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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2001)
Page 2B SPORTS Tuesday,' February6.!' 3B THE BATTALION Ags leave tough part of schedult s, Four of the seven teams the Aggies faced T he Texas A&M men’s basketball team’s slide reached nine games last week as it dropped a pair of games. The Aggies (6-15, 0-9 in Big 12) fell to Texas, 81 -61, on Tuesday in Austin, then were defeated by No. 21 Oklahoma, 72-63, on Saturday in Reed Arena. A&M will face Baylor tonight at Reed Arena, then travel to Lubbock to face Texas Tech on Saturday. were ranked in the Top 25, and five of the seven had winning records in conference play. The overall record of t^iose teams is 105-38, a .734 winning percentage. The rest of A&M’s Big 12 schedule promises to be a little less demanding. Only two of the five remaining teams have win ning conference records. The overall record of those teams, including a non-conference game with Texas-Pan Ameri can, is 68-49, a .581 winning percentage. Another thing in the Aggies’ favor is that five of the eight remaining games will be played at Reed Arena. “Hopefully, our kids can come out with a little more confidence,” said A&M men’s basketball coach Melvin Watkins. “They may say, ‘Well the hill isn’t as big to climb,’ but we have to make sure we don’t have a letdown.” In addition to scoring margin, the Aggies San The 1 i com rank last in Big 12 play in scoring offense (ft points per game), field-goal percentage (36.i percent), field-goal percentage defense (47.5 percent), 3-point field-goal percentage (241 percent), 3-point field-goal percentage defeu lda ^' /v (39.3 percent), blocked shots (2.22 per game® 11 " 1 and assists (11.11 per game.) In fact, the only category in the conferenci where the Aggies rank in the upper half isfe throw percentage. A&M is fourth, hitting71; 3en jp percent of its free throws in conference play Butter and Bean 5of1 oftball The F ader xas-Si We’re #12 Take a deep breath BERNARDO GARZA/Thh Battalion AJkM freshman forward Nick Anderson throws up a hook shot in the Aggies' 72-63 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday at Reed Arena. With the 72-63 defeat at the hands of the Sooners, the Aggies brought to an end to their roughest stretch this season. A&M started Big 12 conference play 0-9, but that came at the hands of the cream of the crop of the conference. Along with their poor record, the Aggies’ horrendous start has put them at or near the bot tom of most statistical categories in the Big 12. In its nine Big 12 contests, A&M has been outscored by an average of a whopping 17.3 points. The next closest team in scoring margin is Texas Tech, who has been outscored by an average of only 6.7 points in Big 12 play. On Saturday against the Sooners, Watkiiv shook up his starting lineup, replacing sopho more forward Keith Bean with freshmancei Nolan Butterfras, who made his first startai | A&M. The decision was,two-fold as Watkinsw rewarding Butterfras for his improved play trying to keep Bean out of foul trouble. The decision worked, as Bean, who has fouled out a team-high four tim^s in conferet play, recorded only two fouls in 22 minutes play against Oklahoma. He scored 10 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds against the Sooners. A&M treak s the vs es leac First Aggies continue slide against ranked teams into Reed Arena Wednesday and handed the Ag gies their second home loss of the season, 93-70. On Saturday, the Aggies dropped their fifth straight conference road game to the Lady Raiders in Lubbock, by a score of 92-79, in front of 14,220 fans at the United Spirit Arena. bock, where the Lady Raiders have not lost on their home court in 42 games. Rebound shy Tough times T he Texas A&M women’s basketball team continues its bumpy road down the tough Big 12 schedule this week as the Aggies take on the No. 21 Texas Longhorns and the No. 20 Baylor Bears. Last week was another tough week for the Aggies (12-8, 2-7 in Big 12), as the team dfopped games to No. 10 Oklahoma and the No. 12 Texas Tech Lady Raiders. The Sooners came The Aggies, who began the season with the best 11 -game record in team history at 10-1, have found the win column only twice since conference play started Jan. 3. A&M’s schedule has driven it through one of the roughest conferences in the country. The Big 12 now has six teams in the Associated Press Top 25. Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas, Baylor and Colorado have all cracked the Top 25 this season. The Aggies have faced ranked opponents in five of their last six matchups, including traveling to Lub- The Aggies have been plagued by rebound ing, or lack thereof, for most of the season. A&M ranks last in the Big 12 in rebounding defense and rebounding margin. The Aggies are being outrebounded by their opponents by an average of 7.6 rebounds per game, a statistic that skyrockets the opposi tion’s chance for all-important second-chance points. The Aggies’ defense makes up for the lack in rebounding with solid defense. Peggie Gillom’s squad is second in the conference in blocked shots with 100 this season and leads the steals category with an average of 13.85 per game. ader c nse t 1 wed .22 go ame in “Amt ifferen laid A&l ieri. “V nd gre; great ays’ ro FILE PHOTO/TheBatthi ;h wine 1 noth “Indoc ve to u 3uld be ors, wk Brum Ruff is a sophomore journalism major. A&M senior forward Jaynetta Saunders looks to take a shot against Text £■ V Tech. The Aggies will host the Texas Longhorns on Wednesday. P & OUG Consulting KPMG Consulting invites all Texas A&M University Computer Science and MIS juniors to an Butterf ting all six poi unds in Butterfi notes in ide the r He is a' points me in B That’s i ints and n-confei “Nolan Information Session & Reception Wednesday, February 7th 5:30 pm 504 Rudder Dress: Business Casual Food and Drinks provided