Aggie men digging deeper into bench

With the transfer of guard Jamal Branch and the ankle injury to forward Kourtney Roberson the Texas A&M bench has taken quite a hit lately.

It showed against Baylor in the Big 12 opener with the bench scoring only two points in going 1 for 6 in a total of 59 minutes.

Branch and Roberson were the first ones off the bench when available, so now it's on to plan B for the Aggies.

"We've got to get our bench better, but we're down to 10 scholarship players," said A&M coach Billy Kennedy. "We're limited, but we have to be a lot smarter on the offensive end, smarter on the defensive end, and be more efficient. I know our bench is better than their performance [Monday] night."

A&M did get 11 of the 32 individual rebounds from its bench and all three of its blocked shots.

Kennedy has commended 6-foot-10 forward Keith Davis for his defensive play off the bench all season, and liked what he got out of the Daniel Alexander on the defensive end in the 61-52 loss to Baylor.

"He gave up some size against them but he competed," said Kennedy. "Offensively he's better than what he's playing. He can definitely shoot the ball and stretch the defense a little bit. But he's a redshirt freshman who hasn't played a lot so it's just going to take him a little more time getting comfortable playing in that kind of atmosphere and against that kind of talent."

Alexander made an impression in his first major role off the bench.

He was 3 for 5 for six points and had eight rebounds in 16 minutes in the win over Arkansas Tech. In 10 minutes against the Bears, Alexander was 0 for 3.

"For the bench to bring one thing that we are not, I think it would be immediate scoring and hitting our shots," said Alexander. "For me individually it's frustrating when I'm not hitting shots because I get so few that I want to be able to knock them down. If I consider myself a shooter, I need to be able to do those things."

After coming in as a highly touted wing from Dripping Springs, Alexander redshirted last season under then-coach Mark Turgeon.

Alexander has proven he can shoot the basketball, averaging 19.6 points a game his junior season at Dripping Springs while garnering district MVP honors.

But like many high school stars, he's having to adjust to a lesser role, and making the most of what minutes he does get.

"For me it's having to get in the flow of the game," Alexander said. "There is already a speed to the game and you have to get up to that and then not only lock into that but push it to the next level."

Alexander is also having to adjust to a new position, often coming in for players that play with their backs to the basket.

"I don't really consider myself a post per se. I've never played post until this year, so sometimes I get frustrated because I'm not as strong as David Loubeau or Kourtney [Roberson], so for me I try to work on getting stronger," said Alexander, who said he's eating all the time to add to his 212-pound frame. "I'm trying to add [an inside game] to my repertoire instead of all finesse, which is the kind of game that I've had. So it's kind of been a challenge for me to play a Kourtney type game, a back to the basket. It's not what I'm used to or something I feel I excel at, but its what the team needs right now."

Early foul trouble skewed the total minutes of the starters on Monday, but in the second half of the Baylor game four starters played all but seven of a possible 80 minutes.

Kennedy said ideally he'd like to play his starters 25 to 28 minutes. This season, he admitted, it might be more like 30 to 33 minutes and then added, "we may have to play major minutes."

A lot could depend on the performances of Alexander, Davis, and freshman Jordan Green, the threesome getting most of those minutes lately when Kennedy does rest his starters. Kennedy would also like to get some scoring out of junior Naji Hibbert and senior transfer Zach Kinsley, both of whom came in as scorers.

"Scoring is something me and some of the other guys, Zach [Kinsley], one of best shooters, and Naji, who has proven himself that he can hit shots, can do," said Alexander "I definitely think we'll come around as we get more comfortable because it's kind of a new situation for us and once get more comfortable we'll be able to bring it immediately instead of having to play for a while and then get warm offensively."

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Looking at Iowa State: Royce White might be inventing a new position, point power forward. The 6-foot-8, 270-pounder leads the Cyclones in assists at 3.8 per game, and against Texas would bring the ball up and attack the defense from the top of the 3-point arc.

It worked in that two Longhorns fouled out trying to guard him, although he didn't make the Longhorns pay as much as he could have, making only 8 of 17 free throws.

White, a sophomore transfer from Minnesota, leads ISU in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocked shots.

The Cyclones lost sophomore guard Bubu Palo to a fractured wrist. He tried to go against Texas, but played only 11 minutes. He injured the wrist in the previous game.

A&M defeated Iowa State 71-66 in their lone meeting last season. Melvin Ejim started in that game, pulling down nine boards and scoring nine points. Ejim comes off the bench this season with three transfers and a freshman starting.

ISU beat Rice at the South Padre Island Invitational 90-63. A&M lost at home to Rice 65-58.

The Cyclones lost their only game to a ranked team, 76-66 at Michigan.

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NOTES -- Every home team won its opening game of Big 12 play. ... A&M has won its last five Big 12 home openers. ... All military personnel and their families will be admitted free. Today's game is the final day for the Aggie men of the Half-Price Holiday Hoops deal with seats starting at $5. ... It is also Scout Day, with all scouts getting in free by wearing their uniform. ... Aggie players will be available for autographs on the floor following the game. ... A&M coach Billy Kennedy said Kourtney Roberson's diagnosis of 4 to 6 weeks is probably still correct. He injured the ankle in the Rice game on Dec. 22.