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No. 9 Texas A&M looks to avoid rare back-to-back defeats

Jan 19, 2008 - 2:24 PM No. 9 Texas A&M (15-2) at Kansas St (11-4) 4:00 pm EST

MANHATTAN, Kansas (Ticker) - No. 9 Texas A&M hasn't suffered back-to-back losses in more than a year. The Aggies hope to avoid that scenario on Saturday against Kansas State.

Texas A&M (15-2, 1-1 Big 12) is coming off a 68-53 loss on Wednesday to Texas Tech, a game in which Red Raiders coach Bob Knight recorded his 900th career victory.

The loss ended an eight-game winning sreak for the Aggies, who shot a season-low 34 percent and committed a season-high 20 turnovers.

"We were really bad," said Texas A&M Coach Mark Turgeon, whose team had outscored each of its previous eight opponents by at least 17 points. "That's the only way I can put it. I think Tech was really good and we were bad."

The Aggies haven't lost consecutive games since falling to then-No. 9 LSU and then-No. 1 UCLA on December 5 and 9, 2006. Texas A&M hasn't dropped consecutive conference games since losing at then-No. 19 Oklahoma and then-No. 7 Texas on February 1 and 4, 2006.

Junior swingman Josh Carter is averaging a team-high 13.4 points for the Aggies, who are 0-8 all-time on the road against the Wildcats (11-4, 1-0).

Kansas State is led by freshman sensation Michael Beasley. The 6-9 forward is averaging 24.8 points and leads the nation in rebounding at 13.1 boards per game.