Harris wants A&M to work itself out of slump

Dash Harris went old school when making a point about turning around the recent misfortunes of the Texas A&M men's basketball team.

Recent old school, anyway.

The senior point guard didn't step too far back in A&M history when referring to many of the players who helped the Aggie basketball program return to respectability.

"Playing around guys like Donald Sloan, Josh Carter, Derrick Roland, Bryan Davis and guys like that, I know I have to bring it every day," Harris said. "The reason I am who I am today is because of those guys, playing around guys that brought it every day. Seeing how they fought so much opened my eyes to a different side, and I just try to relay that over to my teammates and the younger guys."

The Aggies (9-5) opened the season ranked 20th nationally but have hit hard times of late, dropping four of five games including two to teams A&M was favored to beat. A loss Wednesday in Austin to rival Texas would match A&M's worst stretch since the 2005-06 season.

A&M's offense has struggled for most of the last five games, but Harris knows if the Aggies are to right the ship it will start at the other end of the court.

"We've lost a couple of games every year since I've been here, but it's always been about starting back at square one, starting with defense," Harris said. "Every time we went on those losing streaks, it was because we got away from what our identity was, and that is defense first. We haven't been doing a great job on the defensive end, giving up a lot of points and teams are shooting a pretty good field goal percentage against us."

In the four recent losses, A&M's opponents have shot 46 percent from the field. It's not a terrible number until compared to the 41 percent A&M allowed last season.

The Aggies also were outrebounded in each of its last four losses.

Harris points to practices and accountability rather than the games as being the key in what has to change.

"That's what we need to learn, just play with more energy, more passion, more consistently, and it starts in practice," Harris said. "Everybody needs to take a look in the mirror. Our practice habits [have to change], whether you are tired because you get fatigued or whether you get nicked up with bumps and bruises, you have to play through it. We have to be consistent in practice, and then it becomes a habit for us come game time."

Harris would never use it as an excuse, but he has reason of late to be fatigued. With the transfer of freshman point guard Jamal Branch to St. John's, Harris' minutes have increased considerably. Before Branch left, Harris averaged 26 minutes a game. Since then he is up to 33 minutes a game, including 35 in the two Big 12 games. And at point guard, they've been awfully busy minutes with Harris also guarding the opponents' point guards.

"Of course everybody wants to play 40 minutes, but realistically you have to ask yourself can you really play 40 and maintain that focus and play every possession like it is the last possession," Harris said. "If I need a break, I'm the type of player [that] won't stay out there and hurt the team. I can let coach know when I'm ready and get right back out there."

Harris, known for his defense, has also taken over more of the scoring load of late.

As the primary distributor, he came into the season averaging just 3.7 points in his career with a high of 5.0 as a junior. In the last four games he has reached double-figures three times and has taken 33 shots, nearly half of his season total.

He's shooting only 39 percent, which is slightly above the rest of the team during that stretch.

"I think Dash is doing a pretty good job of playing hard, guarding the best guy on the other team, and he's shooting the ball better than in the past," A&M head coach Billy Kennedy said. "We need him to shoot the ball even better than he's shooting it [because] he ends up with the ball at the end of the shot clock a lot of the times."

Harris' assist totals (4.2 per game) are marginally higher and his turnovers (1.9) slightly less than in the past two seasons when he started all but two of the 65 games he played in.

"As a competitor I've always wanted the ball in my hands, but I'm also a team player and I'm about winning first," Harris said. "To have guys like Sloan or Josh Carter or Bryan Davis on the block, you know you have to get those guys the ball. This year it's a different offense, and sometimes it might be me with it and sometimes it may be Khris [Middleton], but having the ball in my hand and with the shot clock winding down I always know I'll be able to create for myself or for someone else, and I think me and my teammates are pretty comfortable with that."

What Harris is not comfortable with is losing.

A&M's longest losing streak during Harris' career has been three games on three different occasions, twice his freshman season.

"I'm not used to losing at all," he said. "It's taking a little longer, but slowly and surely we're adjusting to things as far as injuries, new coaching staff, new style of play. It's taking a little longer than usual, but I think it will get there, and I'm still looking forward to having a great season. We can still turn this around."

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NOTES -- Branch first announced he was transferring on Dec. 29. The 6-foot-3 freshman played 11 games with A&M, averaging 4.2 points and 2.5 assists in 18 minutes per game. He has to sit out the rest of this season and will be eligible to play in December. A former ESPNU Top 100 recruit, he was recruited by Marquette, Maryland and Arizona before accepting St. John's scholarship offer. Maryland is coached by former A&M head coach Mark Turgeon, who signed Branch out of Arlington Grace Prep.

Who: Texas A&M (9-5, 0-2) vs. Texas (11-4, 1-1)

When: 8 p.m., Wednesday

Where: Erwin Center, Austin

TV: ESPN2, Ch. 28

Radio: WTAW, 1620 AM

Texas (11-4, 1-1)

NameHt.ClassPPGRPG

G Myck Kabongo6-1fr.10.1*4.9

G J'Covan Brown6-1jr.18.4*3.9

G Sheldon McClellan6-4fr.12.13.7

F Jaylen Bond6-7fr.4.55.0

C Clint Chapman6-10sr.5.85.7

Texas A&M (9-5, 0-2)

G Dash Harris6-1sr.5.4*4.2

G Elston Turner6-5jr.13.33.4

F Khris Middleton6-7jr.12.65.0

F David Loubeau6-8sr.10.64.8

F Ray Turner6-9jr.11.46.6

*assists