Eagle Staff Report

It's been almost three decades since the Texas A&M men's basketball team shocked the nation with an overtime victory against North Carolina to reach the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16, where it lost to eventual national champion Louisville in overtime.

A&M gets another chance Saturday to be the talk of the country when the ninth-seeded Aggies take on top-seeded Connecticut in the West Regional's second round of the NCAA Tournament at 2:35 p.m., in the Wachovic Center in Philadelphia.

The Aggies are comfortable with and have a history of being the underdog.

A&M (24-9) had to win its last six regular season games to finish at 9-7 in Big 12 play and make the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies rolled past eighth-seeded Brigham Young 79-66 on Thursday for their fourth straight first-round victory, and it was the third time A&M was favored to lose.

UConn (28-4) is a 10-point pick over the Aggies.

"Our guys know what's at stake," A&M head coach Mark Turgeon said. "We know we're not favored tomorrow to win. We understand that. But that's why you play the games. We're looking forward to the opportunity. We feel blessed to be here. A month ago we didn't know if we were going to be a part of this tournament. Now we've won a game and we get to play a big-time program that's been good for a long time and we're looking forward to it."

A 5-3 NCAA Tournament record in the last four seasons has prepared A&M for the Huskies, who have made 27 NCAA Tournament appearances, including national championships in 1999 and 2004.

A&M has never been to the Final Four, but recent national semifinalists have had to beat the Aggies en route.

The Aggies upset Syracuse in 2006, then lost to eventual Final Four entry LSU on a 3-pointer with 3.9 seconds left. Last year, top-seeded UCLA rallied from a 10-point deficit for a 51-49 victory over the Aggies en route to a Final Four appearance.

"We just know we're going to have to battle the whole time," A&M senior forward Josh Carter said. "If we get a lead, we can't blow it like we did last year. We just have to compete and have a sense of urgency."

A&M dominated inside against BYU, with 6-foot-9 Bryan Davis scoring 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 6-10 Chinemelu Elonu having 10 rebounds. Each junior had three blocks.

Davis and Elonu will be matched up against 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet, who averages 13.9 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game.

"It's going to take a lot of discipline down low when to take shots and when not to," Davis said. "He will come off his man and block shots, or he's on you blocking. [I'm] going to have to be disciplined enough to find the open man if he does come over and help."

Thabeet is complemented inside by 6-9 forward Stanley Robinson, but the Huskies have a pair of physical guards in 6-2 A.J. Price (14.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and 6-7 Jeff Adrien (13.6 ppg, 10.2 rpg).

"They look a lot taller than we look," Turgeon said. "I had to leave [UConn's 103-47 victory over Chattanooga] so I could sleep. I saw them right out from warm-ups, I didn't want to watch any of the game, they looked so big. I hear a lot of national people saying we match up with them. We'll see.

"But there are some similarities. Both like to play man-to-man defense. Both try to really pound the ball inside offensively. Play inside out. You know, they're a heck of a team. So if people are comparing us to them, I think that's good."

UConn is not as deep as it was to start the season after losing guard Jerome Dyson to a season-ending knee injury last month. Dyson was averaging 13.2 points per game, led the team in steals, was second in assists and third in rebounds.

Last year it was Price who suffered a knee injury in a first-round 70-69 loss to San Diego.

UConn had another key cog missing in Thursday's first-round victory -- head coach Jim Calhoun, who wasn't feeling well and was admitted to the hospital overnight for tests.

He was back with the team for Friday's practice and attended the press conference.

"They looked at virtually everything, it seems, and came out with the fact that I probably was totally dehydrated," the 66-year-old Calhoun said. "They could find that out. I left early this morning. I bribed my way out of there as quick as I could. Quite frankly, I feel good now."

The Huskie players sure feel good to have him back.

"I think we do have a bit of a bond because [of our health,]" Price said of his relationship with Calhoun. "It both shows a lot about our character, through him and myself, and shows how tough we are as people. And we're able to bounce back through adversity.

"It starts with coach. I've done it in my career. I think it translates all throughout this team, the way we're able to bounce back and fight through adversity."

This was the third time the veteran coach has missed time during the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies won national titles the first two times.

"Maybe it's an omen or something," Calhoun said. "Hopefully it is. I wouldn't necessarily like these types of omens. I'd rather have the kids play. If they play like they did yesterday, everything else will work its way out."

But Calhoun knows his team has to attack A&M as if the Huskies were playing fellow Big East beasts Pittsburgh or Louisville.

"They're a terrific basketball team," Calhoun said. "We're telling them we have 40 minutes to Phoenix [for regionals], and that's really what our goal will be. But they match up very well and we aren't going to overwhelm them inside as we were able to do with Chattanooga. You know, they shoot the ball very well.

"I watched their tape last night, too. I had plenty of time to watch a lot of tape at 2, 3, 4 in the morning. They're a very, very good basketball team. We have our work cut out for us."

*

It was 1980 when A&M beat North Carolina, then lost to Louisville. A&M's frontcourt included Vernon Smith, Rynn Wright and Rudy Woods who were called "The Wall.

A&M beat Bradley in the first round, 55-53, then outscored UNC 25-8 in overtime beat the Tar Heels.

TEXAS A&M BASKETBALL

* Saturday's game: No. 9 seed Texas A&M (24-9) vs. No. 1 Connecticut (28-4), NCAA Tournament West Regional second round, 2:35 p.m. in Philadelphia

* TV/radio: KBTX, Ch. 5/WTAW, 1620 AM

TEXAS A&M (24-9)

POSNAMEHT.CL.PPG.RPG

G Donald Sloan6-3jr.11.83.6

G Derrick Roland6-4jr.6.42.5

F Josh Carter6-7sr.13.94.4

F Bryan Davis6-9jr.10.76.7

C Chinemelu Elonu6-10jr.10.07.5

CONNECTICUT (28-4)

POSNAMEHT.CL.PPG.RPG

G A.J. Price6-2sr.14.2*4.7

G Craig Austrie6-3sr.7.1*2.3

G Jeff Adrien6-7sr.13.610.2

F Stanley Robinson6-9jr.7.85.5

C Hasheem Thabeet 7-3 jr.13.910.9

*assists per game

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