By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Columnist

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Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon was proud of his team for what they overcame in their victory against the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday.

First, the Aggies avoided the letdown after a big win against rival Texas. Kansas State was unable to do the same, losing to Missouri on Saturday after beating No. 2 Kansas for the first time in 24 years at home last Wednesday. Baylor suffered the same fate a week earlier, losing at home to Oklahoma after its emotional five-overtime victory over the Aggies.

Turgeon was also short-handed in the one practice the Aggies had to prepare for the Sooners, who had five days to get ready.

Starting guard Dominique Kirk missed Friday's practice to attend the funeral of a family member. Turgeon knew Josh Carter was still hurting from banging his knee the week before in the Oklahoma State game, and Bryan Davis told him he might not be able to play because of an injured foot, which he acquired in the win against Texas.

"I thought we were at a little bit of a disadvantage, but the advantage we did have was we were at home," Turgeon said. "A lot of times [the players] don't get enough credit for what they accomplish."

Although Turgeon doesn't expect Davis to miss any time, he did say it would be about two weeks before he is 100 percent.

Turgeon, who turns 43 on Tuesday, is 0-5 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. Four losses came as a player at Kansas from 1984-87. The fifth came in the first round of the NIT in 2003, when he was coach at Wichita State and his Shockers fell 76-65 to the Cyclones.

Johnny Orr's Cyclones made it to the Sweet 16 during Turgeon's playing days at Kansas with the likes of Jeff Hornacek and Jeff Grayer, who played in the NBA.

"It's Hilton magic. They are always much better in that building," said Turgeon, whose Jayhawks were 4-0 at home against Iowa State.

Second-year Cyclone coach Greg McDermott also has an edge on Turgeon, winning 7 of 11 games against him while he was at Northern Iowa and Turgeon coached Wichita State.

Turgeon won once at Northern Iowa and lost the only time the two met in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Turgeon said he felt that Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel summed things up well for the Aggie basketball program when he talked about the pride at A&M.

"That's why when we lost [three straight] everyone got distraught, thought the world was coming to an end, because there is so much pride here," Turgeon said. "Pride starts with Joe [Jones] Dominque [Kirk] and Josh [Carter]. Those guys worked so hard to build this thing up, and at 18-4 it's at a high level, and they want to keep it that way."

A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair said the Aggies' 22-0 run in their 63-46 win at Texas Tech on Saturday was a result of what the team did on the defensive end.

The 22 straight points wasn't the most by the Aggies over a Big 12 team under Blair. On the road against Texas in February of 2006, the Aggies went on a 28-0 run in A&M's 73-53 victory. Blair credited the team's offense and shooting for that run.

Blair says there's no extra pressure in trying to get A&M another 1/2 point in the Lone Star Showdown when they host Texas on Saturday. After losing two Big 12 games at home, he says it doesn't matter who their opponent is, they can't afford another loss at Reed.

He then added that they'd like to make it three in a row at home over Texas to go along with the four straight victories at home by the men's basketball team, the two straight points the women's swimming team has earned and to help the soccer team, which "has carried everyone's lunch for so long."

The Aggies, which have never won the Lone Star Showdown overall in the previous three years, leads UT 4 1/2-2. The first to 10 points wins the trophy.

• Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.

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