opening statement…
“I want to thank the Texas A&M administration and the basketball program for a really first-class gesture before the game. That really was very kind, very thoughtful and it meant a lot to us. It makes me proud that Texas A&M is a part of the SEC family because that was what family does. It was a very nice gesture. The other thing that their equipment staff did was they got these pins for us and they embroidered them on our players' jerseys. We had the jerseys in the lockerroom this afternoon and they went in the locker room and they got them and they took care of everything. Those are the kind of stories that you don't hear in sports when teams are competing like that, Auburn and Texas A&M, but that was pretty special, meant a lot to our team. Texas A&M's a good team, they run great stuff, they're organized, they've got a lot of different weapons. I mean, obviously, when House and Jones are playing well it takes them to another level but, you know, for Caruso we came off him tonight. They've not shot the ball from the three great as a team, we came off him and he knocked down shots. Billy (Kennedy) does a really good job with them and they've got enough size to play against big teams and enough speed and quickness; I like their club. We're shorthanded but I thought we played hard but I didn't think we competed as well. When you are shorthanded it does present opportunities for some other guys to maybe change their roles, and I don't know that we took advantage of the opportunities.”
On missing Antione Mason…
“That means is there's opportunity available for some other guys and I thought T.J. Lang did a great job in the first half on House defensively, that was really fun to see that he was able to get out there and hunt hanging in there with them and his length was a factor, but offensively, obviously, it was a real struggle.”
Team Stats
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