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Sports
The Battalion
Page 7 • Tuesday, December 2, 2003
Aggies look to extend win streak
Wright and Co. hit the road
for first road trip of the season
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
W J JASi
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The Texas A&M men’s basketball
earn remains undefeated after three
lome games, beating its opponents by
n average of 24 points.
The only knock on the Aggies is
jhat they have played three teams with
a combined record of 1-8. That all
thanges as the Aggies go on the road
jo face undefeated Tennessee (2-0) in
noxville Tuesday night at 6 p.m.
“It’s always difficult to go on the
oad,” said A&M coach Melvin
'atkins. “I think going into
lennessee surely won’t
an easy place to go
nd play. Hopefully this
dll help our basketball
learn get ready for the
Challenges ahead, and
jve expect to go in there
and get a win.”
I Last season, the
Aggies took care of the
Volunteers, 83-66, in
font of a raucous crowd
It Reed Arena that was
ueJed by junior guard
Kevin Turner, who hit
jour three-pointers in
[he last four minutes of the game.
Turner’s three-pointers gave the
e Louriri
i can retfi
is cases*
Aggies a large cushion in the waning
minutes of a tight game.
But the Aggies might have to do
without Turner, as well as freshmen
Kcie Law and Marlon Pompey, who
all have ankle injuries. All three sat
jiut the Aggies’ last game, an 88-79
Wit? over Prairie View A&M.
I “(Turner), Acie and Marlon, all
rree of them are still questionable,”
I itkins said. “That doesn’t sit well
I us because I’d like to go in there
| ith our full team. I’m sure
(Tennessee) remembers Kevin Turner
and remembers all of us the way that
game ended up on such a high note
for us and a low note for them.”
The Aggies will be facing a
Tennessee defense that has given up
just eight free-throw attempts in its
first two games and held opponents to
63 points per game.
If the Aggies want to continue to
average 90 points per game as they
have during their first three games,
they will have to do so against a much
better defense than they’ve seen thus
far, although the Volunteers are not up
to their coach’s standards just yet.
“I’m not real happy with our
defense,” said
Tennessee coach Buzz
Peterson. “We’ve got a
ways to go. We’re good
in spurts.”
In the past, the
Aggies haven’t been a
very good team on the
road. Since the 1998-
99 season when
Watkins took over the
coaching reigns at
A&M, the Aggies have
gone 10-48 on the
road. The Aggies were
2-8 away from Reed
Arena last season.
“I don’t think the fact that it’s a
road game is going to affect the way
we play,” said sophomore guard/for
ward Antoine Wright. “If we go into
games with the mindset that it’s a road
game and the travel starts to effect us,
then we’re going to play bad. If we go
into a game like we just did a little
traveling, all the goals are 10 feet,
they put on their shorts like we do, we
just got to get after it and play hard
and we’ll come out with a win.”
The bottom line is that this Aggie
team has played only three games, but
all of them were wins and have led to
u
It’s always
difficult to go on the
road. I think going
into Tennessee surely
won’t be an easy
place to go....
— Melvin Watkins
Aggie basketball coach
|P Beato III • THE BATTALION
Sophomore forward Antoine Wright dishes off to a teammate in the Aggies' win over
Prairie View A&M. The Aggies will try to improve to 4-0 Tuesday against Tennessee.
the team’s winning attitude. They are
beginning to gain an attitude that says
they are supposed to win.
A&M basketball hasn’t had that
attitude in a long time.
“I think we have a confident team,”
Wright said. “In years past guys
would get a little rattled and guys start
to take shots that they weren’t sup
posed to take. We have four or five
guys every time on the floor that can
put it in the hole. It doesn’t matter
who gets the open look, it just comes
down to execution.”
SPORTS IN BRIEF
Aggie swim teams
ranked No. 15; Rose,
Sturdy lead NCAA
Both the Texas A&M men’s and
women’s swimming & diving teams are
ranked No. 15 in the nation, according
to the latest edition of the College
Swim Coaches Association (CSCAA)
top 25 poll.
The Aggie women (4-0, 2-0) move up
two spots after having been tied with
the University of Virginia for the past
month at No. 17. They will close out the
fall season this Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
by hosting No. 26 Kansas at the
Student Recreation Center Natatorium.
The Aggie men (3-0, 1-0) dropped
two spots despite winning the men’s
portion of the Texas A&M Fall
Invitational.
Freshman Rebecca Sturdy currently
leads the NCAA in the 100 and 200
backstroke as well as the 200 individ
ual medley. Sturdy posted NCAA auto
matic qualifying times and A&M school
records in each event as she blazed
her way to a trio of first place finishes
at the Fall Invitational. She also ranks
among the top 20 nationally in the 50
and 100 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.
Each of A&M’s five different relay
teams rank among the top 10 in the
nation as well heading into this week
end.
Senior Matt Rose is the collegiate
leader in the 50 freestyle after posting
a Canadian national record of 21.95 in
the 50-meter race. The Aggie men
close their fall season this weekend by
traveling to the Hoosier State for dual
meets against Purdue and Indiana.
NCAA volleyball tickets
now on sale at G. Rollie
Tickets to the NCAA first- and sec
ond-round volleyball matches to be
hosted by Texas A&M at G. Rollie White
Coliseum, Friday and Saturday, Dec. 5-
6, are now on sale at the ticket office
located in The Zone at Kyle Field.
In addition, tickets will be available
for purchase on the Internet at
www.12thmanfoundation.com/tickets/
beginning Monday afternoon. Tickets
also can be purchased by calling the
ticket office hotline at 1-888-99-AGGIE
or 979-845-2311.
ation
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