Mark Turgeon says he's a compassionate guy. He also has a good memory.

That combination may have had something to do with the Aggies letting off the pedal in Sunday's 64-37 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in which No. 14 Texas A&M (9-1) scored 18 points before the Golden Lions could make a dent in the scoreboard.

"That was [Arkansas-Pine Bluff's] eighth road game already. And I've been there, so I'm, 'OK lets call the dogs off here, lets don't embarrass them and just try and get better,'" Turgeon said. "Well I called them off too soon and then [Arkansas-Pine Bluff] got a little rhythm. Unfortunately, I'm a compassionate guy."

Turgeon caught himself thinking back to his first year at Jacksonville State and at Wichita State, when being on the road and losing was the norm.

Turgeon was 8-18 at Jacksonville State in 1998-99 and 9-19 in his first of seven years at Wichita State. He stands at 162-120 for his career going into Wednesday's game against Detroit Mercy.

"I remember those days and there are some coaches that never walked the path that I've walked to get where they are, and are not nearly as compassionate," said Turgeon. "I've been through the whole deal, no budget, bus rides, all that kind of stuff."

Detroit-Mercy and coach Perry Watson won't get that same compassion on Wednesday when the Titans visit Reed Arena for a 7 p.m. game.

Turgeon believes the Titans are a good team. They are 4-6 though, and unlike Arkansas-Pine Bluff have only had three road games, winning one at Eastern Michigan.

"Detroit has good guards and are very well coached. Perry has been around the block as part of the Fab 5 [as the top assistant at Michigan], "Turgeon said. "Detroit plays a lot big games like this every year, so they won't be intimidated by us. And it's big game for them."

Another sign that Turgeon might be through calling off the dogs is that he's using the next five games to get his top seven players in the rotation in shape for conference play. That means more minutes for the starters, only one of whom -- Josh Carter -- averages at least 25 minutes per game.

"Even if we're up 25 or 30, just increase minutes to get ready for Big 12," Turgeon said. "I've been gracious to some guys that don't deserve minutes, just to get them a chance to play."

Working the ball inside to the post players the Aggies have was emphasized again at Monday's press conference.

Turgeon reiterated that they are not good at posting up or getting the ball inside. After grading the film of the Arkansas-Pine Bluff game he believes one of the reasons no one player is getting a lot of touches in the block is because they have four players who can score in the paint. Turgeon said it's a correctable discipline, adding there are about 50 little things that, on a scale of 1 to 10, they are doing at about a 6.

"If we can get about 25 of those things to about 9 or 10, we'll be a pretty good team," Turgeon said.

Despite the Aggies' success so far this season, only one player is in the Big 12's top five in any category. Dominique Kirk is fifth in assists with 4.1 per game and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.41. DeAndre Jordan would lead the conference in field goal percentage, but he has not made enough field goals to qualify.

• Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@ theeagle.com

AGGIE BASKETBALL

Who: Detroit Mercy (4-6) at Texas A&M (9-1)

When/Where: 7 p.m./Reed Arena

TV/Radio: None/WTAW 1620 AM

Tickets: $12 mezzanine, $10 loge, $5 general admission

TEXAS A&M-DETROIT MERCY LINEUPS

TEXAS A&M

NAME POS. HT. WT. CLASS PPG RPG

Dominique Kirk G 6-4 185 Sr. 7.9 *4.1

Donald Sloan G 6-3 205 So. 8.7 4.2

Josh Carter F 6-7 200 Jr. 13.6 4.6

Joseph Jones F 6-9 255 Sr. 11.2 5.1

DeAndre Jordan C 7-0 255 Fr. 9.0 7.2

DETROIT MERCY

NAME POS. HT. WT. CLASS PPG RPG

Jon Goode G 5-10 150 Sr. 17.0 *3.0

Woody Payne G 5-10 160 So. 5.9 2.4

Zach Everingham G 6-4 180 Sr. 5.8 *3.6

Chris Hayes F 6-9 190 Jr. 11.1 5.6

Justin Sampel C 6-8 235 So. 2.4 1.9

*assists per game