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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2001)
.ex: Section B Ofts 2B; Classified 4B; Opinion 5B day February 6, 2001 Sports Page IB THE BATTALION Bears travel to Reed to face Ags Aggie 5 search for first Big 12 win PATRIC SCHNEIDER/The Battalion M junior Keith From hits a forehand against his opponent from Trinity College Jan. 27. From and the Aggies will face the University of Texas today in Houston. ijMen’s tennis to face off Jlith ’Horns in Texas Cup ile D ngerel 03 only. ■ue Brown The Texas A&M men’s tennis team will :e the court against Big 12 rival Universi- offexas in the inaugural Texas Cup today he Westside Tennis Club in Houston. The non-conference meet, which will be- i i“visiiM an annual event, marks the first time : two teams have met for a dual match in 1 *uHton. The Aggies (4-0) and Longhorns (2-0) t in individual competition in January at Rice Invitational Indoor Tournament in •uston. The Aggies posted a 4-1 record in gles and a 1-0 record in doubles against ; Longhorns. A&M will enter the contest No. 6 in the ngspanBank.com poll, the highest ranked Bin Texas. UT is currently No. 17. A&M started the season fifth, but slipped e notch despite winning four matches in p days. The Longhorns moved up three ts from their initial ranking of 20th after posting wins in their first two contests. * Last season, A&M dominated the Long horns, winning 6-1 in Austin and 4-0 in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championships in Kansas City, Mo. The Aggies went on to defeat Baylor in the finals to claim the Big 12 title. The Aggies have also won three of the last five meetings between the two schools. A&M men’s coach Tim Cass is down playing the Aggies’ recent domination as well as both teams’ rankings, noting that A&M has only won seven of the last 84 dual matches against its counterparts from Austin. “Even though the tables may be turned a little, at this point in the season the rank ings are meaningless,” Cass said. “This tournament will be more for the spirit of the rivalry and the competition.” The first four matches of the Aggies’ sea son, all played outdoors, were plagued with high winds and overcast skies, something See Cup on Page 3B. By Jason Lincoln The Battalion The Texas A&M men’s basketball team will look for its first conference win when it plays Baylor tonight at 7:30 at Reed Arena. Baylor (14-5, 3-5 in Big 12) is the first team with a losing conference record that the Aggies (6-15,0-9) have faced in the last eight games. A&M is coming off an improved perfor mance against No. 24 Oklahoma on Saturday. But the only fact that will matter tonight is the Aggies finally get to play a team they can match up with. “If you can remember, they beat us twice last year, so we’re going to have our work cut out for us,” said A&M men’s basketball coach Melvin Watkins. Baylor went 11-0 in non-conference ac tion under the leadership of second-year coach Dave Bliss. Since then, the Bears have suffered five losses with just three wins in conference action. “Dave Bliss Came into Baylor with a game plan for the way he wanted to do it,” Watkins said. “Some people have criticized their early schedule, but it gave them some confidence. They have some really good players mixed in with some young talent.” At the same time, A&M's young group, with just two upperclassmen remaining, is looking for its first conference win after play ing all but one league game against teams in the 2000 postseason. Only three of the Aggies’ last 15 games have been against teams that did not make an appearance in the NIT or NCAA tournament last season. The Aggies opened the stretch Dec. 12 against No. 12 North Carolina, a Final Four team last season. The Aggies shot 47 percent against Okla homa after consistently posting performances in the mid-30s during league play. A&M will look to keep up the accuracy against the Bears. Part of that philosophy will involve giving more inside touches to the Aggies’ three big BERNARDO GARZA/The Battalion A&M freshman forward Jesse King receives pressure from Oklahoma guard Hollis Price in the Aggies' 72-63 loss to the Sooners on Saturday at Reed Arena. men — Nick Anderson, Keith Bean and Nolan Butterfras. Butterfras made his first career start in place of Bean on Saturday, as Watkins looked to keep Bean and Anderson out of early foul trouble. While Anderson fouled out after scoring 10 points. Bean came off the bench to have one of his best games. He scored 10 points and a team-high six rebounds and only two fouls. Against Baylor, Watkins wants to take ad vantage of the improved post play. “We’ve got to get better guard play,” Watkins said. “We’re not getting the ball in side. If we can get some post touches, that can get our perimeter game going as well.” 9582 :0O-7:0r i ■ 3 I CAB iFItl ♦> (3/31/0J, 4 F\ OIICJIS'C' * AIK-COHDITIOnED BUSEo * EXPANDED ON-CAMPUS SERVICE * COMFORTABLE, ROOMY BUSES f* iMPRnvpn PRFmiPNrv anh DEPENDABILITY ON ALL ROUTES * MORE DIRECT ROUTES >:♦ OFF-CAMPUS WEEKEND SERVICE * COURTESY TRANSPORTATION FROM CAMPUS TO THE MALL, THEATRES AND SHOPPING CENTERS 1 * UNLIMITED ACCESS TO TEXAS A&M SHUTTLE BUS SERVICE ON AND OFF-CAMPUS * UPGRADED AM/FM STEREO OT TO MENTION... 4 Free up $ 1 Million in student service fees to be redistributed to another area for student use ♦ Additional benches and bus shelters on-campus ♦ Holiday shuttle service to Easterwood Airport and Houston and Austin airports COME BEFORE 4 P.M. FOR FASTER SERVICE! little CaesarsPizza CUSTOMER APPRECIATION DAY! COILECE STATION 700 [.UNIVERSITY DRIVE NEXT TO BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO 595-0191 THANK YOU! THANK YOU! 595-0191 THANK YOU! THANK YOU! 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