Wednesday, January 20, 1988n"he Battalion/Page 9
Sports
ms [gl
-anes
ofE
icks’ fortunes parallel
uccess of teammates
By Anthony Wilson
Sports Writer
'he Texas A&M basketball team
made a meteoric rise up the
enov jouthwest Conference charts, sport-
^ an ngla 3-0 record entering tonight’s
P;30 contest against Rice at G. Rollie
P er - Yhite Coliseum.
P. ialleling the Aggies’ good for-
J y anc;unes has been the success of red-
lav ts()hirt freshman guard Freddie Ricks,
dstan; Ricks played sparingly in the first
wo games, but has been a major
sontributor to the team since then.
^ en ife|is averaging 25 minutes and 8.4
mis x>ints per game this season and is
glond on the team in steals, with 23,
ind assists, with 38.
In conference play, he is averag-
ng 25 minutes, 7.3 points and 3.0
Huts per game. He played his best
^Je of the season Saturday against
nsas when he garnered 16
— joints, seven assists and three steals.
Ricks said most people didn’t ex-
ject him to be playing as well as he is
ice ( his early in his career,
ares “Freshmen are supposed to be a
nited: ittle scared and not adjust to the sys-
Ib as quickly,” he said. “But by get-
irecu ing to play in the summer leagues in
e ro Houston with other college players,
i on off adjusted to the system real well. I
inuifiust proved to Coach (Shelby Met-
dim-alf) I could play with the big guys.”
„ e ft - Ricks has especially improved the
icani's three point shooting. Ricks
, mtr aas connectea on 10 of 25 three
, an( j pointers this season, for a 40 percent
iU p ihcloting average that leads the
earn.
HRicks said he works on the three
rms pointer more than anything else in
roni practice and that daring A&M to
thj shoot them is now a big risk.
j onv "Earlier it was a smart thing to do
because we were working so hard on
trying to work the ball inside and
weren’t keying on shooting from the
outside,” Ricks said.
“But now it’s a great big mistake.
We’ve had shooters all along. If you
lay back on us now, we’re going to
shoot it. I know I am.”
Confidence in his outside shot is
one thing Ricks’ game definitely
does not lack.
“I feel like I’m a very good shoot
er,” Ricks said. “I don’t shoot as
much as I should because I’ve ac
cepted the role of a passer right now.
I would love to shoot, but I’m a bet
ter passer than l am shooter. A lot of
people don’t realize that.”
Ricks said one of the keys to his
improvement this season is the pres
ence of backcourt mate Darryl Mc
Donald.
“D-Mack (McDonald’s nickname)
has passes and moves that are un
real,” he said. “He has one pass
where he goes behind his back,
catches it with the same hand and
then throws it to the person behind
him. Oh, man/When I first saw that
move I said, ‘Hey, this guy’s got to be
something special.’
“I’m trying to steal some of his
moves for when he leaves. A lot of
things he’s doing, I’m practicing
them myself. He’s a great teacher.
He brings out the best in me.”
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Ricks
was an All-State and a USA honora
ble mention All-America selection
his senior year at Humble High
School.
He was recruited by several
schools, but decided to come to
A&M, which was not too close and
not too far from home. He said he
also declined offers to go eastern
schools with great basketball pasts
because “I came to A&M because of
what I want to do in the future.”
“I want to live in Texas and I un
derstand that if you graduate from
A&M, you can get a good job in Tex
as,” Ricks said. “My mother wanted
me to come here also. I was going on
basically what she wanted.
“I’m dedicated to my mom and
family. That’s why I’m really going
to school — because of my mother. I
want her to be happy. I really enjoy
school here.”
A lot of that enjoyment comes
from the surprising success the team
has recently experienced.
Before conference play began, co
captains McDonald and Paul Craw
ford called a team meeting to work
out some team problems.
“We’re all jelling at the same
time,” Ricks said. “We’re shocking
everybody. We’re a much better
team than people gave us credit for.”
However, that lack of credit
doesn’t bother Ricks. He even real
izes that because he’s a freshman,
he’ll be doubly overlooked.
“I love a challenge,” he said. “I
like being an underdog. I want them
to feel that since I’m a freshman,
they can do anything they want, so I
can go out there and prove to them
that it doesn’t matter how old you
are. It matters what kind of heart
you have.
“I love basketball. If I wasn’t play
ing here, I’d play in some little
church league.”
A&M guard Donna Roper brings the ball up
court as Rice’s Leslie Tassin hurries back on de-
Photo by Jay Jantier
fense. The Lady Aggies won the game 71-59 for
their third straight victory in conference.
Lady Ags cruise past Owls
for third straight SWC win
)ld. Po
shouk
■r m
Pugh denies rumors he’s leaving
3
je
Texas A&M wide receivers coach
ieorge Pugh says he is not leaving
V&M as rumor would have it.
’
Pugh gave the statement to A&M
Sports Information Director John
Keith Tuesday over the phone from
Atlanta International Airport. Keith
said Pugh had not released a
statement earlier to avoid giving cre
dence to the rumors.
Pugh’s statement reads, “When
rumors kept circulating that I
planned to leave A&M to go some
place else, it was time to set the re
cord straight.
“I’m happy where I am. I’ve had
other coaching offers through the
years, but after I thought about
them they don’t compare with the
kind of job, the staff and facilities we
have at A&M.
“Coach (Jackie) Sherrill has been
great to work for. He runs a first-
class program, and I’m happy to be
here.”
Pugh was rumored to be under
consideration for jobs at the Univer
sity of South Carolina and the Uni
versity of Florida, where former
A&M offensive coordinator Lynn
Amedee recently announced he was
going.
By Cray Pixley
Sports Writer
The Texas A&M Lady women’s
basketball team coasted to a 71-59
victory over the Rice Owls Tuesday
night at G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Lady Aggies dominated the
Owls throughout the game and did
not trail in a win that boosted the
team’s record to 9-4 overall and 3-1
in the Southwest Conference.
The Owls, known for their success
with the three-point field goal,
struggled to put away two-point
shots. Only one thre6-point shot was
made by the Owls.
“We did an excellent job of cut
ting out their game plan because
they rely on the three-point shot and
spreading a team out to get on the
inside. We were trying to cut out
their rhythm and get them off
track,” A&M Coach Lynn Hickey
said.
“We stayed behind them and they
made mistakes. They were unable to
work together and pass the ball. We
took their center Edith Adams out of
the game, and I had expected her to
be more of a threat,” Hickey said.
The Lady Aggies finished the first
half with a 13-point lead that grew to
21 points with 6'09 left in the second
half.
The Owls closed the gap to nine
points toward the game’s end but it
was too latte and the Lady Aggies eas
ily closed the game.
“It would have been nice to finish
the game with the 20-point lead but
we were trying to use several people
toward the end, and we may have
lost some concentration,” Hickey
said.
Four Lady Aggies scored in dou
ble figures with junior guard Donna
Roper leading the game by contrib
uting 21 points, and junior center
Lisa Jordon added 14 points. Senior
forward Evelyn Sanders and sopho
more guard Lisa Herner chipped in
12 and 10 points respectively.
“This was an important game for
us to win, and it will cushion us for
the coming week oif two road games
back-to-back,” Hickey said. “Within
the next six days we will face the
three toughest teams in the confer
ence: the University of Houston,
Texas Tech University and the Uni
versity of Texas.”
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