Tigers wary of Aggies’ senior point guard

Acie Law is one of those players. It seems like he has been playing college basketball for a while.

A senior guard, Law is the player chiefly responsible for the great improvement in No. 6 Texas A&M’s basketball program.

The first year he played for the Aggies, A&M went 0-16 in the Big 12, a record that cost Melvin Watkins his job as Aggies head coach. But during his last three seasons, Law has become one of the finest players in the Big 12. And as the reputation of the Aggies’ program has risen, so has Law’s. His knack for hitting clutch 3-pointers has gotten him more time on SportsCenter than probably any other basketball player in Texas A&M history.

So, Missouri coach Mike Anderson can be excused if he momentarily forgot how long Law’s career has been.

“Acie’s played in the Big 12 for 12 years, I mean...” Anderson said, drawing laughter from himself and the media. “Did I say 12 years? I meant four years. You can scratch that, y’all.”

After taking a second to compose himself, Anderson called Law a “polished basketball player that’s improved from Day 1.”

“He’s got some players with him,” Anderson said.

After Missouri’s game Wednesday night, the Tigers praised their next opponent and, more specifically, their star player. And that was all happening before they got to their respective homes to see Law score 33 points, including a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime against Texas. Although the Aggies ended up losing 98-96 in double-overtime, Law did nothing to discourage anybody from thinking he might be one of the finest players in college basketball, nor did his team do anything to diminish its reputation.

“Billy (Gillispie) has done an outstanding job with that basketball team,” Anderson said. “They have one of the premier players in not only our league, but the country in Acie Law. But they’ve got a lot of players to go with him.”

Law and his teammates, including forward Joseph Jones and center Antanas Kavaliauskas, will need to beat Missouri (18-10, 7-8) in College Station, Texas, to have a chance to win a share of the Big 12 regular season championship. Combined with a win Saturday, Texas A&M (24-5, 12-3) will need Texas to win at Kansas to force a three-way split of the league crown.

Despite the Aggies’ place in the standings compared to Missouri’s, Keon Lawrence said he thinks the Tigers will be a tough match-up for the Aggies.

“They really haven’t played a team, I ain’t really seen them play a team that run up and down like we run up and down,” Lawrence said. “It’s going to be a fight. We gotta be blue-collar like Coach (Anderson) wants.”

While sounding confident about his team’s chances, Anderson sounded like a coach who knew his team was headed for a different kind of challenge, one that might be greater than the ones it faced in Lawrence, Kan., or St. Louis.

“They have a lot of players. They are a good basketball team,” Anderson said, emphasizing the good by drawing out the Os. “They got size, they got guard play. It’s going to be a tremendous, tremendous challenge.”

WELCOME BACK: Marcus Watkins will return to Texas A&M for the first time as an active player after transferring to Missouri in 2004. Two seasons ago, Marcus Watkins was a member of the Tigers when they were blown out 91-63 in College Station.

Marcus Watkins, however, was sitting the season out because of NCAA rules regarding transfers.

On Saturday, Marcus Watkins will play his last regular season game where he played his first, Reed Arena.

“That’s another senior night for me,” Marcus Watkins said. “I’m looking forward to playing against the guys my dad recruited, guys I practiced with and played with every day.”

When the Watkins’ left Texas A&M in 2004, the Aggies had finished one of the worst seasons in Big 12 history. Melvin Watkins had resigned and the program appeared to be years away from contending for any sort of championship.

Just three seasons later, however, the Aggies are one of the NCAA’s best teams and Melvin Watkins’ successor, Gillispie, is considered one of the best coaches in the nation.

But for all of the reasons Marcus Watkins has to be bitter toward Texas A&M, he isn’t.

“I’m excited to go back. There’s going to be a lot of friends and people I went to high school with back at the game and some of the teammates I played with,” Marcus Watkins said. “It’s fun playing there and I also want to get a win.”

On Thursday, Marcus Watkins was named to the Big 12’s All-Academic second team. He is pursuing a master’s degree in finance after graduating from MU last year.

OFF THE BENCH: For the first time since the Nebraska game on Feb. 3, Lawrence was not in the starting lineup. His normal spot in the starting five was taken by Marcus Watkins, whom the team was honoring on his senior night.

Lawrence, who has smoothly adjusted from being a reserve to starter, said coming off the bench didn’t affect his performance.

Instead, he said he was disappointed with his play early in the game.

“I wasn’t really playing my basketball,” Lawrence said. “Then I saw I really had to pick it up.”

Lawrence scored 13 points against Colorado, with eight coming in the second half.