Texas A&M
11-2, 1-0SEC
Arkansas
6-7, 0-1SEC
Aggie Men Dominate Arkansas in SEC Opener
Jan 02, 2016 | Men's Basketball
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP)-- Senior guard Jalen Jones scored a career-high 28 points and No. 20 Texas A&M beat Arkansas 92-69 on Saturday in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
The Aggies (11-2, 1-0) capitalized on 15 Arkansas turnovers and turned them into 22 points. Senior guard Alex Caruso set the school career record for steals with 230, including two on Saturday. He entered the game tied with guard David Edwards (1991-94) with 228 steals.
Anthlon Bell led Arkansas (6-7, 0-1) with 16 points, while Moses Kingsleyfollowed with 11. The Razorbacks led only once at 13-12 with 11 minutes left in the first half. The Aggies pressed on the accelerator and never let up.
The Aggies built a 47-26 halftime lead despite a lone field goal in that span fromDanuel House, who entered the game as A&M's leading scorer with 15.3 points per game.
Jones, the team's second-leading scorer entering the game with a 14.9 average, had no trouble picking up the slack, however, with 16 points in the first half. He finished 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
Arkansas missed all seven of its 3-point attempts in the first half, and finished 6 of 16 from beyond the arc. The aggressive Aggies finished with 11 steals, including two each by Caruso, Jones and guards Anthony Collins and DJ Hogg, compared to only four for the Razorbacks.
Nearly midway through the second half and with A&M holding a 69-40 lead, the Aggies had made half their 3-point attempts (9 of 18) while the Razorbacks had made 20 percent (2 of 10). A&M finished 11 of 26 from the 3-point line.
A&M won its fourth consecutive game after losing 67-54 at Arizona State on Dec. 5, and also made up for an 81-75 loss at Arkansas last February. While Arkansas holds a series advantage of 98-54, the Aggies have won four of six in the rivalry that dates to both programs' Southwest Conference days starting in 1915.
Texas A&M Basketball
Postgame Notes
#20 Texas A&M 92, Arkansas 69
Jan. 2, 2016 ? Reed Arena
RECORDS & SERIES NOTES
? Texas A&M improved to 11-2 and 1-0 in SEC play following a 92-69 victory over Arkansas on Saturday at Reed Arena.
? The win was the biggest by Texas A&M in a conference-opening game since an 80-54 win over Baylor on Jan. 3, 1963.
? The series record between the former Southwest Conference rivals now stands at 98-54 in favor of the Razorbacks.
TEAM NOTES
? The 92 points is the most the Aggies have scored in an SEC game since joining the league for the 2012-13.
? Texas A&M placed five players in double-figure points (Jones [28], House [14], Caruso [11], Gilder [10] and Trocha-Morelos [10]) for the first time since a game vs. Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 16, 2015.
? Reed Arena saw its biggest crowd of the season as 11,332 were in attendance on Saturday.
? Texas A&M used the starting lineup combination of Anthony Collins, Alex Caruso, Danuel House, Jalen Jones and Tyler Davis for the third time this season (3-0).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
? Senior Jalen Jones notched a career-high 28 points in the contest, converting on 9-of-13 field goal attempts, including a 4-of-6 mark from beyond the 3-point arc … The Dallas native also add seven rebounds and a pair of steals.
? Senior Alex Caruso became Texas A&M's all-time career steals leader with a first-period take-away … He entered the game tied with Aggie great David Edwards and notched two steals against the Razorbacks to give him 230 for his four-year career … Caruso has posted more than one steal in eight consecutive games.
? Sophomore Tonny Torcha-Morelos posted his first career double-double finishing with 10 points and a career-best 10 rebounds.
? Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy improved to 82-63 in his fifth season at Texas A&M and 293-242 in 18 seasons as head coach.
UP NEXT
? The Aggies hit the road for back-to-back SEC contests at Mississippi State (Jan. 6) and Tennessee (Jan. 9).
Texas A&M Basketball
Postgame Quotes
#20 Texas A&M 92, Arkansas 69
Jan. 2, 2016 ? Reed Arena
BILLY KENNEDY, TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Defensively, I really was proud of our guys for setting the tone, trying to do a good job on Moses Kingsley and Anthlon Bell. I thought we did a really good job of handling that press in the first half. We only had four turnovers, and once we flowed in offense we made some shots. It helps when Jalen (Jones) is stretching the defense like that and shooting the ball as well as he did the whole game."
On Tonny Trocha-Morelos' performance…
"The double-double, and just his activeness when Tyler (Davis) was in foul trouble, I was happy for Tonny because he's played so well early in the year and hadn't played as well as far as shooting the ball, but he did some other things today. Obviously, the rebounding and Tonny does a good job offensively of moving the ball, and keeping us in offense. He has a great understanding of how we as a coach want him to play."
On keeping the momentum going…
"We've said all along, I believe we were an NCAA Tournament team last year. We came in to this season believing that, even though we didn't take care of business at the end last year. We're building off of that confidence. As long as we can stay focused on ourselves and stay unselfish and keep our togetherness like it is, we'll continue to have a good team throughout the season."
On Alex Caruso…
"Alex is a special kid first, you get a chance to coach guys him not very often: guys who understand the game, who are great character guys and unselfish team guys who can play. He's a really good player plus he has all of the intangibles. Now he's a senior and he's making the most of it. He's been coming in extra, shooting the ball, putting some time into his outside shot and you can see the last few games how well he's shot it and that's what he's capable of doing."
On A&M's dynamic offensive performance…
"We're hard to guard. When Jalen Jones is making threes, and Anthony Collins is getting in the lane, and Tyler Davis, (Tonny) Trocha-Morelos, we've got some offensive weapons. DJ Hogg hasn't shot the ball as well as he's capable of the last couple of weeks, but he's working at it, so we still got some other guys who can continue to play better and will play better."
On today's attendance…
"Again, I'm thrilled that we had local fans here at the game on Saturday at 3:30, while there are football games being played on TV. Again, I'm very thankful for everybody that come to our games, and that people are starting to recognize that our guys are playing at a high level. We're blessed to be in the top-20 and that can change in a heartbeat. We understand that. So when we had this opportunity, we needed to continue to build on it. When our students get back it should be really good if we continue to take care of business like we've got ahead of us."
JALEN JONES, TEXAS A&M SENIOR FORWARD
On his performance…
"I was just trying to do anything I can to try and help my team win the game. My teammates were finding me in the right spots and I was able to knock down a couple shots. That helped my defense as well. I picked up my defensive end. I'm happy that we came out with a victory."
On making the first three pointer…
"I mean anything you see the ball go in that gets you going a little bit. When I got one to go in right off the bat that kind of felt good and got my flow going. I think as a team we started off good and we finished it through out the game."
On starting the SEC season off with a win…
"It's very important to have a good start. You need to win every game at home because playing on the road is super tough. You're not going to get that same type of momentum that you have at home from the crowd. It's us against the whole crowd. It's very important to get a home win and we did that tonight."
On making a statement…
"We definitely wanted to make a statement. Just to show the SEC that we are still about business. Our non-conference schedule, we want to build on that. I feel like we made a statement for the most part and we have to continue to take our time each and every game."
TONNY TROCHA-MORELOS, TEXAS A&M SOPHOMORE CENTER
On ten individual rebounds…
"I just wanted to hustle every rebound, trying to get it. Every shot you hope it goes in, but if it doesn't go in you do your best to get it. That's why I had my mind set to get as many rebounds I can, get the hustle play and get going."
On Texas A&M's 31 points off the bench…
"It feels great to know that when you change guys and put the bench in the game, you feel like the bench responded in a good way. It's good for the coaches to know that they can trust the bench. For us, scoring 31 points lets the coaches know that we are ready to play and how we feel."
MIKE ANDERSON, ARKANSAS HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"First of all, the way we played didn't go the way we wanted it to. Congratulations to Billy (Kennedy) and his team, they have a very good basketball team. They have a good balance when you talk about experienced players and they have to very talented young players. It's a nice blend, they are playing well right now. We had to play almost a perfect game more to have a chance to win this game here. Early on it was a game that went back and forth and (Texas A&M) had one of those spurts and before you know it when you look up we were down 20 something at half time. It's kind of like an uphill battle; you have to fight, fight, fight but the credit goes to them. I thought it was experience versus in-experience is what it looked like."
On what Arkansas didn't do…
"They played with no energy. That's point blank. We are a team that has to play with energy, it's like we were just a half step behind. And we couldn't make shots. You have to make shots. Our defense, like I said, requires energy, whether being on half court, full court. If you don't score you can't get into the full court. (Texas A&M) did a good job of really spreading the floor and taking advantage of the mismatch. I though the toughest matchup for us was probably Jalen Jones. I guess he had a career high game, that's pretty efficient twenty-eight points in twenty-six minutes. I thought he really played well for (Texas A&M), but they had some other guys play well for them as well."
On Kingsley's second foul…
"…Had an opportunity to get to the free throw lines and we didn't take advantage of that. We were 1-1 with maybe 11-12 minutes to go and we didn't take advantage of that. But to give (Texas A&M) credit, they made shots, 11 threes. They were shooting the ball. Even in the last two, I think, Jalen (Jones) made, it was his day. He just threw it up there and it was going in. Again, A&M is a very good basketball team, very experienced. It's a team that's like a Sweet 16 team today."
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