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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2003)
V ■ > AGGIELIFE THE BATTALION ic extra footage, com- ter, “Old School” is it. —Chris Elm fen Days" J Matthew es s water at the words udson and Matthew ide plenty of laughs in e boyfriends out there ag you to yet anoth- journalist who has a >r and—surprise, sur- guy in 10 days. Right ijamin Barry ng deal that would int, Ben makes a bet in love with him in ount from two ake each other their /, while Ben must h Andie making all of tend to make, driving >ther after less than a of either sex. Women ed on screen, and ;r through what they ( «11 l\w> lit (Ills ill if' II HI MEGA ^ciety” ^ Sports The Battalion Page 5 • Friday, February 7, 2003 King poised to break record in Texas game tygies hope to avenge disappointing loss to Baylor By Dallas Shipp THE BATTALION The Texas A&M men’s basketball team is hoping to regain the momentum it had following its 64-59 win over Texas Tech a week ago. It won’t be easy for the Aggies, who host the No. 3 University of Texas Longhorns Saturday night at Reed Arena. What will be easy for senior guard Bernard King is becoming the Big 12’s all- time leading scorer. King needs just six points in Saturday night's matchup to break Iowa State’s Marcus Fizer’s Big 12 scoring record of 1,830 points. A&M Head Coach Melvin Watkins said it will be exciting for King to break the record at Reed Arena in front of his home fans and family, but that the win is most important. “Anytime those kinds of milestones happen in front of a home crowd, it adds a little to it,” Watkins said. “Hopefully our fans will help us celebrate that, the biggest thing is that we get a win and it makes it all even better.” The Aggies (11-7, 3-4 Big 12) are com ing off a tough loss on the road, in which they surrendered an early lead to Baylor. “We lost our aggressiveness and that’s something you should never do,” Watkins said. “They went to the (1-3-1) zone and it worked as far as getting us off balance, we looked at the tape and have worked on cor recting that.” History is not on the Aggies’ side as they prepare to host Texas (14-4, 5-2 Big 12) this weekend. The Aggies have never beat en a team ranked higher than No. 5 in school history. However, Colorado showed that it can be done with a 13-0 run over Texas in the final two minutes of play Tuesday night to give the Buff’s the win, 93-80. Watkins said he believes Texas is a good team but tries not to focus on where it is in the polls. “I don’t know that I put much stock in how we rank teams today,” Watkins said. “It’s something fun for the fans, but our talk will be more about it being a conference game.” The Longhorns are led by sophomore guard T.J. Ford who is one of the top point guards in the nation. In their first meeting this season in Austin, Ford posted a career- high 25 points in a 28-point victory against the Aggies. “T.J. Ford is capable of having a big night, we just have to do a better job of keeping him in front of us and making him work for everything he gets,” Watkins said. The Aggies, who live and die by their ability to shoot the ball, especially behind the three-point arc, shot a season-low 30 percent from the field against the Longhorns. However, since their dismal shooting performance in Austin, the Aggies have averaged 43 percent in the past four games. Watkins said that he hopes to have another full house against the Longhorns because it certainly gave his team a boost in their win over Texas Tech last weekend. “We feel like the sixth man helped us in the win over Texas Tech,” Watkins said. “We got down in the second half and the crowd got involved in the game and gave us an extra boost.” The A&M Athletic Department is ask ing students to pull tickets on Friday due to an expected large turnout for Saturday’s game. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ALISSA HOLLIMON • THE BATTALION A&M guard Bernard King sets up before a free throw. King needs just six points to become the all-time career scoring leader in the Big 12 conference. Women’s basketball team pursues consecutive wins By Troy Miller THE BATTALION Texas A&M junior guard Toccara Williams has been a solid leader for the Aggie women’s basketball team ever since senior Kim Moore retired for per sonal reasons. Williams has been a one- person defensive showcase for the Aggies (9-10 overall, 2-6 Big 12). Williams ranks No. 1 nationally this season, averaging five steals per game. Most recently, Williams broke All- American Lisa Branch’s all-time A&M record in career steals when she got her 310th takeaway against Oklahoma in the Aggies 69-61 upset win. Williams now stands at 314. “I try to put the record as far away from me as possible,” Williams said. “(Defense) is my main focus. There’s not too many guards that go out and play defense like that. They’re all about offense, and I’m all about defense.” Williams not only leads the nation in steals, but she also leads the Aggies in scoring with 12.8 points per game. “We want (Williams) to be all about offense too,” said Aggie Head Coach Peggie Gillom. The Aggies carry momentum into their home game against the Colorado Buffaloes (16-4 overall, 6-3 Big 12). After their shocking win over Oklahoma, the Aggies know anything can happen, and Williams should be a big part of it. Colorado averages 16.2 turnovers a game, and Williams and the Aggies have made a habit of increasing turnovers from their opponents. Oklahoma came into College Station averaging 19.6 turnovers per game. The Sooners left Reed Arena turning the ball over 23 times to A&M. “Traditionally, they are a quick and athletic team,” said Colorado senior for ward Sabrina Scott. “It’s a game on the road and on television, and we haven’t done so well in those, so we really need to get the monkey off our backs.” Colorado is coming into the contest with the Aggies after beating up on the Kansas Jayhawks 73-42. Junior center Tera Bjorklund, who is averaging 16.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, leads Colorado. A&M has an all-time 1-8 record against Colorado and has not beaten the Buffaloes since their first encounter on Jan. 6, 1992, but the Aggies hope to change that. “(Beating Oklahoma) is a great confi dence booster for us,” Williams said. “We’ve been trying to come together, and I can tell you we are coming together.” Colorado’s only conference losses have all come during Saturday afternoon games against teams that make oppo nents turn the ball over frequently. “I think Texas A&M away has always been a challenge for us,” said Buffalo Head Coach Ceal Barry. “It’s a long trip, it’s an early game, and we haven’t had much success with one o’clock games on the road. I think it’s kind of a warning sign for us.” The Aggies will take on the Buffaloes at 1 p.m. Saturday at Reed Arena. by 5:00 p.m. sa East Wing)! / / / ;rview time! sroom of LION news i Friday 3.9 ASIS es rices yf A e felace fo £ 4 It x The Human Jukebox tXt. w £ John Rush * pick from 500 songs and hear him play in the flagroom 10pm till midnight Ccd Jazz In the basement 9pm till 1am Free Bowlin# ee Billiards Free Dance in Rumours as part of the Annie Ninhts 9 All That Jazz Series presented by MSC Town Hall 2 FREE Movies Shakespeare in Love at 9:45pm in MSC 292 *ee r Tromeo & Juliet at Midnight in MSC 292 ^ Presented in conjunction with MSC Film Society & MSC Literary Arts Committee Mm Our - Free Desert Bar in the 12th Man For more information contact 845-1515 Must Show A&M ID at Chechwn locations around the MSC February 7 Friday Night In the MSC HEY AOS!! 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