Aggie Sports

March 10, 2010

No. 4 Seed Texas A&M faces No. 12 Seed Nebraska in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship quarterfinals at 2 p.m. on Thursday in Kansas City. The game will be televised by the Big 12 Network (check local listings).

2010 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship Quarterfinals

Game 31
#23/24 Texas A&M Aggies
(22-8, 11-5 Big 12 Conference, Tied for 2nd place)
vs.
Nebraska Cornhuskers
(15-17, 2-14 Big 12 Conference, 12th place)

Thursday, March 11, 2010
2 p.m. (CT)
Sprint Center (18,879 cap.)
Kansas City, Mo.

TELEVISION: Big 12 Network
Mitch Holthus, play-by-play
Reid Gettys, commentary
Check Local Listings



RADIO: Texas A&M Sports Network
http://www.aggieathletics.com/multimedia/aggies-on-the-radio.html
Dave South, play-by-play
Al Pulliam, commentary
Sirius Satellite Radio: 125
XM Satellite Radio: 231

Texas A&M Basketball Digital Media
Texas A&M Weekly Press Conference Audio (Monday):http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/030810aaa.html
Texas A&M Media Almanac (complete bios, history and records): http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/352a4862
Mark Turgeon's Virtual Guide to Texas A&M Basketball: http://coachturgeon.com/
Aggie Basketball Fast Break blog: http://blogs.aggieathletics.com/fastbreak/
 
Texas A&M Aggies
http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/tam-m-baskbl-body.html
Record: 22-8 (11-5 Big 12, T2nd)
Ranking: #23 (AP), #24 (ESPN/USA Today)
RPI: #11
Last Game: Won at Oklahoma (69-54) on Saturday
Head Coach: Mark Turgeon (Kansas `87)
               Record: 224-148 (12th year)
               at Texas A&M: 71-29 (3rd year)
               vs. Nebraska: 2-1
 
Projected Texas A&M Starters
No.  Player             Pos.   Ht.   Wt.   Cl.   PPG   RPG   APG
5    Dash Harris         G     6-1   175   So    5.0   3.3   3.3       
15   Donald Sloan        G     6-3   205   Sr   17.9   3.6   2.2         
22   Khris Middleton     G     6-7   215   Fr    6.4   3.6    --
10   David Loubeau       F     6-8   230   So    9.1   4.8    --
0    Bryan Davis         F     6-9   250   Sr   10.0   8.0    --

Off the Bench
2    Derrek Lewis        G     6-5   195   Jr    1.6   0.5    --
11   B.J. Holmes         G     5-11  175   Jr    9.2   2.4    --
21   Ray Turner          F     6-8   220   Fr    2.9   2.7    --
23   Naji Hibbert        G     6-6   200   Fr    1.9   1.6    --
45   Nathan Walkup       F     6-7   210   Jr    5.4   3.4    --

Nebraska Cornhuskers
http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=24&DB_OEM_ID=100
Record: 15-17 (2-14 Big 12 Conference, 12th)
Ranking: Unranked
RPI: 155 (prior to Missouri game) 
Last Game: Beat Missouri (75-60) on Wednesday
Head Coach: Doc Sadler (Arkansas `82)
               Record:  118-75 (6th year)
               at  Nebraska: 70-57 (4th year)
               vs. Texas A&M: 1-3
 
Projected Nebraska Starters
No.  Player             Pos.  Ht.    Wt.   Cl.  PPG    RPG   APG
3    Brandon Richardson  G    6-0    190   So    8.7   2.6    --      
34   Lance Jeter         G    6-3    225   Jr    7.5   3.6    3.9
5    Sek Henry           G    6-4    200   Sr    7.4   3.4    --
11   C. Standhardinger   F    6-8    210   Fr    8.1   3.9    --         
21   Jorge Brian Diaz    C    6-11   235   Fr    8.6   4.0    --

Big 12 Conference: http://www.big12sports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&KEY=&SPID=13134&SPSID=106110
NCAA: http://www.ncaa.com/statistics/index.html <http://www.ncaa.com/statistics/index.html>

Series Notes
*Nebraska leads the series, 11-7, but A&M has won four of the last five, including two straight.
*Nebraska is the only team A&M has not previously faced in the Big 12 tournament.    

Key Notes
*No. 4-seeded Texas A&M has a bye in the first round and will play Nebraska in Thursday's quarterfinals at 2 p.m. (Big 12 Network).
*The winner of Thursday's game advances to Friday's semifinals (6 p.m./Big 12 Network). The championship game will be Saturday (5 p.m./ESPN).
*A&M has won three straight and is coming off a 69-54 win at Oklahoma last Saturday.  The Aggies won each of their last three league games by at least 15 points. The only other time A&M won three straight conference games by 15+ points was in 1919-20.
*A&M has won 71 games under Mark Turgeon, the most wins ever by A&M coach in a three-year span. The old mark was 70 by Billy Gillispie (2004-07).
*A&M, Kansas and Texas are the only three Big 12 schools to post 20-win seasons in each of the last six years. The Aggies also have recorded at least eight Big 12 wins in six straight seasons. Prior to that stretch, A&M had not won more than six league games.
*A&M tied for second in the final Big 12 standings, matching the best finish in school history. The 2006-07 team finished alone in second.
*A&M is 17-5 in its last 22 Big 12 games, second only to Kansas (20-2) in that span.
*The Aggies are 3-13 in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, but are 3-4 in the last four years. The first time the event was played at the Sprint Center In 2008, Turgeon's first season, the Aggies doubled their victory total by beating Iowa State (60-47) and Kansas State (63-60) before falling in the semifinals to eventual national champion Kansas (77-71).
*A&M was the No. 6 seed last year and lost to No. 11 seed Texas, 88-83, after leading by as many as 20 points.
*A&M has received a first-round bye in three of the last five years. 

Last Time They Met
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP, Jan. 9, 2010)--Donald Sloan scored 26 points, including several key free throws down the stretch, to give Texas A&M a 64-53 win over Nebraska in the Big 12 opener for both teams Saturday. Facing the Big 12's stingiest defense, the Aggies improved to 12-0 this season when holding teams to less than 70 points. Nebraska (12-4) led by one before Texas A&M (12-3) scored nine straight points, six on free throws by Sloan, to take a 51-43 lead with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining. The Cornhuskers cut the lead to six before a 3-pointer by A&M's Nathan Walkup with less then five minutes remaining made it 54-45, and Nebraska didn't threaten again. Nebraska was led Christian Standhardinger, a freshman from Germany, who had 13 points in his debut for the Cornhuskers. 

Tough Schedule 
*A&M has played 10 nationally-ranked opponents, tied for most in the country with Ohio State, Illinois and Georgetown. A&M has played four teams ranked in the top 10 in this week's AP poll (Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia and New Mexico). A&M played four nationally-ranked non-conference foes (that doesn't include New Mexico, which entered the rankings the next week). The Aggies' schedule-to-date is ranked as the sixth-toughest nationally by CBS Sports.
*The 10 nationally-ranked opponents are the most in A&M history. The old record was nine set in 1978-79.
*A&M is 4-6 against ranked teams this season with wins against No. 19 Clemson (69-60), No. 16 Minnesota (66-65) and No. 20 Baylor (78-71). Seven of the Aggies' eight losses have been to teams that have been ranked in the top 25 for multiple weeks (Kansas, Texas, West Virginia, Washington, Baylor, New Mexico and Kansas State). The other loss was at Oklahoma State. A&M is 16-2 (7-1 Big 12) against unranked foes.
*The four wins against ranked opponents ties for the second most in school history with the 2006-07 team. The school record is five in 1978-79.
Tournament Notes
*After being the lower seeded team in seven of its first eight Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship appearances, A&M has been the higher-seeded team for its opening tournament game for six straight years -- in 2005 as the No. 7 seed against No. 10 Kansas State, in 2006 as the No. 4 seed against No. 5 Colorado, in 2007 as the No. 2 seed against No. 7 Oklahoma State, in 2008 as the No. 6 seed against No. 11 Iowa State, lasy year as the No. 6 seed against No. 11 Texas Tech, and this year as the No. 4 seed against the 5-12 winner.
*A&M is 2-3 as the higher seeded team in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.
*A&M has an all-time record of 19-32 in conference postseason tournaments.
*In 16 previous Big 12 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship contests, the Aggies are 3-7 against the North Division and are 0-6 against the South Division.

Sidebars
*A Kansas native, Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Turgeon is a former Jayhawk player and assistant coach.
*After leading Hayden HS in Topeka to consecutive Kansas state titles in 1982 and 1983, Turgeon became the first Jayhawk ever to play in four straight NCAA Tournaments. Kansas advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1986 with current KU Head Coach Bill Self serving as an assistant coach.
*After graduating in 1987, Turgeon was an assistant coach at KU under Larry Brown, helping the Jayhawks win the 1988 NCAA title. He went on to serve four more years as an assistant under Roy Williams.
*Turgeon still ranks ninth in KU history in career assists with 437. He and KU assistant coach Danny Manning were teammates for three years.
*Missouri Associate Head Coach Melvin Watkins served as head coach at Texas A&M for six seasons from 1998-04.
*A&M assistant coach Bill Walker is a native of Warrensburg, Mo., where he earned first-team all-state honors as a high school senior. He played collegiately at State Fair CC in Sedalia, Mo., and at Missouri-Rolla.
*Walker served as an assistant coach at Missouri-St. Louis (1989-96) and Central Missouri State (1996-99).
*A&M Director of Athletics Bill Byrne served as Nebraska's AD from 1992-02, leaving Lincoln for College Station in January of 2003.
*A&M Director of Basketball Operations Mike Rohn (Colby, Kan.) and Video Coordinator Stephen Gentry (Fort Scott, Kan.) are both Kansas natives.
 
Drive for Five
*A&M is on track for its fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Prior to this streak, A&M never played in consecutive NCAA Tournaments and had not made an appearance since 1987. Four of A&M's 10 NCAA appearances, and 5 of its 8 NCAA wins, have come in the previous four seasons.
*A&M is one of just six schools to have won at least one NCAA Tournament game in each of the last four years. The others are Memphis, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, UCLA and Texas. A&M is one of just 16 schools to play in the previous four NCAAs.
*A&M is one of just three schools with a postseason win in each of the last five years (1 NIT, 4 NCAAs). The others are North Carolina (5 NCAAs), and Memphis (1 NIT, 4 NCAAs).
*A&M has posted six straight 20-win seasons. Before the 2004-05 season, A&M had only six 20-win seasons in its history.
*A&M is 141-54 (.723) in the last six years.
*A&M, Kansas and Texas are the only Big 12 schools that have won at least 20 games in each of the last six seasons.