Texas A&M point guard Donald Sloan can’t help but think about this time last year.

He’d loaded up on Aggies gear to bring home to his mother for Christmas.

Sandra died last March, in the midst of A&M’s postseason, after a lengthy, undisclosed illness.

“This year, I have that money, and nothing to do with it,” Sloan said. “I guess I’ll spoil my brother a little bit.”

Sloan said the loss made him grow up faster. Basketball, as always, has helped.

“Basketball has always been an outlet,” said Wendell Thornton, who was an assistant coach to Sloan at Seagoville, Texas, and who Sloan stays with when he returns to the Dallas area.

Thornton remembers when Sloan, who lived with an aunt much of the time growing up, unabashedly pinned a picture of Sandra on his backpack. Then there’s the “Momma’s Boy” tattoo.

Sloan (6-3, 205) is growing into his role as point guard. Texas A&M, 10-1, has won six straight but still struggles with inconsistency in coach Mark Turgeon’s second season.

When Sloan, who has started 46 straight games for A&M, discusses one of his least favorite subjects, distaste drips.

“I led the team in turnovers last year,” he said of his 82 miscues. “Mine were ridiculous.”

Not so this season. Sloan, a junior, has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.4-to-1 through 11 games – among the best in the Big 12. Heralded freshman point guard Dash Harris hasn’t progressed as quickly as Turgeon expected, making Sloan’s play even more crucial.

Sloan has always been able to score – he averages 12.4 points per game and can take over in stretches – but Turgeon looks at the whole stat sheet.

“He’s getting there,” Turgeon said. “He’s working so hard on turnovers. He’s been beat up so bad about his turnovers.

“I still think he could see the floor better and recognize situations better. … He’s got to hit guys when they’re open, so they’re not mad at him during the game. He’s doing a pretty good job.”

Turgeon pointed out a sequence just before halftime of the Aggies’ win last week over Florida A&M. The Rattlers switched from zone to man defense, but Sloan didn’t let his teammates get set and shot too quickly. He drew a foul and made the free throws, but Turgeon, “thought it could have been a little more intelligent.”

Sloan wants to be automatic from the free-throw line, and it’s been a focus since he went 4-of-11 from the line in the Aggies’ wild, five-overtime loss to Baylor last season.

He employs a routine that helps him – get a good grip, dribble three times, focus on the rim, think “finish high” – and, eventually, lets the ball go.

At times, he takes the full 10 seconds allowed, but he’s shooting 83 percent, up from 67 percent last year.

Sloan harps on his teammates about treating every game like it’s the game that will put them back in the NCAA Tournament. He said that comes from almost missing the tourney after a wooly Big 12 season last year.

“If we played every game with that intensity,” Sloan said, “then we could be a pretty good team.”

When he needs to remind himself, he knows where to find the motivation.

“Before every game, I look up at the ceiling and make it like she’s looking down on me,” Sloan said of his mother, and smiled. “Try to do the best that I can. Make sure I don’t do anything silly.”

Posted on December 23rd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: College basketball news