COLLEGE STATION, TX -- Texas A&M plays its final home game of the season and honors its senior class of 2012 on Tuesday when the Aggies (13-15, 4-12) host Kansas State (19-9, 8-8) at Reed Arena. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.
Fans are asked to arrive about 15 minutes early to help congratulate seniors Alex Baird, Zach Kinsley, Dash Harris and David Loubeau as they are honored before the game as part of one of the winningest classes in school history.
All Aggie students will be admitted free of charge on Tuesday night. In addition, fans can “DoubleDown with DoubleDave’s” and get two tickets for just $10—log on to tickets.12thmanfoundation.com and use the offer code “doubledaves” to redeem the special offer.
GAME 29
Texas A&M AGGIES (13-15, 4-12) vs Kansas State WILDCATS (19-9, 8-8)
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 • 6:02 PM CT • TV: ESPN2 HD
Reed Arena (12,989) • College Station, Texas
Media Coverage
TELEVISION: ESPN2 HD
Jon Sciambi, Play-by-Play
Fran Fraschilla, Commentary
RADIO: Texas A&M Sports Network
Dave South, Play-by-Play
Al Pulliam, Commentary
Local: WTAW-AM 1620
Satellite Radio: Sirius 92/XM 190
LIVE AUDIO/STATS: aggieathletics.com
Snapshot: Texas A&M
Record: 13-15, 4-12 Big 12
Ranking: NR
Streak: Lost 3
Last 5 / Last 10: 1-4 / 2-8
at Home: 11-6
Last Game: lost to Oklahoma St (A), 60-42 (Sat.)
Head Coach: Billy Kennedy (SE Louisiana '86)
Record: 224-194 (14th year)
at Texas A&M: 13-15 (first year)
vs. K-State: 0-1
A&M Probable Starters (based on previous game)
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG RPG APG GP / Min
5 Dash Harris G 6-1 171 Sr. 5.8 2.9 4.2 21 / 29.8
10 David Loubeau F 6-8 234 Sr. 10.8 4.6 0.5 28 / 26.6
22 Khris Middleton F 6-7 217 Jr. 12.6 5.0 2.0 16 / 27.1
31 Elston Turner G 6-5 211 Jr. 13.8 3.7 2.3 28 / 33.4
35 Ray Turner F 6-9 232 Jr. 8.9 5.5 0.5b 28 / 22.0
Snapshot: Kansas State
Record: 19-9, 8-8 Big 12
Ranking: RV (USAT/ESPN)
Streak: Lost 1
Last 5 / Last 10: 2-3 / 5-5
on the Road: 8-5
Last Game: lost to Iowa State (H), 65-61 (Sat.)
Head Coach: Frank Martin (FIU '93)
Record: 114-52 (fifth year)
at K-State: 114-52 (fifth year)
vs. Texas A&M: 4-2
K-State Probable Starters (based on previous game)
No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. PPG RPG APG GP / Min
13 Angel Rodriguez G 5-11 180 Fr. 7.8 2.4 3.1 27 / 20.7
21 Jordan Henriquez F 6-11 250 Jr. 6.4 4.9 2.3b 27 / 18.4
22 Rodney McGruder G 6-4 205 Jr. 14.8 5.5 1.4 28 / 32.4
32 Jamar Samuels F 6-7 230 Sr. 9.8 6.5 1.2 26 / 26.0
55 Will Spradling G 6-2 180 So. 9.9 2.2 2.6 28 / 30.9
Series History: K-State leads, 16-7
A&M Streak: Lost 1
In College Station A&M leads, 6-2
At Reed Arena A&M leads, 5-2
In Manhattan KSU leads, 10-0
At Bramlage Coliseum KSU leads, 9-0
At Neutral Sites KSU leads, 4-1
At Big 12 Tournament KSU leads, 2-1
Longest A&M Win Streak 1 game
Longest KSU Win Streak 4 games (twice)
Largest A&M Win 14 (65-51, 01/22/05)
Largest KSU Win 32 (81-49, 12/28/90)
Billy Kennedy vs. KSU 0-1
Frank Martin vs. A&M 4-2
• the last three games between the schools at Reed Arena have been decided by an average of 5.7 points.
• A&M grinded out a 64-56 win over No. 24 K-State in last year's meeting at Reed Arena.
• the Aggies held an early second-half lead earlier this month in Manhattan before K-State rallied for a 64-53 victory.
• the series has been dominated by the home team ... the Aggies have won 6 of 8 meetings in College Station, while K-State won all nine contests inside Bramlage Coliseum.
Last 10 Meetings:
Date AM/Op Rk Site Score
— complete series history can be found in media fact book —
2005 J22 College Station W 65-51
2005 M10 Kansas City L 62-68
2006 J18 Manhattan L 54-58
2007 J6 11/— College Station W 69-65
2008 J18 9 /— Manhattan L 54-75
2008 M14 Kansas City W 63-60
2009 F7 College Station L 60-65
2010 J12 —/12 Manhattan L 65-88
2011 J22 10/24 College Station W 64-56
2012 F4 Manhattan L 53-64
Tale of the Tape
A&M KSU
60.6 points/game 71.0
60.4 opp. points/game 63.0
+0.2 scoring margin +7.9
.432 field goal % .437
.399 opp. field goal % .396
.329 3-point % .330
34.3 rebounds 38.1
+1.5 rebound margin +5.4
11.9 assists 14.2
13.6 turnovers 14.7
5.6 steals 6.1
2.3 blocks 4.8
Saluting the Seniors
• Tuesday marks the final home game for four Texas A&M seniors—Alex Baird, Zach Kinsley, Dash Harris and David Loubeau.
• The class will go down as one of the winningest in program history ... the Class of '12 has 85 wins, fifth most all-time at A&M behind 2010 (100), 2009 (98), 2011 (97) and 2008 (95).
• The Class of '12 is only the fifth in school history to participate in three NCAA Tournaments.
• The Class of '12 has totaled 57 wins at Reed Arena in their time in Aggieland.
• During their tenure, the Class of '12 has been part of the longest win streak in 91 seasons, is part of just a handful of Aggie players to enjoy three straight 20-win seasons, and played in front of the three largest crowds in school history.
• Dash Harris will end his career as one of the most successful point guards in school history ... he is in the school's career top 10 in both assists and steals, and is one of just 8 players in the entire 100-year history of the program to record at least 300 assists and 100 steals ... he is starting his 85th game at the point for the Aggies and is one of just a handful of Aggies to play in over 120 games in their career.
• David Loubeau is appearing in his 130th career game on Tuesday, more than all but five players in the program's 100-year history ... he is one of only 16 players in school history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds ... he ranks 20th all-time in scoring with 1,164 points and is A&M's 18th all-time leading rebounder with 563 in his career ... when he takes the floor against K-State, David will have played in more conference games (65) than any player in program history.
Quick Hits
• The Aggies lead the Big 12 in two defensive categories (through Feb. 26): scoring defense (60.4/gm) and 3-point FG% defense (29.3); A&M ranks third in defensive rebound percentage (71.7) and field-goal percentage defense (39.9).
• Through games of Feb. 23, Texas A&M ranked 15th nationally in 3-point FG% defense.
• Only three Aggie opponents have scored more than 70 points in Big 12 play: Iowa State (74), Oklahoma (75 in OT) and Missouri (71) ... A&M has held 9 league foes under 65 points this season.
• The Aggie defense has competed hard against the best offenses the league have to offer in Missouri, Kansas and Baylor ... A&M held all three teams below their season field-goal percentages and well below their season point averages:
Aggie defense vs Big 12's top offenses
Opponent FG% (NCAA Rk) FG% vs A&M PPG (NCAA Rk) PPG vs A&M
Missouri 49.7 ( 2) 47.7 79.7 ( 9) 70.5
Kansas 48.3 (20) 40.6 75.1 (40) 65.0
Baylor 47.2 (29) 39.4 74.4 (40) 62.0
COMBINED 48.3 42.3 76.4 65.8
• Texas A&M held No. 4 Kansas to 38.9 percent shooting last Wednesday, the Jayhawks' lowest output in Big 12 play this year and second lowest overall (No. 2 Kentucky held KU to 33.9%) ... KU also was held to 22.2 percent from behind the arc (4-of-18) ... Kansas has shot worse than that from long range just twice this year (20.0% vs A&M, 1/23; 21.1% at OU, 1/7).
• The Aggies' last 4 home losses have come by an average of 5.5 points, to No. 6 Baylor, Texas, No. 3 Missouri and No. 4 KU.
• A&M has played five top-5 opponents this year, a new school record ... all have come in Big 12 play, also a school record ... back-to-back games against Missouri (No. 3) and Kansas (No. 4) last week marked the first time in school history the Aggies had played two straight against top-5 foes.
• Seven of A&M's losses this year have come to teams currently ranked in the top 13 nationally, five of which have come away from home (#3 Missouri (twice), #4 Kansas (twice), #11 Florida, #13 Baylor [twice]).
• A&M is 57-11 at home since the start of the 2008-09 season with a 22-10 mark in conference games.
• The Aggies are 91-16 (.850) at home since the start of the 2006-07 season and are 124-21 (.855) since the start of the 2004-05 campaign.
• A&M has won 39 of its last 43 home games against unranked opponents (15 of last 18 in Big 12 play).
• The Aggies have won 53 Big 12 games since the start of the 2007 league season ... prior to that, A&M had totaled only 43 victories in the first 10 years of Big 12 play (53-41 since 2006, 43-116 from 1997-2006).
• A&M has finished .500 or better in Big 12 play in each of the previous 7 years, one of just 3 teams to do so (Kansas, Texas).
• A&M is one of just 12 schools that have made the NCAA Tournament in each of the previous 6 seasons (Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Marquette, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Villanova, Wisconsin, Xavier).
• Texas A&M is one of only 8 schools in the entire country that have won 24 or more games in each of the previous 5 seasons (Butler, BYU, Kansas, Memphis, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M, VCU, Xavier).
Scouting Kansas State
• Kansas State is 19-9 on the year and tied for fifth in the Big 12 at 8-8 ... the Wildcats are receiving votes in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll (Feb. 22) and sport an RPI of No. 49 in the latest NCAA release (Feb. 20) ... K-State has lost three of its last five games, but the wins in that span came at then-No. 9 Baylor (57-56) and at then-No. 3 Missouri (78-68) ... the Wildcats feature one of the league's best defenses (63.0 ppg/ranks third) and are the Big 12's top rebounding squad (38.1/gm).
• K-State is paced by Rodney McGruder (14.8 ppg/5.5 rpg), with two others averaging nearly double-digit points in Will Spradling (9.9/gm) and Jamar Samuels (9.8/gm) ... Samuels tops the squad in rebounding (6.5/gm), while Angel Rodriguez leads in assists (84) and Jordan Henriquez in blocks (63).
• Frank Martin (FIU '93) is in his fifth year as the head coach of the Wildcats with a record of 114-52.
Sidebars
• A&M freshman Jordan Green and K-State freshman Thomas Gipson were AAU teammates (Team Texas).
Aggie Trends
• The Aggies have allowed just one Big 12 opponent to score more points than its season average (Oklahoma, who needed OT to do so).
• Texas A&M's starting rotation has seen lots of action in conference play ... in Big 12 games, A&M starters are averaging 29.1 minutes a game (after averaging 25 a game in non-conference play) ... all five starters played at least 30 minutes against Texas (Jan. 11), the first time that's happened on an Aggie team since March 2007 (Big 12 quarterfinal vs Oklahoma State).
• A&M has seen its free-throw percentage take a slight up-turn in Big 12 play ... the Aggies shot 61.6 percent from the line in non-conference play, but has shot 67.5 percent in Big 12 action.
• A&M is shooting 70.7 percent from the line in the second half of Big 12 games ... the Aggies have shot just 60.3 percent in the first half.
• The Aggies are 12-0 this year when leading with 5 minutes to play and 11-3 this year when leading at halftime (losses at Kansas, at K-State, home Texas).
• A&M is 11-3 when holding opponents under 40 percent from the field (losses to Baylor, Baylor and Kansas).
• The Aggies have held 11 of their opponents under 60 points and are unbeaten in those games.
• A&M has held 8 opponents under 35 percent shooting (8-0).
• The Aggies are 9-2 this year when shooting more free throws than their opponent (loss to Texas, at Iowa State) and 10-1 when out-rebounding them (loss is to Texas).
• A&M has already bested last year's total for blocks, and did so in just 20 games ... the Aggies are averaging 2.3 blocks per game this year (63 blocks), up from last year's average of 1.5 (51 in 33 games).
• The Aggies have won 4 of their last 5 overtime games dating back to last season.
• A&M has won nearly 70 percent of its games since the start of the 2006-07 season (137-60, .695) ... the Aggies are 179-78 (.696) since the start of the ‘04-05 campaign.
Up Next
• Texas A&M closes the regular season in the Sooner State against Oklahoma (Saturday, 3 p.m., Big 12 Network).
A Look Ahead to Kansas City
• Texas A&M will be the No. 8 or 9 seed in next week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at Kansas City's Sprint Center ... the Aggies will face Oklahoma in the first round on Wednesday, March 7 at 6 p.m. CT (Big 12 Network) ... a victory would pit A&M against league champion Kansas on Thursday, March 8 at 2 p.m. CT (ESPN2).
• It will mark just the second time in the Big 12 era that the Aggies have faced the same opponent in the last regular-season game and first Big 12 Championship game (1998, Baylor) ... it happened only twice in the 20-year history of the Southwest Conference Tournament (1986, Arkansas; 1992, Texas).
