Texas men's basketball notebook

Getting the point

Every time B.J. Holmes has had to play the point for Texas A&M, he's responded well. Yet media members always ask him the same thing afterward: How difficult was it?

After playing 36 minutes at point guard against Kansas in the Big 12 semifinals, Holmes had to admit it was plenty difficult -- at least that time out.

"Thirty-six minutes at the point I'm not used to, so that was eye-opening," Holmes said. "Physically, they are pressuring you the whole time at the point, and guarding Sherron [Collins] is not an easy task."

Holmes will take every minute he can get. Just three weeks ago he thought he had broken his foot when Texas' J'Covan Brown charged into him, and they both went crashing to the floor late in A&M's 74-58 victory at Reed Arena.

"I don't take anything for granted," Holmes said. "Every time I play it's like it's my last game. I'm glad it's not broken. It was a blessing to me, and I'm going to play harder every game. That's the way I go in looking at it."

While Dash Harris is A&M's starting point guard, Holmes has gained the confidence of A&M head coach Mark Turgeon, who isn't afraid to use Holmes when neeeded.

"I thought he was phenomenal against Kansas," Turgeon said. "B.J. did a great job of guarding [Collins] and running the team. Two years ago I couldn't hardly play B.J. at the point, which shows how far he's come."

What really happened

In the Big 12 tournament loss to Kansas, Turgeon appeared to be saying something to Collins during a skirmish that occurred when both teams were walking to their benches during a timeout.

Turgeon on Monday assured everyone he was yelling at the official to break up what was going on, that the official was allowing the skirmish to happen and if he'd have done his job there wouldn't have had to be a double technical.

"They had the same problem the night before in the Texas-Baylor game," Turgeon said. "I would never say anything to another player, no matter how heated the moment is. Even if they said something to me, I'd walk down to the coach and say something to him but not to the player."

Too young to know what's going on

Freshman Khris Middleton said he was teased for being so calm while the Aggies watched the NCAA tournament selection show Sunday.

"It was real fun," he said. "I thought I'd be nervous, but I was just watching TV. It was easy knowing we'd be in the tournament."

Sophomore point guard Dash Harris said the freshman will learn what it means Friday when he takes the court.

"They don't really notice it yet," Harris said. "Selection Sunday, our hearts were racing to see where we're playing and who we're playing. I'm excited about it. I can't wait knowing how we lost last year. I don't want to experience that again."

A&M won its opener against BYU last season but was never in its second-round game against No. 1 seed Connecticut, losing 92-66.

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