Coatney's Call: Texas A&M Game Preview (Feb. 4)

#4 Nebraska vs #12 Texas A&M

Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010
Time: 12:00 p.m.(CST)
Site: Lincoln, Nebraska
Arena: Devaney Center
Television: Fox Sports Midwest
(Brent Stover-Play-by-Play; Brenda VanLengen-Color Analyst); Time Warner Cable Channel 37-Lincoln; Cox Cable Channel 47-Omaha
Nebraska Radio:
Husker Sports Network (Matt Coatney-Play-by-Play; Jeff Griesch-Color Analyst) ? 98.1 KFGE-Lincoln (Froggy 98), 93.3 KTWI-Omaha (Twister 93.3), 880 KRVN-Lexington and available to our entire 21-station radio network.
Internet: Live Radio on Huskers.com

Total Domination. Speechless. Unbelievable. Those are the words and phrases that keep coming to my mind after #4 Nebraska defeated their third top 10 team Wednesday night in Lincoln. NU led #10 Oklahoma State by 36 points at one stage during the second half and with the starters for both teams on the bench for most of the latter stages of the game, the Huskers improved to 20-0 with the 88-67 win. Nebraska played in front of a home crowd of over 10,000 (10,227) for the second straight game. 6-2 senior All-American candidate Kelsey Griffin played only 19 minutes, but scored 19 points. Griffin got her 19 points on only seven field goal attempts. The Huskers committed only one first half turnover and held OSU’s Andrea Riley, the nation’s leading scorer, to 15 points, 16 below her conference-leading average of over 31 ppg. 5-9 freshman point guard Lindsey Moore played her best game of her young career. She tied her career high with 11 points, posted a career-best eight rebounds, and handed out five assists. Moore now leads the Big 12 in assist-to-turnover ratio in conference games (2.4). Griffin was also named a finalist for the prestigious Lowe’s Senior CLASS award. It’s all up to the fans with on-line and text message voting. At the bottom of this preview, I’ll have a link so you Husker fans can ENSURE Kelsey gets this much-deserved award.

Nebraska now has a two game lead in the Big 12 standings (7-0), but it doesn’t get any easier for the Huskers. NU will be looking to avenge a 43-point loss to Texas A&M last season. The 12th-ranked Aggies and the Huskers will meet Saturday at noon in Lincoln.

Texas A&M is 16-4 overall and tied for fifth place in the Big 12 with a 4-3 record. A&M knocked off Missouri 66-55 in College Station Wednesday. Last season, the Aggies advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. They are ranked 12th in the AP Poll and 10th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll this week.

6-2 junior forward Danielle Adams was named Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. She leads Texas A&M in scoring (16.1 ppg) and rebounding (5.6 rpg) and is tied for the team lead in three-pointers (17). She became only the second Aggie and 10th Big 12 player to ever record a triple-double with a career high 27 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots against Texas Tech in her first league start on January 23.

6-0 senior wing Tanisha Smith burst onto the Big 12 Conference scene last season and was named league Newcomer of the Year. She is the only Aggie to start all 20 games this season and is second on the team in scoring (15.7 ppg) and leads the team in steals. Smith tied for the team high with 19 points in Wednesday’s win over Missouri and attempted a breakaway dunk in the late stages of the game but missed.

6-0 sophomore guard Tyra White, like Adams and Smith, is a Kansas City native. She is third on the team in scoring (10.9 ppg) and also has hit a team-high tying 17 three’s on the season. White has started all but two games this year. 6-1 sophomore forward Adaora Elonu (uh-DOOR-uh EE-lawn-ew) is a team co-captain and has started 15 games, including five in conference. She is fourth on the team in scoring (8.3 ppg). A&M’s final starter will probably either be 5-8 junior point guard Syndey Colson or 5-6 sophomore guard Sydney Carter. Colson did not play against Missouri and has been hampered since early December with a torn meniscus in her right knee. It’s the same knee Colson had ACL surgery on the previous season. Colson is a team co-captain, leads the team in assists, is tied for the team leads in three-pointers (17) and averages 7.5 ppg. Prior to missing the Missouri game, Colson had started all previous 19 games this season for the Aggies. Carter is second on the team in assists and averages 7.1 ppg.

A&M Head Coach Gary Blair has 523 wins in a coaching career that started at Stephen F. Austin and continued at Arkansas where he took the Lady ?Backs to the 1998 Final Four. Two seasons ago, Blair took Texas A&M to the Elite Eight. He has a 145-70 record in seven seasons as coach of the Aggies.

Last year’s game in College Station was an example of the type of suffocating pressure defense Texas A&M can force on their opponents. Nebraska turned it over a season-high 27 times and the Aggies manhandled the Huskers 86-43. Nebraska leads the all-time series 13-7, but A&M has won four of the last five games between the two teams.

I cordially invite you to join Jeff Griesch and me for Nebraska Women’s Basketball on the Husker Sports Network. Our radio broadcast Saturday vs. Texas A&M begins with the Husker Courtside pre-game show at 11:45 a.m. (central) with the tip-off scheduled for 12 noon on KFGE 98.1 FM (Froggy 98) in Lincoln, KTWI 93.3 FM (Twister 93.3) in Omaha, KRVN 880 AM in Lexington, and available to our entire 21-station radio network. All Husker Women’s Basketball broadcasts are also available for free worldwide on the internet at www.huskers.com. I hope you can join us.

Go Big Red! Matt

Here’s how to vote and show your support of Kelsey right now:
http://www.seniorCLASSaward.com
OR
Text W6 to 74567