david.coleman@theeagle.com
Texas A&M senior forward Bryan Davis said it had been a long offseason waiting to play again after making it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Davis and the rest of the Aggie men's basketball team wasted no time getting back to their winning ways Friday in an 88-69 victory over Division II Angelo State before a crowd of 7,843 at Reed Arena. A&M had four players score in double figures, including David Loubeau with a game-high 20 points.
"I felt great out there," Loubeau said. "I guess this was my night. I was feeling it tonight, so I went out there and was aggressive and did what I had to do. It was definitely different this season [than last]. I'm a little more used to the schedule and I'm in a lot better shape."
Loubeau is so fluid around the basket that he makes even the toughest plays with an ease that's deceptive. The sophomore often took heavily contested shots near the basket but still managed a career high in points, hitting 10 of 14 shots.
Loubeau also showed that he could top his rebounding rate from last season, when he had 3.2 boards per game. Against the Rams, Loubeau almost tripled that with nine.
"David, at times, made it look easy," A&M head coach Mark Turgeon said. "He actually hit a 3 the other day in practice, just in rhythm [off a screen]. We had a huge advantage in there [down low], and our guys were able to take advantage of that. For [Loubeau and Davis] to play well in there is huge."
The Aggies also showed how important it is to make good decisions with the ball, totaling 19 assists on 33 field goals. A&M scored 17 points on fast breaks and had a big edge in the turnover battle.
With just under five minutes to go in the first half, A&M had seven turnovers to Angelo's eight but had outscored the Rams 11-2 off those miscues. For the game, A&M held a 25-6 edge in points off turnovers.
"We're trying to play at a different pace and we got into some numbers situations where we were turning the ball over or not finishing," Turgeon said. "I really got on them at halftime about turnovers. I didn't realize we'd only have three in the second half.
"Look at the lineup we put out there, and everyone can dribble and pass the ball and be good decision makers. I don't know why this can't be a habit for us, where we only have 10 turnovers a game."
Of course, all that sharing and ballhandling was helped by the excellent games that guards Dash Harris and Donald Sloan had.
Sloan got into some foul trouble but still tied for the most minutes played (28). The senior scored 14 points and had five rebounds and four assists.
Harris averaged two shots a game last season, playing in all 34 of A&M's games as a freshman. On Friday he was 3 for 4 from the floor for nine points and added three assists and one steal.
"At times, we shared the ball well offensively," Turgeon said. "For the most part, we guarded well. Obviously, our execution has to get a lot better. We have a bunch of guys that didn't play up to the level they're capable of. We have a very deep basketball team this early. We have nine guys that I can feel comfortable with out there."
Freshman Khris Middleton started the game at power forward, partly due to the lack of size for Angelo State. The 6-foot-7 Middleton and fellow freshman Naji Hibbert had a case of the yips, though, shooting a combined 2 for 12 from the field.
Each still found ways to contribute. Middleton was second on the team with eight rebounds and Hibbert was 5 for 7 from the free-throw line for seven points.
"The one guy I don't worry about making shots is Khris Middleton," Turgeon said. "He's going to make a lot of them in his career. It had to be nerves. We started him and he shot the one 2 feet over the rim, so he was really fired up.
"Naji had some good looks that bounced out. Those two will be fine. They acted like they belonged."
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NOTES -- B.J. Holmes played only 11 minutes because of a deep thigh bruise suffered earlier this week. ... Fourteen players got into the game for A&M, and nine played at least 12 minutes. ... A&M shot exactly 50 percent from the field in both the first and second halves. A&M made 16 of 32 shots in the first and 17 of 34 in the second.
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