Texas AM

December 2012 – Billy Donovan broke them down.. Very good fast break team.. They really get out in transition if they can and if they dont have it then they run their deliberate offense deep into the shot clock. Their games have been low scoring because if they don’t have it.. they really run their offense. They are also so good defensively, that it is hard to shoot fast against them.

Pretty awful offensively. They had no one in this game who could break down people from Florida. They tried to run every offensive set through Middleton.

This team just doesnt have the right athletes for me to care. They have a lot of 6’8 and this leads them to cover smaller people defensively but doesnt give them much of an advantage on offense. First hoop in this game EIGHT minutes in.

I have to see what their new coach does with them, but I am not sure they even make the tournament and if they do they are a fairly strong opportunity for a loss.

Texas over Texas A and M article

Moments after No. 3 Texas wrapped up its 69-49 victory over No. 16 Texas A&M on Monday night, Aggies coach Mark Turgeon delivered a message to winning coach Rick Barnes. “I told Rick if they keep improving and stay healthy they can win a national championship,” Turgeon said. “I haven’t said that about many teams. I said that about Kansas the year they won it. I’ve been doing this 24 years and I haven’t seen many teams as good as Texas.” Jordan Hamilton scored 20 points to help the Longhorns to their first victory in College Station since 2004.

Texas never trailed and built a 25-point lead by halftime thanks to hot shooting and their trademark stifling defense. The Aggies outscored the Longhorns by five points in the second half, but the dominant first half kept Texas (19-3, 7-0) undefeated in the Big 12. Texas outscored the Aggies 14-4 on fast breaks and Texas A&M seemed to have trouble keeping up with the Longhorns’ pace of play. “We want to run,” Barnes said. “We want to get out in transition. We wanted to have that mindset, to push it.” Texas harassed the Aggies into their worst shooting performance of the season at just under 31 percent and their 17 field goals were one off their season low.The Longhorns are still looking for more on defense despite the strong performance. “We can still get better,” guard Dogus Balbay said. “We still make mistakes. We’ve got to eliminate those. We can always get better on defense.”

The Aggies (17-4, 4-3) have lost three of four in a skid that began when Texas beat them 81-60 in Austin less than two weeks ago to snap a 13-game winning streak. Turgeon is worried about his team after an effort he called embarrassing. He believes his players got too high on themselves during their winning streak. “I’ve got to get my team back,” he said. “I don’t like the way we’re playing. I think we just got really caught up in ourselves and became a little bit uncoachable. I’ve felt this coming for a while and I just hope I can fix it by Saturday.” B.J. Holmes had 19 points for Texas A&M. He bruised his right knee late in the game and had to sit out, but Turgeon isn’t sure if the injury will keep him out on Saturday against Baylor.

The Longhorns haven’t lost since dropping an 82-81 overtime decision to Connecticut on Jan. 8 and are 7-0 in league play for the first time since 1977-78.  The Longhorns have held each of their Big 12 opponents to 63 points or fewer and two of the last three haven’t reached 50. Khris Middleton, who entered the game leading the Aggies in scoring at almost 16 points a game, was held scoreless on 0-of-9 shooting with Hamilton guarding him. ““One thing we’ve tried to do all year was take away the other team’s leading scorer,” Barnes said. “When you do that you’re going to have to have a team effort.”

Texas was up by 20 points before they reeled off six straight points, capped by a 3-pointer by Hamilton, to extend the lead to 43-17 with 3 minutes left in the half. They led 45-20 at halftime. The Longhorns led by six points early in the first half before using a 24-6 run to build a 34-12 lead with just under 6 minutes remaining in the first half. The Aggies couldn’t get anything going in that span and had six turnovers and missed 10 shots.

Texas AM: Senior Nathan Walkup, junior David Loubeau and sophomore Khris Middleton are solid forwards on the offensive glass, and as a team, Texas A&M ranks 11th in the country (38.5) in offensive rebounding percentage. If the Aggies are clicking, those three are scoring in bunches underneath or getting to the charity stripe. The trio combines to take 50 percent of the team’s field goal attempts, and each draws at least four fouls per 40 minutes. Yet that feast-or-famine mentality on the inside has often backfired. Three of the top six teams in the Big 12 in blocks percentage are Missouri, Texas and Baylor. A&M needed 11 points in overtime from Middleton to defeat the Tigers, who out-rejected the Aggies 6-0; the Longhorns beat them twice by a combined 41 points, tallying a total of 16 blocks; and Baylor swatted 12 shots in two upset victories. But the Aggies are so dependent on their post-up and around-the-basket opportunities that an opponent with a better-than-average down-low D is tough to overcome. If A&M’s bigs fail to capitalize inside, the Aggies are forced to rely on their 33.8 percent 3-point percentage and underperforming guards. In their second loss to the Bears on Saturday, B.J. Holmes, Dash Harris and Naji Hibbert were a combined 22 percent (2-of-9) from deep and the Aggies shot 53.3 percent (8-of-15) at the free throw line. That loss also showed how poor the Aggies’ posts defend, allowing Perry Jones, Quincy Acy and Anthony Jones to combine for 34 points and 18 boards in a 58-51 loss. In fact, at least one opposing post (usually two) has scored in double figures in all six of A&M’s losses, and absolutely no team in the major conferences blocks shots with less frequency — Maryland Baltimore County even has a higher percentage.

Texas A&M article after win over Missouri

 Texas A&M 16-1,  proved not only that it has one of the country’s top teams, but also one of its better players.

Khris Middleton – sophomore wing – propelled the Aggies into the national spotlight by scoring 28 points in a 91-89 overtime victory against the Missouri Tigers.

Eleven of Middleton’s points came in the extra period, when he went 4-of-5 from the field and also came up with a huge steal that led to Texas A&M’s 13th straight win. The Aggies’ last – and only – loss came in a two-point setback against Boston College on Nov. 25.

“Indeed, no one is enjoying the victories more than Turgeon, the fourth-year coach who has pieced together a team that, after Saturday, is darn near impossible to ignore. Along with Missouri, the Aggies own victories against Top 25-caliber teams such as Washington and Temple – and they embarrassed Big 12 rivals Oklahoma State and Oklahoma by an average of 20.5 points.

“Texas A&M turned a 12-point deficit in the first half into a nine-point lead just before intermission.

Middleton’s free throws with 10 seconds remaining in regulation forced a 77-77 tie, and the game went to overtime after Missouri’s Phil Pressey missed his attempt at a game-winning jumper shortly before the buzzer.

Tigers coach Mike Anderson said he thought Pressey was bumped.

“Foul – big time foul,” Anderson said after the game. “I think the 11,000 in this audience witnessed it – and I guess the ones that should’ve seen it, they didn’t see it.”

The extra period featured nine lead changes – mainly because Middleton kept making answer shots each time Missouri appeared to grab the momentum. His biggest basket came after he poked the ball out of Marcus Denmon’s hands at the top of the key and raced down the court for a layup that gave Texas A&M an 88-87 lead with 34 seconds remaining.

The Aggies never trailed again.

“He just took over,” Missouri’s Ricardo Ratliff said. “Plain and simple.”

Middleton – who is lethal from both 3-point and mid-range distance – scored a career-high 31 points in a victory over Arkansas earlier this season. But his teammates said Saturday’s effort was even more impressive considering the opponent and all that was on the line.

Forward Nathan Walkup said Middleton – who averaged 7.2 points as a freshman last season – disproved the theory that Texas A&M lacks a “go-to scorer.” Middleton averaged just 7.2 points last season.

“Everybody all year said that’s what we were going to miss, a guy like [Donald] Sloan,” said Walkup, referring to last year’s leading scorer. “But we have a go-to guy. We have a go-to scorer now.”

As good as the Aggies have been, Turgeon knows it’d be foolish to get overconfident. He said his team has been “lucky” in a few of its victories. He wants them to defend better and to get tougher.

“We’ve figured out ways to win, which is good,” Turgeon said. “This isn’t the most talented team I’ve had here, but we play well together. We’ve still got some things to figure out. It’s still early. There are 13 games left and there are no easy ones. It’s a grind, it truly is.”

That grind continues Wednesday when the Aggies travel to Austin to face No. 12 Texas. The Longhorns improved to 14-3 overall and 2-0 in Big 12 play with Saturday’s win over Oklahoma.

“We’ve got to be ready,” Walkup said. “If you’re not ready in the Big 12 you’re going to get blown away. We think we match up well with them. We’re going to go into Austin and try to get our first win there in a long time.”

Texas A&M

2010 Tournament Summary – Perfect spread verse stat analysis vs Utah State but the Aggies were way too much winning by 16.  My notes pegged this team as solid all around. Defense, senior leadership, inside out scoring, shooting, pg play. That said.. I only had them pegged as Overall a solid team but nothing that will overwhelm you talent wise. In every game but ONE last year, Texas A&M had a chance to win. They were a primarily guard oriented offense after their center Elanu declared for the draft.

2011 Outlook –  A&M is big man heavy. They bring in solid 6’8+ guys to go with a team that has bigs. Althought they graduated a lot of height, they have reserves for it. This season will hinge on outside shooting. With speedy point guard Dash Harris and solid play from 15 year old looking BJ Holmes, they will need a shooter to replace Sloan.

My notes: This team should develop as the year goes on. Look for who steps up as a big and who – if anone – hits the outside shot. Turgeron is a master at catering the style of the team to the players on the team. It will be interesting to see what style he bakes up with this team.

Gottlieb: While on the subject of rebounding, no team does a better job of blocking out on the defensive end of the court than the Texas A&M Aggies. In fact, it was a significant reason they upset Temple and contained NBA prospect Lavoy Allen in the Old Spice Classic last week.Watching Mark Turgeon’s team on film, it’s apparent that they work on it because it is a habit that, obviously, has been coached.

Arkansas: Similar to my last experience with them. Defense was solid.. very. They ate up every rebound. Offensively they are not incredibly gifted. Good ball movement and solid shots. I really like their developing bigs.. especially Middleton and Lebeau. They went to them in the crunch – which was interesting – and they delivered. This team is really well coached and .. although forced into it.. are developing a real balanced attack on offense.

Washington:  Controlled the pace of the game… this is a vegas note.. they shut them down in transition.. mostly with sound offense.. but also slowed their offense. They have two good guards who will compete verse most guards, serviceable center, and 2 scoring forwards in Lebeau and Middleton.  Pretty impressive and flexible on defense and not bad on offense. Upper tier middle of the pack team.

Gottleib Notes: Playing a Big Ten style in the Big 12, Mark Turgeon has average talent, but they defend, play hard and are smart

Game write up vs Mizzou:  Turnovers As usual, the Tigers are turning over opponents at a very high rate… On the other hand, the Aggies give the ball up 21 percent of the time. Since a 17 percent rate would be considered elite, this is a potential danger zone for Mark Turgeon’s team. But the Aggies are one of the best rebounding teams in the country because they block out on every shot. That takes coaching these habits every day in practice. It’s especially impressive because, while they have good size, they are not overly athletic on the interior. But they are beasts on the boards.

Q: Why are Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Texas A&M so difficult to beat at home?
A: There are all types of man-to-man defense. Pack defense is what Dick Bennett used to take his 2000 Wisconsin team to the Final Four. Essentially it is like a zone off the basketball in that every player on the weak side of the floor (the side without the ball) has at least a foot in the lane. Though every player, unlike a zone, has a man to guard, the idea of a pack is that one player must beat the entire team. It is boring and can be beaten by teams that shoot the ball well over a defender and in transition but, with experienced players who trust each other and are physical, it’s tough to play against, especially on the road.

Vs Nebraska (loss) The 6-foot-11 Diaz capitalized on his 3-inch advantage over Loubeau, converting entry passes from Jeter and Caleb Walker and finishing 7 of 15 from the field.

Vs Baylor: Baylor was longer, more athletic, and got on a role TAM never once panicked or stopped attacking. It will have to be a terrible matchup for me to not bet this awesome well coached team.

ESPN Article: Senior Nathan Walkup, junior David Loubeau and sophomore Khris Middleton are solid forwards on the offensive glass, and as a team, Texas A&M ranks 11th in the country (38.5) in offensive rebounding percentage. If the Aggies are clicking, those three are scoring in bunches underneath or getting to the charity stripe. The trio combines to take 50 percent of the team’s field goal attempts, and each draws at least four fouls per 40 minutes. Yet that feast-or-famine mentality on the inside has often backfired. Three of the top six teams in the Big 12 in blocks percentage are Missouri, Texas and Baylor. A&M needed 11 points in overtime from Middleton to defeat the Tigers, who out-rejected the Aggies 6-0; the Longhorns beat them twice by a combined 41 points, tallying a total of 16 blocks; and Baylor swatted 12 shots in two upset victories.The Aggies are so dependent on their post-up and around-the-basket opportunities that an opponent with a better-than-average down-low D is tough to overcome. If A&M’s bigs fail to capitalize inside, the Aggies are forced to rely on their 33.8 percent 3-point percentage and underperforming guards. In their second loss to the Bears on Saturday, B.J. Holmes, Dash Harris and Naji Hibbert were a combined 22 percent (2-of-9) from deep and the Aggies shot 53.3 percent (8-of-15) at the free throw line. That loss also showed how poor the Aggies’ posts defend, allowing Perry Jones, Quincy Acy and Anthony Jones to combine for 34 points and 18 boards in a 58-51 loss. In fact, at least one opposing post (usually two) has scored in double figures in all six of A&M’s losses, and absolutely no team in the major conferences blocks shots with less frequency — Maryland Baltimore County even has a higher percentage.