Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1985)
Monday, February 4, 1985/The Battalion/Page 9 SPORTS A&M a step off in Arkansas en, By BRANDON BERRY Sports Writer FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — All in- Icoming and outgoing travelers pass ing through Fayetteville Community Airport are greeted and farewelled by Arkansas floormats colorfully decorated with the image of a crim son pig. Tne Texas A&M men’s basketball team thus received two free oppor tunities to step on the Razorbacks. But in between, the Hogs used “(tradition, defense and clutch perfor mances from two unheralded fresh men to hold on to a 58-53 Southwest Conference victory over the Ags Fri day night. With the win, Arkansas climbed into a second-place tie with A&M and back into contention for the SWC title with a 6-3 record. “We now go into the game with |SMU (the current SWC front-run ner) feeling that we can win and (make a run for the conference (championship,” Arkansas Coach Ed die Sutton said. “The going would shave been difficult if we would have lost to A&M.” The Hogs haven’t faced that diffi culty much in the past few years. Ar kansas has beaten A&M 11 consec utive times and hasn’t let the Ags escape from raucous Barnhill Arena with a victory since 1971. “More than anything else, we won this game with defense,” Sutton said. “Our defense in the first half was sensational.” The Ags shot only 40 percent in the first half and missed five of 10 free throws. The Hogs led the Ags from the opening tip-off and built leads as large as 14 points. At halftime, with the Hogs lead ing 32-21, a 71-year-old woman seated behind the courtside press ta ble had even interrupted the con stant stream of obscenities that theretofore had flowed so freely from her aged lips. Things looked hopeless for any one without a pig hat. “There’s no doubt that (fresh men) Andrew Lang and Kenny Hut chinson really came of age tonight,” Sutton said. “We couldn’t have won this game without them.” They were helped by being left open by an Aggie defense designed to stop Olympian Joe Kleine. Hutchinson, a guard who has been lonelier at the top of the key than the Maytag repairman, decided to defy his 28 percent shooting per centage and hit three of five outside jumpers. Lang, whose shooting and re bounding percentages resembled the price of two wads of Hubba Bubba, chewed up the offensive re bounds and spat out seven tough points in the second half, when the Ags were making their most serious runs. And their performances hurt all the worse because they were unex pected. “If somebody were to tell me that we’d do as gooa a defensive job as we did on Joe Kleine and still lose the game, I wouldn’t have believed them,” A&M Coach Shelby Metcalf said. “We just didn’t play well enough on the offensive end of the court. “You can’t hold it against our guys because they really gave the good ef fort out there tonight, but we just couldn’t hit the basket.” The only Aggie with 20-20 vision in his shooting eye was junior Don Marbury, who had 23 points. “Even without hitting our shots, we still outscored them by eight from the field,” Metcalf said. “It really came down to the free throws. They hit theirs and we didn’t hit ours.” The Razorbacks had quite a few more opportunities. The Hogs were sent to the line 37 times, compared to the 21 free passes issued to the outsiders from Texas. Three Aggies fouled out of the game, including Kenny Brown, who had never been given more than three personal fouls in any other game this season. “You get frustrated because you know what’s waiting for you but you can’t really do anything about it,” Metcalf said. “But, no matter what the score was, we’re the real winners. They have to stay in Arkansas and we get to leave.” And probably step on a few floor- mats on their way out of town. Razorbacks' worth de-Kleine-ing in '85 By CHAREAN WILLIAMS Assistant Sports Editor FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For Arkansas’ Olympic basketball hero, the 1985 season has been anything but gold medal. Joe Kleine, a member ot the 1984 Olympic gold medal basketball team, is ^oing through some rough times. • Kteine is getting double and triple teamed, which is hurting his • He has to keep three of Arkan- I sas’ starting Freshmen in line, while 1 he's on the court. • The Razorbacks aren’t playing up to their usual standards. Kleine is averaging 24 points per game in Southwest Conference play, up from the 16.7 he averaged dur ing the ’84 season. However, his re- bounding average has slipper! from 8 6 to 7.8 and his shooting has been subpar the last three games. He scored only 14 points against Virgina, on Jan. 27, and Baylor, on Jan. 30. During the Razorbacks 58- 53 victory over Texas A&M Friday night, Kleine tied his season low, scoring only 10 points. “A&M wasn’t doing anything dif ferent from anyone else,” said a vis ibly upset Kleine. “They just double and triple teamed me.” Aggie forward Winston Crite, -guarded Kletue, said stopping Kleine doesn’t necessarily stop Ar kansas. “We stripped Kleine pretty good tonight,” Crite said, “but his team mates came through for him and they won the game.” Arkansas Coach Eddie Sutton said Kleine was distressed by 10 point performance. “1 know he gets frustrated v ” Sut ton said. “Kleine made some good defensive plays. He’s done well de fensively all year. Joe led the club again in rebounds (11 against the Aggies).” Kleine said his defensive play could be improved. “I’m doing OK on defense,” he said. “I could play a lot better on of fense. I didn’t shoot the ball well to night. I just can't get it all together.” As for the young Razorback team, Kleine said he views himself as their leader. “Freshmen get frustrated on the court sometimes,” he said. “I see them hanging their heads sometimes when they make a bad play. You just have to help them get their confi dence back.” When guard Allie Freeman picked up his fifth foul against the Ags, Freeman began arguing with the referee. Kleine intervened and told Freeman, “Leave him alone, Al lie. Let me handle the refs. I’m bet ter at it.” “I just didn’t want him getting a tech,” Kleine said afterward. The Razorbacks have suffered through some unusually rough times this season. Arkansas is only 14-7 overall and 5-3 in SWC play. A schedule that included three teams that were in the I984’s NCAA Final Four (Virginia, Houston and Georgetown) and four other Top 20 teams, hasn’t help the team’s confi dence. “(The schedule) has been very hard,” Kleine said. “We are so young. It’s just really hard on this team. We just have to take them one at a time.” One at a time, at least until the season’s over, then AU-American Kleine will be seeing some NBA dol lars floating his way. ,p Photo by CHAREAN WILLIAMS Texas A&M’s Winston Crite (21) drives over the top of Ar kansas’ Andrew Lang (50) during Friday night’s game in Bar nhill Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. The Razorbacks won their 18th straight game at home and defeated the Aggies, 58-53. A^MSC RECREATION presents: ACU-I QUALIFYING DARTS TOURNAMENT Feb. 6 REGISTRATION: ON SITE $3 at YESTE RDAY’S 4421 S. TEXAS AVE. open FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL 845-1515 Valentine Portrait Special FREE 8X10 Portrait With a Sitting in our Studio fT> ■V-X t!> <9 a A 'uiiiiit! m Come in for a portrait sitting this month for $9.95and with this coupon receive a FREE 8X10 from one sitting negative. Expires 2/28/85 <l v , C T ) XT’ O eo V . r!'*S: I::;/;-;;' ‘s# V-' Portrait sittings include 10 to 12 3V2X5 glossy proofs You keep the negatives You choose the pose m fY) Si.- m w- 1 QUICK AS A FLASH Manor East Mall family owned & operated We use 779-0402 ir.V':! J Don’t forget Career Fair ’85 Starts Tomorrow Tickets Still on Sale until 4:00 Today Blocker Lobby Booths Feb. 5-6 Banquet Feb. 5 Seminars Feb. 5-6 Over 70 companies participating!! Don't Miss Our Fair! For more info: Rm. 101 Blocker or 845-1320