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The Battalion
Page 5 • Wednesday, January 15, 2003
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By Dallas Shipp
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M men’s basketball team
is trying to change its recent history this sea-
on with a new look and a new attitude. The
Aggies are going to need that change on
Wednesday when they travel to Lincoln to
face the Nebraska Comhuskers.
The Aggies have not fared well on the
road in the Big 12, posting a 2-6 record
last year in conference play, A&M has
never beaten Nebraska on the road, com
piling an 0-5 all-time record - at the
Devaney Sports Center.
“(The Comhuskers) play very well at
home,” said A&M head coach Melvin
Watkins. “Anytime you go on the road in the
Big 12 it’s going to be tough."
Nebraska knows about tough games on
the road. The Huskers are coming off a 92-59
throttling by Kansas in their Big 12 opener.
Watkins isn't throwing in the towel yet
and said he is looking forward to the oppor
tunity to get back out on the court after a dis
appointing Big 12 opener at home against
Oklahoma State.
“It’s a different feeling with these kids,”
Watkins said. “They feel like we let (the
game against OSU) get away as opposed to
‘we can’t play with these guys’ and that’s
very important.”
While the Aggies are aware of past disap
pointments on the road, they are hoping that
things will be different this year. The 2002-
2003 Aggie squad has not been forced to deal
with the problems off the court that last year’s
team went through after Watkins released two
players from the team.
Three of the newcomers this year, junior
guards Leandro Garcia-Morales and Kevin
Turner and freshman forward Antoine Wright
are the top three scorers for A&M and have
quickly made their presence felt.
Legendary Oklahoma State head coach
Eddie Sutton told Watkins after the
Cowboys win over the Aggies that A&M
was getting better.
“Eddie Sutton told me after Saturday’s
game, ‘Now you’re getting more soldiers’”
Watkins said. “Now we are getting some of
the good players like the other good teams
in the Big 12."
No one has made a bigger impact on the
Aggies so far than Wright, who leads the
team in scoring, edging out senior guard
Bernard King by less than a point per game.
That’s quite an accomplishment for first-
year player Wright as he watches King inch
closer and closer to becoming the all-time
Big 12 scoring leader.
King needs just 1 14 points in his final
15 games as an Aggie. If he averages his
current 16.9 points per game, he would
break the record against Texas on Feb. 8,
in a game televised on ESPN2.
Junior guard Kevin Turner, who trans
ferred to A&M from Fullerton College in
Fullerton, Calif., has made a big impact for
the Aggies this year as well, leading the
Aggies in three-point percentage. Turner
will have to work to find an open shot
against a tough Nebraska defense.
“You have to get up on (Turner) and
make sure you don’t give him good looks,”
Watkins said. “If he continues to (look at
three-point shot and then penetrate) and
get his midrange game going he still can
be very effective.”
“We can all learn from that,” he said.
“We don’t have to settle for the contested
three when you can show the basketball
and get within 15 feet.”
The Aggies are 8-2 when shooting at
least 43.2 percent from the field. Tip-off is
scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and the game will
be broadcast on 96.1 FM.
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Bernard King takes a jumpshot during the second half against OSU
on Saturday night. The Aggies lost the game to the Cowboys.
Women’s basketball looks to upset 20th-ranked Longhorns
By Michael Crow
THE BATTALION
When the Texas A&M women's bas
ketball team faces the University of
Texas tonight at Reed Arena, there will
be more than an instate rivalry at stake.
The Aggies (8-5, 1-1 Big 12) will be
looking to gain their second straight
onference win, following a 69-54
A&M victory against the Oklahoma
State Cowgirls.
The win against OSU broke a three-
game road losing streak for the Aggie
women. Junior guard Toccara Williams
put up 18 points and added six steals to
her national lead versus the Cowgirls.
“1 get mad when I don't get my
steals,” Williams said. “1 want to get
every ball that comes my way. I get
frustrated when I can’t get every ball."
Williams has been aided thus far by
freshman guard Natasha Summerville,
who has averaged 9.8 points per game.
Summerville’s 24 points versus the
Charlotte 49ers earlier this month set
the top individual mark for an Aggie
this season.
“(Natasha has) given us a lot of scor
ing punch,” said A&M head coach
Peggie Gillom.
A variety of Aggies will need to
make offensive contributions in the
game versus the Longhorns, a team that
outscores opponents by an average of
21.5 points per game. After entering as
a preseason All-America candidate, UT
junior Stacy Stephens has lived up to
the hype, leading all Texas women in
points and rebounds for the third con
secutive season.
“Stacy’s hard work and leadership,
along with her playing USA Basketball
for the second consecutive summer this
year, have really helped her become
one of the premier players in the col
lege game,” said Longhorns’ head
coach Jody Conradt.
Conradt is no stranger to such recog
nition either. The four-time national
coach of the year was named one of the
top seven coaches in women’s basket
ball by ESPN.
In the Longhorns’ most recent out
ing, Conradt coached her team to a 70-
59 win against conference foe
Missouri. Not surprisingly, Stacy
Stephens posted top-scoring honors,
hitting all eight of her free-throw
attempts and finishing with 18 points.
After a tie for ninth place in the Big
12 last season, Gillom is optimistic
heading into this season’s conference
schedule.
“I think there’s a window of oppor
tunity for a lot of teams to get into that
upper bracket,” Gillom said. “I think
there’s a window for us and for many
other teams in the Big 12.”
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