Aggies Roll to Easy Win Over Anderson

[Aggie One]

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Jason Wills scored 18 points and North Carolina A&T beat Anderson, S.C., 86-50 on Wednesday night.

Steven Rush added 17 points for the Aggies (2-2), who have followed up consecutive road losses at Saint Louis and No. 19 Pittsburgh with home wins against Houston Baptist and the Division II Trojans.

Kevis Cornwell had 10 points for Anderson (0-2).

North Carolina A&T shot 52.5 percent, held Anderson to 27.7 percent shooting, outrebounded the Trojans 43-30 and had 15 steals.

The Aggies led 42-23 at halftime.

[Tee-Sharp]

We beat them a lot worse than Charleston Southern did, if that means anything.

csusports.athleticsite.com/article.asp?articleID=2015

[Bornthrilla]

Attendance was over 3200. Very nice turnout for the opening game.

[Bornthrilla]

GREENSBORO, November 14, 2007 – North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team continues to prove there is more to basketball than hitting 3-point shots.

In their home opener on Wednesday night, the Aggies shot just 4-for-20 from 3-point range, but still shot 52.5 percent from the floor, earning an 86-50 win over Division II Anderson University at Corbett Sports Center.

Senior forward Jason Wills led the Aggies with 18 points and eight rebounds on 6-for-7 shooting. Senior guard Steven Rush added 17 despite still not finding his touch from the outside. The Aggies improved to 2-2 on the season. Win No. 2 marks the earliest the Aggies have had two wins in a season since 1986.

“We’re still not shooting the ball well from the perimeter,’’ said head coach Jerry Eaves. “But we know it’s going to come. And when it does it’s going to make us drastically different. We were still able to score 86 points because we got to the basket and we shot well from the free throw line. If we had hit our threes the last two games we probably would have scored 115 points in each game.”

The Aggies were just 7-for-22 from 3-point range in their 96-71 win over Houston Baptist on Sunday. In the first half they hit just one of their 10 3-point attempts and the normally reliable Rush was just 2-for-10 from three throughout the game.

But the Aggies turned up the pressure on the Trojans, forcing turnovers and turning those turnovers into easy layups. Leading 15-11 with 10:24 remaining in the first half, the Aggies went on a 9-0 run that included three fastbreak layups and a Wills 3-pointer that put the Aggies ahead 24-11 with 6:51 remaining in the half.

The Trojans broke up the run with a free throw from Stephen Cobb, but the Aggies answered with 10 consecutive points thanks to three Trojan turnovers that helped the Aggies get to the line on being fouled in transition. The Aggies went into the locker room with a 42-23 lead.

When Rush did show signs of breaking out of his shooting slump by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers, it gave the Aggies a commanding 62-32 lead with 13:07 remaining in the game.

“Right now we’re just trying to find our way,’’ said Eaves, who played 14 players on Wednesday. “I wasn’t planning to go that deep into the bench so early, but you do what you have to do to get production from your players. People have to remember, we have a brand new team. We have to work to get better. It’s not a crossword puzzle. When we get down to about an eight or nine man rotation I think we’ll become more consistent.”

The Aggies will play in Greensboro on Monday, but away from Corbett Sports Center as they face Montreat at the Greensboro Coliseum Monday night at 7. Kevis Cornwell led the Trojans with 10 points.

[natedizzle]

was that attendance counting students or just paid attendance?

[bluehaze]

Counting students.

[SHB2K]

How was the dawg pound?? Still hype? or did they suffer from the loss of some valuable seniors?

[Blackfoot]

Feels good to be back on the winning side, don't it.

[Maxell]

For some reason Anderson isn't even acknowledging that a game took place. This article dated today says that they open their season on Saturday.

www.ac.edu/sports/story.php?sport_id=2&story_id=2358

[Aggie One]

Would you advertise a 36 point butt kicking to an HBCU?

[Aggie77]

Even though this was a 36 point butt kicking, how fluid, how discipline, how organized and how hard did the team play from start to finish?

[Aggie One]

They are very strong defensively in their pressure defense and their rebounding is 1000% better with the additional size in the middle.

They put a ton of pressure on you from end to end and they hustle out on the break every chance they get. They are calling out to each other on defense and transition points will be big with this year's team.

Jason Wills can do just about anything he wants at the three spot. He's added an outside jumper to everything else and he has embraced his leadership role as a senior now.

The biggest shock to me was the off season development of 6-9 junior James Porter at starting center. A year ago this kid couldn't chew gum and walk at the same time. He is no longer the uncoordinated kid that came here two years and couldn't get up and down the floor.

I don't know what Eaves and his staff did with him in the off season but he slapped back four or five shots, one where he actually blocked it grabbed it and started a breakaway fast break in one motion and now finishes in the low post.

Coleman is a very good player. He'll need to to get a tad more mean but his skills are already there both offensively and defensively. Ed Jones showed some flashes and is still figuring out his role.

Having real size makes us a much more versatile team and much better inside. We 're not having to look for scoring from just Ewing and Rush anymore from beyond the arc like we did last year. They now have five or six guys that can hurt offensively if you concentrate everything on stopping Rush. They spread the ball around quite a bit and make good passes for the most part in finding the easy high percentage shot.

Tavarious Alston and Robert Johnson came off the bench and kept the up tempo moving. It's an odd team mixture of seven seniors and seven young underclassmen who can all play. Their depth is outstanding.

Once Eaves settles into a 8-9 man rotation and they learn each other completely, they are going to be very tough to deal with, very tough. We seem to be getting the old A&T swagger back that was there through the 80's under Don Corbett.

[DOOMS]

Did anybody catch them in either of the d-1 games?