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Texas A&M Off to Best Start in 40 Years
By The Associated Press
Texas A&M wasn’t getting any national recognition for its 11-0 start and a close loss to Kansas. After a 74-63 upset of No. 10 Texas on Wednesday night, it’s going to be tough to ignore the Aggies. “I think we’ve been ahead of schedule a little bit,” said coach Billy Gillispie, who moved over from Texas-El Paso in March.
The Aggies’ nonconference wins were over the likes of Prairie View A&M, Texas-Permian Basin and Trinity, a Division III school. The 65-60 loss at No. 2 Kansas last week raised some interest. The win over Texas that ended an 18-game Big 12 losing streak opened a lot of eyes.
The start is the best at Texas A&M since 1959-60, and no coach in school history has had a better start than Gillispie.
“We know where we are in the landscape of college basketball,” he said. “We have 14 more Big 12 games and there’s not one that you can circle that you know you’re going to win.”
Acie Law had 24 points and six assists and freshman Joseph Jones added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Aggies (12-1, 1-1), who were 7-21 last season and finished last in the Big 12 for the third time in four years.
“It’s about having the right guys,” Gillispie said, smiling. “It’s no magic formula. The story is not about me … it’s about those guys in the white jerseys. The sky’s the limit on what you can achieve.”
In other games involving ranked teams Wednesday, it was: No. 1 Illinois 90, Penn State 64; No. 2 Kansas 71, Iowa State 66; No. 3 North Carolina 91, No. 8 Georgia Tech 69; No. 9 Kentucky 69, Vanderbilt 54; Tennessee 64, No. 11 Mississippi State 63; No. 18 Cincinnati 84, East Carolina 78; and No. 21 George Washington 85, St. Bonaventure 59.
Before a school-record crowd of 12,811, A&M ended the Longhorns’ 10-game winning streak at College Station and improved its record in Reed Arena this season to 12-0.
“It feels real good to get the first Big 12 victory,” said Law, a sophomore point guard. “A Top Ten team comes in … that’s a perfect opportunity to show everyone what we can do.”
P.J. Tucker led the Longhorns (12-3, 1-1) with 18 points and eight rebounds, and freshman LaMarcus Aldridge added 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Aggies’ lead reached 21 points early in the second half.
“They put some pressure on us and were digging back in there,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said, “and when that happens, you have to make some shots. We didn’t do a particularly great job of that.”
Aggies keeping cool heads
Victory over UT called solid step, not watershed
By JEROME SOLOMON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Acie Law races down the court celebrating the Aggies’ 74-63 victory over the Longhorns Wednesday night.
They laughed. They danced. They celebrated.
And deservedly so.
Wednesday night was a party night for the Texas A&M Aggies, who picked up their first win over a Top 10 team since 1982 (and third such win all-time), with an impressive 74-63 victory over Texas.
Now they must move on.
First stop: Lubbock, where Texas Tech awaits for a 6 p.m. tip today.
“We’re pretty much over the big win now,” A&M junior Antoine Wright said. “Coach has done a good job of putting us back down where we’re supposed to be.”
Much was made of the school-record crowd of 12,811 on hand for the Texas contest, but the Aggies should see a similar number of fans at United Spirit Arena today.
You can bet they won’t get a friendly welcome, and the Aggies have lost 16 straight Big 12 road games.
“It just seems like when you have the type of audience we had the other night, you move a step faster, you jump a little higher,” Wright said.
Wednesday’s win was real, but coach Billy Gillispie brought the elation to a halt the next day.
“The one thing he said after the game was for us to celebrate, and enjoy the evening, but remember the game was just one Big 12 victory,” said sophomore Acie Law. “One win isn’t anything if you don’t build on it.”
History’s in the past
Gillispie, who has posted the best coaching start in A&M history (Tubby Graves began his career with an 11-2 mark in 1915-16), said streaks are not part of his preparation.
This season, A&M ended an eight-game road losing streak by overcoming a 17-point deficit at Penn State. The win over Texas snapped a 20-game losing streak to conference foes.
“We don’t mention a losing streak in the Big 12, a losing streak overall, a road losing streak … we’re not worried about those kind of outside things,” Gillispie said.
With games against Texas and Texas Tech this week, Gillispie had simple instructions. Beating Texas doesn’t change the mission.
“At the beginning of the week, what we said was we were going to try to play 80 good minutes of basketball ? win, lose or draw,” Gillispie said.
If the Aggies put forth a defensive effort similar to the one they had against Texas, they probably won’t need any excuses. A&M, which leads the nation in field-goal percentage defense, held Texas to season lows with 63 points and 32.3 percent shooting.
Good times, bad times
Even with the hot start, Gillispie said it’s too early to get excited.
“We thought that if we played the right way, we’d have a chance to get some success early, but we thought what would determine how we do this season would be how we handle good times and the bad times,” Gillispie said. “We have had bad times in practice and a bad time at Kansas. And we have plenty of bad times coming our way. We know that. But how will we handle it?”
Jan 16 – Houston Chronicle
Gillispie Keeps Friends Close No Matter How Far He Goes
By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
He has become the Wizard of Wellborn. He has made basketball as much a part of the Texas Aggie lexicon as barbecue and long necks.
Students suddenly realize the big building on the other side of Wellborn Road is not just another addition to the vet school.
To put this Texas A&M transformation in Aggie terms, Billy Gillispie equals good bull.
And the ones who knew him when he was just Billy Clyde, or B.C., know the reason.
“The difference between Billy and a lot of college coaches is he was one of us and he’s never forgotten that,” said Spring Westfield coach Larry Brown, who knew Gillispie when he coached at New Braunfels Canyon, Copperas Cove and Killeen Ellison. “He’s learned from washing clothes and sweeping floors.”
Said Humble High’s Troy Kite: “Most of the (high school) coaches in this state know that he understands what we do. There’s a feeling that when he wins, we all win.”
Take the huge Aggies win over No. 10 Texas last week. After all the interviews were done, Gillispie traded old stories with a number of high school coaches whom he invited to the game.
He remembered the days of cutting coupons to buy pizzas for his team, driving school buses, taping names to lockers.
Priceless memories ? and friendships.
“If Billy Clyde can’t get it done, then A&M won’t ever get it done,” Kite said. “What he does better than anything is, he can turn a situation that looks horrible to everyone else and make it look like something great. You walk away thinking, ‘Man, I want to be a part of what he’s doing.’ ”
The Aggies, who lost at Texas Tech 70-56 on Saturday, have a long way to go. But for all the great relationships and respect earned by the biggest names in the league ? Tech’s Bob Knight, Texas’ Rick Barnes, Oklahoma State’s Eddie Sutton ? none has the same connection with Texas high school basketball coaches.
People matter
Relationships are why Gillispie has so quickly earned commitments to his first recruiting classes, with pledges from Fort Bend Marshall national top-100 guard David Devezin and 6-6 Lake Highlands swingman Josh Carter for next year.
That trust and hard work is why 6-7 two-sport Alief Taylor star Martellus Bennett has A&M high on his list. It’s why 6-7 Humble junior guard Jerrod Johnson has committed, and fellow 2006 stars such as 6-9 Darris Santee of Fort Bend Marshall and 7-1 Boerne center Josh Lomers have the Aggies at the top of their lists.
Gillispie was the best man in Killeen Ellison coach David Manley’s wedding. The two talk regularly, as Gillispie does with coaches across the state.
“He values everyone around him,” Manley said. “When Billy Clyde was here, the custodians were as important to him as the superintendent. Anyone you talk to who has known him probably would say, ‘Billy Clyde is one of my best friends.’ He just has that aura, like you can trust him.”
Spring High School assistant principal Phil Eaton, previously a longtime Houston-area coach, tells the story of the time Eaton’s Pasadena team was invited to Gillispie’s Thanksgiving tournament in Killeen.
Gillispie put on a reception for coaches after the first night’s games.
As the night wore on, Gillispie was nowhere to be found, so someone went back to the gym to look for him.
“A couple of schools in the tournament didn’t have washers in their hotels,” Eaton said. “Billy Clyde was back at the high school washing their uniforms. That’s how you get to know a guy and what he’s all about.”
Bound for greatness
When Westfield’s Brown was given the charge of helping form the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches in the early 1990s, he made one call.
“Billy and I would stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning working on things,” Brown said. “He didn’t just fall into the success he’s having. If you want to build something up, he’s the right one. A&M and Billy Clyde together is just a fit. It’s like a glove.”
Boerne coach Stan Leach remembers the summer camp in 1993 when Gillispie announced to fellow coaches that he was going to take his first college coaching job at South Plains Junior College.
“We were finishing the day and he stood up and said he had to leave (high school coaching),” Leach said. “He said, ‘One day I’m going to win a national championship.’
“All of us were laughing, telling him, ‘settle down, B.C., you’re going to be an assistant at a junior college.’ The rest of us were just hoping to keep our jobs and go .500. But he’s always had his eye on something greater and knew what it took to get there.”
In Boerne last week, Leach said it was as if the Aggies were, “our team,” as he was high-fiving his wife and son when the Aggies finished off the win over Texas.
“Back when he was running around with us, he had about 200 best friends,” Leach said. “The only difference now is he’s got a lot more friends.”
