Issue date: 1/24/06 Section: Sports

JP Beato III -The Battalion A&M head coach Billy Gillispie argues a call last week against Oklahoma. Gillispie met with the media on Monday to talk Aggie basketball.

After snapping their 3-game losing streak, the Aggies are now confident that they can compete against any team in the conference. Getting their first road win of the year and making big shots at the end of the game to get that win were critical, especially considering the toughest part of the Aggies' schedule is still to come.

"You hope that you're able to get in close games in this conference," Coach Billy Gillispie said. "If you are, then you're heading in the right direction. It could be a lot worse. All five of our games have come down to the wire. I hope that we continue to have ones just like that. That means we have a chance to win them all. Eventually, if you continue to get better, you'll make enough plays to win some of them, and I think it's a step in the right direction for us."

Prior to its 86-81 win at Iowa State, Texas A&M's last road win was against Depaul in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Last season, seven of A&M's 10 losses came outside the friendly confines of Reed Arena. The ISU victory was made greater by the Aggies' ability to pull out a win in a close game, which is something they have failed to do three times in the span of a week.

"I think too much has been made out of us having a fragile mind-set," Gillispie said. "I don't think consideration has been given to how tough our players are. We missed a couple of shots at K-State, missed a couple of shots at Oklahoma State, missed a play or two against Oklahoma, but the thing is we had great confidence. People are worried about our confidence, but the real deal is how we put ourselves in that position, made a ton of big plays to be in a position to take the last shot or make the last play. I've never worried about the confidence of this group."

"I tend to harp on the positive things that they did to put themselves in that position, after being 14 down, after being 10 down, after being four or six down to Oklahoma, we had to make a bunch of big plays to be in those games. That's the way I tend to look at it more so than missing the last shot," Gillispie said.

One of the reasons the Aggies have been able to stay close is the stellar play of junior Acie Law IV. Law's 22 second half points against Kansas State brought A&M back from a 14 point deficit, and he is averaging 23 points a game in Big 12 play.

"I can't imagine many guys playing better than he's played for us in the first five games," Gillispie said. "But I haven't seen all the teams play, all the games of all the teams, so I don't know yet."

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