College Confidential

Texas losing 30-18 at halftime

The Longhorns have put together some bad halves of basketball this season, but this one is a beaut.

Texas hit only 8 of 33 field-goal attempts in the first half as host Oklahoma State led 30-18 at halftime in a game crucial to the Cowboys' NCAA Tournament hopes.

A.J. Abrams led the Longhorns with six points at halftime and Damion James had only four.

James Anderson had 11 and Marshall Moses 10 for the Cowboys.

OSU expanded its lead to 36-21 early in the second half.

SEC ramblings: LSU

Welcome to another installment of the Internet sports bar. Pull up a chair and let's talk about the SEC. Today's subject, LSU football.

Last season was supposed to be Ryan Perriloux's year. The much-ballyhooed quarterback had done his time as a backup and it was his turn to take the controls. But after a series of off-the-field problems, Perriloux was kicked off the team by coach Les Miles.

That left the Tigers without an experienced quarterback. In the SEC, that spells trouble, unless you have a great defense. LSU didn't.

LSU played musical chairs with its quarterbacks, first using Harvard transfer Andrew Hatch, then redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee and freshman Jordan Jefferson. Despite playing the three quarterbacks, the offense more often thrived than not. It's only disappointment was the 31-13 loss to Ole Miss.

Now, back to the defense. In what could only be called a horror show, the Tigers gave up 51 points to Florida, 52 to Georgia, 27 to Alabama and 31 each to Ole Miss and Arkansas. All were losses.

Miles brought in a whole crew of new defensive coaches, starting with old warhorse John Chavis, who coached with Phil Fulmer for many years at Tennessee. Chavis will coach the linebackers and coordinate the defense. Miles also brought in Ron Cooper to coach the secondary and Joe Robinson and Brick Haley to split the defensive line. All are proven, veteran coaches.

Lee and Jefferson return at quarterback along with two players who graduated early from high school, Russell Shepard and Charis Garrett. Shepard especially has LSU fans excited.

A backfield full of running backs returns. The receiving corps will be the envy of the conference.

If the new defensive coaches can get their side of the ball settled and if one quarterback settles in and becomes comfortable, LSU could find itself back in the SEC Championship game and the BCS title picture.

Next: Tennessee

OU freshman receiver injured in accident

Oklahoma redshirt freshman wide receiver Corey Wilson was in a local hospital in critical condition after being involved in a highway collision Friday afternoon, The Oklahoman reported Saturday.

Wilson, the younger brother of former Sooner star receiver Travis Wilson, played at Carrollton Creekview was thrown from his vehicle southbound on I-35 near the Pauls Valley exit after colliding with a pickup that was also southbound.

He was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown 45 feet after both vehicles rolled off the highway, according to an Oklahoma State Trooper. He suffered head and internal injuries. A hospital spokesman told The Oklahoman that Wilson's family asked that his condition not be released.--Mike Jones.

 

UT's Johnson sidelined

STILLWATER, Okla.--Texas forward Gary Johnson will not play this afternoon at Oklahoma State, according to a team official.

Johnson sat out Wednesday's win over Texas Tech after he sprained an ankle in the second half of Saturday's win over Oklahoma. Coach Rick Barnes said on Friday he expected Johnson to play, but it was determined after the Saturday morning shoot-around that his ankle was not in good enough condition for him to play.--Mike Jones.

Carter powers Aggies again

Josh Carter scored a career-high 29 points, hitting 7 of his 10 3-point attempts to lead Texas A&M to a 87-69 win over Iowa State at Reed Arena. The Aggies were 12-for-27 (44.4 percent) from beyond the arc as a team on the way to their fourth consecutive victory.

Chinemelu Elonu added 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, most of that coming on slam dunks, and he had 10 rebounds. Craig Brackins scored 20 points for Iowa State but had just two in the second half.

The win continues to boost Texas A&M's NCAA Tournament stock. The Aggies (21-8, 7-7 Big 12) are ranked 35th in the latest CBSSports.com RPI rankings.

-- Lori Dann

Aggies gunning for fourth straight win

After trailing early, Texas A&M scored nine consecutive points during a two-minute stretch late in the first half to take a 44-37 halftime lead over Iowa State at Reed Arena.

The Aggies, who are seeking their fourth consecutive win to pull even at .500 in Big 12 play, were 6-for-15 from 3-point range in the half and 16-for-32 overall. Josh Carter leads A&M with 11 points, going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc, but the Aggies have been unable to contain Craig Brackins. Iowa State's 6-foor-10 forward has 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting.

Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon went with an unusual lineup, starting rarely used senior guard Bryson Graham along with forwards David Loubeau and Nate Walkup in place of Donald Sloan, Derrick Roland and Chinemelu Elonu.

-- Lori Dann

ESPN's latest bracket

ESPN.com Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has put Oklahoma State as one of the last four teams in the NCAA Tournament. OSU can certainly reward Lunardi's analysis with a victory today (5 p.m., ESPN2) over visiting Texas.

This gives the Big 12 five NCAA selections (Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Texas and OSU) for the first time in a long time this season.

Texas A&M is not in Lunardi's first four out but the next four out, as obviously he isn't projecting the Aggies to win out in the regular season and maybe win a couple in the Big 12 tournament.

The last four in: Florida, Oklahoma State, Penn State and Michigan (which is 5-7 in its last 12).

The first four out: Minnesota, Providence, Cincinnati and Maryland.

The next four out: San Diego State, Texas A&M, New Mexico and Kansas State.

No love for the Mountain West Conference all of a sudden. San Diego State comes to TCU tonight (7:30 at the Run-DMC) off two straight defeats, a wipeout a week ago at New Mexico and a home loss to BYU. New Mexico has been on a roll of late, but has no eye-opening victories if you discount conference play.

-- Vince Langford

Baylor pressing too hard for victories

So what has happened to the Baylor Bears this season?

The team that celebrated wildly after it was the 64th team selected to last year's 64-team NCAA tournament field has been uncharacteristically struggling this season. Going into Saturday afternoon's home game against Colorado, the Bears have dropped eight of their last nine games and are closer to making the NIT than the NCAA tournament.

While it pains him to say it, Baylor coach Scott Drew knows why his squad has struggled.

"Before (this season) we never really had any expectations (from outsiders),'' Drew said. "I know as seniors, it's your last go-round, so you try that much harder.

"I think our whole team at certain points have been pressing. That's a different feeling for all of us.''

Baylor is 16-11 overall and just 4-9 in Big 12 play. Based on appearing in the NCAA tournament last year for the first time in 20 years, the fans expect more.

Senior guard Curtis Jerrells admits that he and his teammates are pressing too hard to collect some victories. And he's vowing changes.

"I just thought we were better than we were,'' Jerrells said. "But we put ourselves in this position, so it's going to be up to us if we want to get to where we want to get to.''

By Jerrells' estimation, the Bears must win their final three regular season games against Colorado, Texas and Nebraska, and then win at least three games in the conference tournament in order to have a realistic chance at gaining an NCAA postseason berth.

"Whatever has to be done has to be done,'' Jerrells said. "I don't really think we can afford to lose.

"We've got three games left in conference (play), and we're going to have to put it down in the Big 12 tournament if we want to get to where we want to be.''

_ Dwain Price

 

Big 6th leads Aggies to 9-2 win over UC Irvine

HOUSTON — Luke Anders homered and drove in four runs and Brooks Raley scattered five hits over six innings to lead Texas A&M to a 9-2 victory over UC Irvine in the Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park on Friday.

With the scored tied 1-1, Dylan Petrich led off the sixth inning with a single to shortstop. Anders came up next and drove in two runs with a homer to left. Seven players scored as the Aggies (6-1) batted around in the inning.

Anders wound up with two more RBIs with a single through the right side.

Raley (2-0) struck out two batters. Kyle Thebeau pitched three innings and gave up one hit to earn the save. Daniel Bibona (1-1) gave up five runs in 5 1-3 innings. Sean Madigan and Casey Stevenson drove in one run a piece for the Anteaters.

-- The Associated Press

Talking points for UNT spring ball

The Mean Green get going at 3 p.m. Monday and finish with the April 4 spring game. Scrimmages are March 10 and 27 at Fouts Field, and everything is open to the public. Practices are scheduled for the athletic center unless weather or field wear force moves to Fouts.