Game Notes: No. 6 Texas A&M 60, No. 11 Iowa State 47

 

TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M improved to 2-11 in Big 12 Championship play. Their only previous win came at the 2006 Championship when it defeated Colorado 86-53 in the quarterfinals after earning a bye. They are the last school in the Big 12 to win a first-round contest, having previously gone 0-9.

The Aggies scored their first 14 points from inside the paint and did not make a shot outside that area until Dominique Kirk hit a jump shot with 4:25 left in the first half. They finished with a 30-14 advantage inside.

The Aggies improved to 19-3 this season and to 69-9 over the last four seasons when leading at the half.

In their 23 wins, the Aggies have outrebounded their opponent on every occasion. Tonight they edged out the Cyclones 42-39 on the glass.

Texas A&M'S Mark Turgeon won his first Big 12 Championship game - among current Big 12 coaches, they sport a combined 6-5 record in their first Conference Championship game. No current coach has won the Conference title in his first year at the helm. Kansas State's Frank Martin will make his Championship debut this tomorrow against Turgeon.

 

IOWA STATE
The Cyclones went through a pair of long droughts in the first half, going without a basket over an 8:45 span during which they were outscored 12-0 and suffered a 6:03 scoreless period late in the first half that lasted until Craig Brackins hit a 3-point field goal at the end of the half. For the half, they shot only 21.2 percent (7-for-33).

Tonight marked the fourth time that the Cyclones had shot under 30 percent from the floor in the first half. In the previous three, they had come back to win all three times.

The Cyclones shot 27.4 percent (17-for-62), a new team low for a Big 12 Championship game (old mark - 30.0 percent vs Kansas on 3/8/97); the 47 points also represent a Championship single-game low (also set on 3/8/97 vs Kansas).

Brackins recorded his fifth 20-point game and his third double-double of his freshman year, collecting 20 points and 12 rebounds; he tied the school record for games started as a freshman, tying Curtis Stinson in 2003-04, Fred Hoiberg in 1991-92 and Jeff Grayer in 1984-85 each with 32 starts.

 

Big 12 Championship Notes...
Through four games the combined margin of victory has been a mere 29 points (7.3 points per game), only one other Big 12 Championship has seen more closely contested games through the first day of play in the 12-year history of the league. In 2006, the combined margin was 28 points.

The first-half combined point total of 42 (Texas A&M 25, Iowa State 17) represents the lowest scoring half in Big 12 Championship play since the 2003 Championship game on 3/16/03 between Missouri and Oklahoma when the two combined for 41 points (MU 29, OU 12) in the second half.

Neither squad made a free throw in the first half. The last time just one team failed to connect on a free throw in a particular half came on 3/9/06 when Nebraska went 0-5 in the first half against Missouri. The last time both teams did not make a free throw in a half occurred on 3/16/03 when Missouri and Oklahoma combined to go 0-2 in the first half.

Texas A&M's 60 points rank as the second-fewest for a winning team in a first-round game in Big 12 Championship history (Oklahoma State, 54 vs Nebraska on 3/8/07).