Building Champions
 Men's Basketball Team Opens Season on Sunday at Reed Arena

Aggies Tip-Off season Against Golden Lions

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Mark Turgeon

Mark Turgeon

Nov. 15, 2008

COLLEGE STATION - The Texas A&M men's basketball teams opens it 2008-09 season against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Reed Arena.

GAME #1 Texas A&M Aggies (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions (0-1, 0-0 SWAC)

Sunday, November 16, 2008 4:06 p.m. (CST) College Station, Texas Reed Arena (12,989 cap.)

Television None Live streaming at www.AggieAthletics.com

Postgame Highlights Feed 7:30-7:45 p.m. AMC15 - Transponder K4

Radio Texas A&M Sports Network Play-by-Play: Dave South Analyst: Al Pulliam Network Affiliates Atlanta KPYN-AM 900 Athens KLVQ-AM 1410 Austin KJCE-AM 1370 Brenham KWHI-AM 1280 Carthage KGAS-AM 1590 College Station WTAW-AM 1620 College Station KZNE-AM 1150 Comanche KCOM-AM 1550 Dallas KFXR-AM 1190 El Campo KULP-AM 1390 Gonzales KCTI-AM 1450 Houston KBME-AM 790 Marshall KMHT-AM 1450 New Braunfels KGNB-AM 1420 San Antonio KSJL-AM 810 San Saba KBAL-AM 1410 Sulphur Springs KSST-AM 1230 Victoria KVNN-AM 1340

TEXAS A&M AGGIES Record: 0-0 (0-0 Big 12) Ranking: Receiving votes (AP and Coaches) Last Game: Season Opener Head Coach: Mark Turgeon (Kansas `87) Record: 178-130 (10th year) at Texas A&M: 25-11 (2nd year) vs. UAPB: 1-0

PROJECTED TEXAS A&M STARTERS (2007-08 stats) No. Player P Ht. Wt. Cl-Ex PPG RPG APG 15 Donald Sloan G 6-3 205 Jr-2L 9.5 4.0 3.4 3 Derrick Roland G 6-4 190 Jr-2L 5.6 2.1 1.1 23 Josh Carter F 6-7 200 Sr-3L 12.2 3.9 -- 0 Bryan Davis F 6-9 240 Jr-2L 8.7 4.9 -- 41 Chinemelu Elonu C 6-10 235 Jr-2L 2.7 3.0 --

 

 

UAPB GOLDEN LIONS Record: 0-1 (0-0 SWAC) Ranking: n/a Last Game: Lost at Colorado (76-56) on Friday Head Coach: George Ivory (MVSU `87) Record: 0-1 (1st year) at UAPB: 0-1 (1st year) vs. Texas A&M: 0-0

PROJECTED UAPB STARTERS No. Player P Ht. Wt. Cl PPG RPG APG 23 Savalance Townsend G 6-1 160 Fr. 0.0 1.0 2.0 14 Terrance Calvin G 6-2 170 Jr. 9.0 4.0 3.0 21 Tavaris Washington G 6-5 215 Jr. 18.0 7.0 -- 35 Lebaron Weathers F 6-8 245 Jr. 22.0 10.0 -- 50 Hugh Barnett F 6-9 265 Jr. 3.0 9.0 --

Series Notes *A&M leads the series, 2-0, with both previous games played at Reed Arena. The Aggies opened the 2003-04 season with an 82-53 win and beat the Golden Lions, 64-37, last year. *A&M is 30-1 all-time against teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and have won 17 straight.

Key Game Notes *Mark Turgeon's 25-11 record is the best coaching start in school history. *A&M has won 46 straight regular-season non-conference home games since an 82-80 loss to A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 13, 2003. *The Aggies have won seven straight season openers and eight straight home openers. A&M is playing its season opener at home for the eighth straight year. *UAPB opened its season with a 76-56 loss at Colorado on Friday night in Boulder. *A&M was 16-4 at home last year and is 67-10 at home in the last four seasons. *UAPB was 7-11 in true road games last year.

About UAPB *The Golden Lions finished 13-18 last season, placing 6th in the SWAC with an 8-10 mark. *UAPB is in its first season under Coach George Ivory, a former All-American player at Mississippi Valley State in the late 1980s. *The Golden Lions lost all five starters from last season, but return seven lettermen. *UAPB plays one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules. In addition to Colorado and A&M, the Lions play road games at Creighton, Nebraska, Greogia Tech, Missouri, Purdue, SMU, Nevada, Cincinnati and San Diego State. *The Lions' top returning player is junior guard Terrance Calvin (6-2), who averaged 6.7 points last year. *UAPB trailed Colorado, 40-20, at halftime in their opener on Friday night, but shot 50 percent in the second half to play the Buffaloes even over the final 20 minutes. *Pine Bluff had a 38-31 rebounded advantage over Colorado. *Junior Lebaron Weathers (6-8) led the Golden Lions with 22 points and 10 rebounds in his debut against Colorado. *Junior guard Tavaris Washington (6-5) added 18 points and 7 boards against the Buffaloes.

Last Year's Game COLLEGE STATION (AP/Dec. 16, 2007) -- Josh Carter scored 16 points and Texas A&M used stifling defense for a 64-37 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sunday. The Aggies (9-1) held Arkansas-Pine Bluff scoreless for nearly 10 minutes to start the game, then the Golden Lions went without a basket for an 8 1/2-minute span in the second half. The Aggies, up by 11 at halftime, opened the second half on a 20-2 run. Joseph Jones had a 3-pointer and a dunk as A&M built a 50-21 lead. George Davis made Arkansas-Pine Bluff's second basket of the half with just under 10 minutes remaining. A&M freshman 7-footer DeAndre Jordan later provided some excitement for the crowd of 7,789 when he missed a one-handed dunk, grabbed the rebound and finished with a two-handed slam. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (4-6) didn't score until a jump shot by Marcelle Goins with 10:13 left in the first half. By then, the Aggies led 18-2. Three 3-pointers by Goins in the last 10 minutes before halftime helped cut A&M's lead to 30-19. Goins led Ark.-Pine Bluff with 14 points. It was another strong defensive performance for the Aggies, who held the Golden Lions to just 21 percent shooting. A&M has held seven of their first 10 opponents to under 40 percent shooting.

Exhibition Recap COLLEGE STATION (Nov. 5, 2008) -- Derrick Roland and Josh Carter each scored 14 points to lead Texas A&M to a 72-59 victory against Texas A&M-Kingsville in an exhibition game on Nov. 5 at Reed Arena. The Aggies posted a 42-28 rebounding advantage and made 47.5 percent from the field. The Javelinas trailed 35-29 at halftime after making 52.0 percent, but made just 37.0 percent in the second half. Donald Sloan added 11 points and 5 assists for the Aggies, while Nathan Walkup scored 9 points with a game-high 9 rebounds. Robert Williams led Kingsville with 16 points. The game attracted an enthusiastic crowd of 7,963, which included almost 3,000 students.

Success Streaks *A&M has posted four straight 20-win seasons. Prior to this streak, A&M had not had more than two consecutive 20-win ledgers. In fact, A&M had only six 20-win seasons in its history. *A&M has made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, another first in school history. Prior to this streak, A&M had never had even two consecutive NCAA appearances. *Including the 2005 NIT, A&M has advanced to postseason play four straight years. *A&M is 4-3 NCAA Tournament play in the last three years. Prior to that span, A&M was just 3-7 in NCAA Tournament games in its history.

Emergin' Turgeon *A former player and assistant coach at Kansas, 43-year-old Mark Turgeon is in his second season at Texas A&M. *Turgeon led the Aggies to a 25-11 record last year, the third most wins in school history. A&M advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, dropping a close 51-49 decision to No. 1-seed UCLA. *Turgeon's 25 wins last year tied for the most by any first-year coach at a Big 12 school. Tom Penders went 25-9 in his first year at Texas in 1988-89 prior to the formation of the Big 12. *Turgeon has reached the 20-win mark four times in the last five seasons, averaging 22.2 wins in that span. His teams have advanced to postseason play five times in the last six years.

Tough Schedule *The South Padre Island Invitational, a home game against Arizona, a road game at Alabama, a neutral site game against LSU and the always-rugged Big 12 Conference slate highlight the 2008-09 Texas A&M men's basketball schedule. *The South Padre Invitational includes a game against Tulsa and a game against either Illinois or Kent State. *Arizona will visit Reed Arena on Dec. 5, its first ever visit to College Station. The game is a part of the Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series. *A&M will play LSU on Dec. 20 in Houston's Toyota Center as part of a double-header. Texas plays Michigan State in the other game. This marks the fourth straight year the Aggies have played the Tigers. *The Aggies will play host to SMU on Dec. 17. Former members of the Southwest Conference, A&M and SMU have not played since that league disbanded in 1996.

Feeling at Home *A&M has won 41 of its last 46 home games, including 16 of its last 21 in Big 12 play. *The Aggies will play 18 home games this season. *The Aggies have won 46 straight regular-season non-conference games at Reed Arena. The last loss was to A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 13, 2003 (82-80). *A&M went 16-4 at home last season, matching the third most home victories in school history. *The Aggies are 50-7 (.877) at home the last three seasons and are 67-10 (.870) in the last four years. A&M's 67 home wins are the second most in the country in that time behind Memphis (73).

Reed Arena *Reed Arena is in its 11th season as the home of Texas A&M basketball. The 12,500-seat facility opened in 1998 and was named for Houston veterinarian Chester J. Reed '47 and his wife, Billie Jean, who contributed the nucleus of the assets that fund the facility. *A $23 million, 68,000-square-foot expansion project will open this season. The addition includes practice gyms, locker rooms, film rooms, a weight room, training facilities and offices. *The top 14 single-game attendance marks in A&M history (and 18 of the top 20) have been set in the last four years. The top 14 non-conference attendance marks also have been set in the last four seasons. *A&M is 108-51 (.679) through 10 seasons at Reed Arena. The Aggies were 41-41 (.500) at Reed in its first six seasons of existence.

Preseason Hype *Despite the loss of veterans Joseph Jones, Dominque Kirk and Beau Muhlbach, as well an NBA draftee DeAndre Jordan, the Aggies are again considered one of the country's top teams going into the 2008-09 season. Lindy's College Basketball ranks A&M No. 21 and predicts the Aggies will make their fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. *Athlon College Basketball rates junior Bryan Davis as the most underrated player in the Big 12. *Lindy's named senior Josh Carter to its second-team All-Big 12 squad and tabbed Davis to the third team. The magazine rates both players among the top 25 in the country at their positions.

Random Notes *The Aggies' 17-man roster boasts 13 Texas high school products and one each from Oklahoma, Florida, Virginia and California. *Junior forward/center Chinemelu Elonu wears No. 41. The last A&M player to wear that number before Elonu was R.C. Buford in 1979-80. Burford is now the general manager of the San Antonio Spurs. Buford and A&M Coach Mark Turgeon were assistants together at Kansas under Larry Brown when the Jayhawks won the national title in 1988. *The Aggies are among the youngest teams in the Big 12 with 10 underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) and only two seniors on the roster. *A&M has scored more points in the last two seasons than at any other time in school history. The Aggies scored 2,548 points last year, second only to the 2,570 points they scored in 2006-07. *A&M also has made more three-pointers in the last two seasons that ever before. The Aggies made 211 treys last year, just off the record of 215 they set in 2006-07. *With 1,098 career points, senior Josh Carter needs 496 points to enter A&M's top five. He needs just 11 three-pointers to become the Aggies' career leader.

Freshman Class *Texas A&M's freshman class of Dash Harris and David Loubeau was rated No. 2 in the Big 12 and among the best nationally. Both players are rated among the top 70 prospects nationally."Coach Turgeon successfully fill his needs and I'd give A&M an A in that category," ESPN recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons said. If you rated classes based on two players, it would be one of the top five classes in the country." *Turgeon added a third freshman during the summer in 7-footer James Blasczyk of Houston.

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