vs.

PROBABLE STARTERS:

A&M Notes: From AggieAthletics.com

• A&M Coach Mark Turgeon is 3-1 in NCAA Tournament play. His 2006 Wichita State team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen with wins against Seton Hall (86-66) and Tennessee (80-73) before falling to eventual Final Four participant George Mason (63-55).
• A&M and Kansas are the only Big 12 schools to record at least 21 wins in each of the last four years.
• A&M’s 25 wins are the third most in school history (27-7 in 2006-07; 26-8 in 1979-80).
• A&M is 52-16 in the last two seasons, ranking it among the winningest schools in the country in that span.
• A&M is 5-1 in neutral site games this season with the only loss being to Kan- sas (77-71) in the Big 12 Tournament.
• n the last six games, A&M’s opponents have made just .296 (34-of- 115) from three-point range.
• A&M has posted 146 blocked shots, the third most in school history and the most since a record 181 in 1989-90.
• In A&M’s last 17 wins, no Aggie player fouled out.
• A&M has had at least 20 points in the paint in all 25 wins. The Aggies have also out-rebounded or equaled their opponent in all 25 victories. A&M is 0-5 when it loses the battle of the boards.
• In the last two games, A&M has averaged a +11.0 rebounding margin. The +10 margin vs. Kansas was the largest against the Jayhawks this year. A&M had a +12 advantage in the first round win against BYU, including a +11 margin in the final 15 minutes of the game.
• A&M is 24-4 when its opponent scores under 70 points, including a 9-1 mark in games away from home (including neutral site games).
• The Aggies have held 13 of their last 16 opponents to 69 points or less. Just eight opponents have crossed the 70-point plateau.
• A&M has beaten a top-10 team in four straight years, but has never had two top-10 victories in a season. The Aggies defeated No. 10 Texas (80-63) on Jan. 30 in College Station, handing the Longhorns their worst loss of the season.

  Prior to 2004-05, A&M had beaten a top 10 team just four times in its history.

• The highest ranked team A&M has ever defeated was No. 5 Texas in 1981-82 in Austin (71-69 in overtime). Kansas was ranked No. 6 when the Aggies won last year in Lawrence (69-66).
• A&M has appeared in three straight NCAA Tournaments for the first time in school history and has won three straight first-round games. The Aggies are 4-2 in NCAA Tournament play in the last three years. Including the 2005 NIT, A&M has made postseason play four straight years.
• A&M is 7-9 all-time in NCAA Tournament competition.
• The Aggies are 15-0 this season when making at least 50 percent from the field and is 19-1 when making at laset 45 percent. The Aggies’ shot .543 against BYU on Thursday, a school record for NCAA Tournament play.
• A&M is 21-3 when leading at halftime this season.
• A&M is 22-3 when its opponent makes under 45 percent from the field, includ- ing a 16-1 mark when its opponents makes less than 40 percent.
• A&M is 17-4 when it had 13 or fewer turnovers.

TALKING POINTS:

• What's at stake?-After a big win over BYU, the Aggies have nothing to lose. In fact, only .9% of the brackets submitted to ESPN have the Aggies beating UCLA tonight. I didn't pick it, Plunk didn't pick it, but Hildy sure did. You have to think that whoever comes out alive tonight is the favorite to get to the Elite Eight after what happened in Tampa yesterday (See Mark Schlabech's article).
• Keys for A&M - (1)Get Josh and Joe involved early.- Even though I don't want to see us get in a shootout with UCLA (they have too many weapons, we need consistency from our best offensive players. Every game I think back to how we opened up at home vs. Texas: feeding Joe the ball the first dozen times down the court. I am not saying he should get our first dozen shots, but I want to see us run our offense through him on the block. Make Kevin Love work on both ends of the court and see if we can't get some easy 3's opened up for Josh by making UCLA collapse on Joe in the paint.

  (2) Milk the clock. - UCLA has four players that average double digits, we have two. Tonight is not the night for Sloan to get carried away. If he plays within himself and gets us in our half court set every time down the court, we may have a chance to do the unthinkable tonight.

  (3) Rebound. - Davis, Jordan, Junior, and Joe need to locate a body and box out tonight. Even if they don't get the rebound, it could open up lanes for Josh and Sloan to crash in on the loose ball. Getting bodies on Love and Mbah a Moute early and forcing them to get some stupid fouls could be huge in the long run.

• Prediction - This isn't uncharted territory for the Aggies. Most of our team suited up against Louisville in the round of 32 last year. We have played teams as good as UCLA this year. We beat Texas by 17. We played Kansas relatively close twice. I think UCLA, out of all the #9's, would want to play us the least. We have talent, size, athleticism, and are battle tested. UCLA has everything to lose, we have everything to gain. What more could you ask for. I predict that this game comes down to the final two minutes, but free throws jump up and bite us in the pants: UCLA 64 - A&M 59.

  WE DEFINITELY HAVE OUR HANDS FULL TONIGHT.

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