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Winter of discontent
Men's basketball faces tough conference play
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Mike Fuentes/The Battalion
"OP: The Aggies’ Clifton Cook is averaging 15.3
toints per game on .573 shooting this season.
FOP RIGHT: Guard Michael Schmidt has put up 7.5
joints and a .733 free-throw percentage this year.
BOTTOM RIGHT: A&M’s Shanne Jones is contribut-
ng 15.8 and 4.8 rebounds per contest this season.
BY SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN
The Battalion
While many on the A&M campus
spent their break in an enjoyable
fashion, the A&M Men’s Basketball
Team, who ended the fall semester
with a glittering 7-1 record and a label
as the surprise team of the Big 12,
have dropped seven straight games to
fall to 7-8 overall and an 0-5 mark in
conference play.
The genesis for the losing streak might
have come in the first game of the streak
on December 19. The Aggies led highly-
regarded Arizona State University for
much of the contest only to see ASU guard
Eddie House hit three-point shots to force
overtime and triple overtime in succes
sion and the result was a devastating 96-
91 loss in three overtimes.
A&M’s next two games both re
sulted in blow-out losses on the
road at Southern and at Kansas.
The latter was the Big 12 opener
for the Aggies.
A&M returned home for a
hard-fought contest against 22nd-
ranked Oklahoma State Universi
ty. The Aggies were down 58-57
with a minute and a half left but
the Cowboys made all the plays
the rest of the way for a 64-59 vic
tory.
P A&M dropped another close
one three days later at home
against the University of Missouri as
A&M held a 91-89 lead with 2:37 left
only to be outscored 7-0 the rest of the
way. These back-to-back defeats left A&M
frustrated and confuused and the effects
lingered in successive losses to Texas
Tech and Iowa State in their last two
games.
The Aggies have shot 27 percent
from three-point range and are one of
only two Big 12 teams shooting under 30 percent
for the year. A&M has connected on only five out
of its last 32 three-point attempts.
A&M also has been outrebounded in five out
of their last seven contests and now rank last in
the conference in rebounding margin. While
A&M demonstrated the mental toughness need
ed to win close games in the non-conference
portion of the schedule, they have shown a lack
of poise in their last seven games.
In the Arizona State contest, the Aggies
missed several key free throws that could have
clinched a victory. A&M was unable to make
shots against Oklahoma State that could have
won or tied that game with a minute left and
had several poor shots and turnovers against
Missouri.
The A&M team has had few easy breaks in
this recent stretch. Arizona State forward
Michael Batiste was declared eligible the morn
ing of the Dec. 19 game and arrived in College
Station only a couple of hours before the tip-off,
just in time to score 23 points and gather 18 re
bounds.
Southern (10-4) and Kansas (13-4) were both
coming off rare blow-out losses before hosting
A&M. Missouri shot a season-high 56.7 percent
in the Jan. 9 game, including 69 percent from
three-point range in the first half.
Two days later, the Tigers shot 16 percent in
the first half and 34 percent for the game in a
loss to Kansas. Iowa State Coach Larry Eustachy
said after his team’s win against A&M on Jan.
16: “There is no way we could have won this
game a couple of weeks ago. We played our
best game by far today.”
Coach Melvin Watkins said the Aggies’ prob
lems are more psychological than physical.
“It’s mental. It’s mental with these guys. They
see that it is a Big 12 game and they play differ
ently,” he said. “They have it in their heads that
they can’t win a Big 12 game.”
Amidst the losing streak, it has been hard to
find positives for the Aggies. One has been the
play of junior guard Clifton Cook, who has
emerged as a candidate for Big 12 Newcomer of
the Year. Cook is second in the league in assists,
eighth in scoring/and ranks as the top re
bounding guard in the league.
Senior forward Shanne Jones also has com
peted well. Jones is seventh in scoring in the
conference and is the Big 12 leader in field-goal
percentage. Another bright spot has been the
play of freshman center Joe White. White has
started six of the last seven games and is sixth
among conference freshmen in both scoring
and rebounding.
What is in store for the Aggies for the rest of
the season? With 11 games left, there is still time
for A&M to engineer a turnaround. Watkins
knows that it is up to the team to write a suc
cessful final chapter for the season
”We have seven wins, the same as last year,”
Watkins says. “ If we are satisfied with that, then
that’s all we will have. If not, we’ll go back to
practice and work on ways to improve.”
Page 7 • Wednesday, January 20, 1999
Eric Newnam/The Battalion
der Audito'
Friday,
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9:00 P.M’
*8 Presale
Day of Coo"
named as
IJSA coach
mittoe
JOHNSON
>ne.
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BY MICHAEL TAGLIENTI
The Battalion
£ Throughout history, when Uncle
Bn has asked,
Aggies have an
swered the call.
J&M baseball
:oach Mark John-
on will continue
I tradition when
i coaches the
.999 USA National
eball Team,
je USA Baseball
Ranization Thesday named John-
on the head coach of this summer’s
earn. This marks Johnson’s second
Inching stint with the national
Bm; he served as an assistant
• ifopch on the 1991 squad.
“1 was certainly honored that
Ji^y would ask me to coach the
earn,” Johnson said,
i “To be asked to be the head coach
tflthe USA National Team is a great
por. I’m very excited about it.”
Johnson will begin his 15th sea-
t as the head coach at A&M when
team opens the season Feb. 5th
inst University of Texas-Pan
erican. In 15 seasons at A&M
•oh nson has won over 70 percent of
3is games, fifth in winning percent-
\ j t tge among active NCAA coaches.
He led the Aggies to three South
west Conference titles and the 1998
Big 12 title. Johnson was named
^93 National Coach of the Year..
I During Johnson’s 15 years at
BiM, the baseball team has had am
B2-percent graduation rate for play-
p who completed their eligibility.
♦ Ir 1
ersit,
■7970
ndarUSA.coi
Johnson said coaching the team
puld make him miss time with his
Money Orde ( I&rnily this summer, but he decided
Calendar alon?I accept the position anyway,
md address. [ “It is tough on the family,” John-
Jpn said. “It is a nine-week deal dur-
SlIkOSBiiSihg the summer. Normally, I would
e Suite 25G 5 P enc * th at m Y family, but
Tv 77fld0 a ^ ot 8 et a c h ance to do
IX //twu so j acce p tec i 0 ff eL ”
Eric Newnam/The Battalion
Iowa State forward Marcus Fizer (5) posts up against the Aggies at
Reed Arena Saturday. Fizer is one of several Big 12 players who put up
big numbers over the holiday break, averaging 17.7 points and 7.8 re
bounds this season. Kansas and Oklahoma top the Big 12 rankings,
both unbeaten at 5-0 and 4-0, respectively.
KU leads Big 12 hoopsters
BY MICHAEL TAGLIENTI
The Battalion
Conference play has begun and all the teams in the
Big 12 are fighting it out to earn the top two seeds for
the conference tournament. Some teams have been a
surprise, and some have disappointed since Big 12
play began.
SOUTH
• Texas Longhorns:
After starting the season 0-4 the Longhorns have
played much better ball in conference and have bust
ed out of the gate with a 5-1 record. Despite having
zero depth and no true point guard the Texas players
have been playing as good as anyone in the Big 12. If
Gabe Muoneke is able to keep his head Texas could
find itself in the NCAA tournament.
• Oklahoma Sooners
OU has ridden the inside presence of Ryan
Humphrey and Eduardo Najera to a 4-0 record. Kelvin
Sampson is one of the best coaches in the Big 12 and
OU should be competitive as long as Najera and
Humphrey remain healthy.
• Oklahoma State Cowboys
The Cowboys get the schizophrenia award for the
Big 12. Picked by many to win the conference outright
OSU has struggled at times, osing to Florida Atlantic
at home, and played well at times while going 4-1 in
the conference and 12-4 overall. The Cowboys have
the best inside-outside duo in the conference in Adrien
Peterson and Desmond Mason. Peterson leads the
league in scoring at 18.1 points per game and Mason
is third at 17.8 points per game.
• Texas Tech Red Raiders
The Red Raiders have struggled a little bit this year
going 2-3 in conference and 10-8 overall. After losing
Cory Carr off last years team Tech has struggled to find
a go to guy. Rayford Young has been great when
healthy averaging 14.7 pints per game but has strug
gled with injuries all year.
• Texas A&M Aggies
The Aggies have been one of the biggest disap
pointments in the conference. After starting out the
season 7-1 A&M has lost seven games in a row in
cluding five conference games. If A&M starts shoot
ing the ball better and stops turning the ball over they
have the talent to win a few conference games. If they
continue to play basketball like they have the past
couple of weeks the two games against Baylor might
be the only two games A&M will win in the Big 12.
• Baylor Bears
If there is one thing that Aggies can be thankful of
it is that they are not as bad as Baylor. Baylor is 0-5 in
* *1
BiG XII
TEAM
Kansas
Oklahoma
Texas
Okla. St.
Missouri
Nebraska
Iowa St.
Texas Tech
Colorado
Kansas St.
Texas A&M
Baylor
RECORD
13-4
13 - 4
9- 9
12-4
12-4
10- 7
11- 7
10-8
10-7
12- 6
7 - 8
6-12
BIG 12
5-0
4- 0
5- 1
4-1
3-2
2-2
2-3
2-3
1-3
1-4
0-5
0-5
conference and 6-12 overall. The Bear’s leading scor
er Tevis Stukes recently quit the team. Last year the
Bears were Brian Skinner and not much else. This year
Skinner is in the NBA and the Bears are struggling.
The Bears and the Aggies will fight it out to avoid the
cellar in the Big 12.
NORTH
• Kansas Jayhawks
The Jayhawks have traditionally dominated the con
ference losing only two conference games in two sea
sons. KU is the only undefeated team in the conference
at 5-0 and 13-4 overall but are not as dominant as they
have been the past couple of years. Kenny Gregory and
Eric Chenowith have failed to fill the shoes of Paul Pierce
and Raef LaFrenz, but it might not matter this year.
see HOOPS on Page 9.