No. 12 Texas A&M will look to avenge its first loss of the season on Wednesday against Central Arkansas.
The Aggies fell to then-No. 12 Florida State on Sunday. A 20-point output from guard Chennedy Carter and 10-point games from center Ciera Johnson and guard Kayla Wells were not good enough against a Seminole offensive attack that converted 53 percent of its shots on the day and held the Aggies to only six points in the fourth quarter.
A&M coach Gary Blair said the loss was a result of an off game for A&M.
“Give Florida State credit because they maintained their composure for 40 minutes; we played about 20 good minutes,” Blair said. “Sometimes it happens. Why we didn’t match their intensity? There’s not really a good reason.”
However, Blair said the Aggies would start this week right with a win on Wednesday.
“We’re gonna have a good start of the week on Wednesday,” Blair said. “It is my job to find the solutions, and our team is going to look itself in the mirror and we will find solutions.”
Blair said his confidence in his team is unwavering as the team is still a top 15 team, and a victory against Central Arkansas is expected on paper and in the locker room.
Central Arkansas currently has a 2-4 record on the season and has yet to win a game on the road all season. Their leading scorer is senior guard Taylor Sells, who’s averaging nine points per game on 37 percent from the field, with freshman forward Terry Crawford coming in at a close second averaging 8.7 points per game.
Meanwhile, junior guard Chennedy Carter 22.7 points per game in addition to four rebounds and two steals per game. Junior center Ciera Johnson is second on the team with 12.7 points per game and 1.7 steals per game, but is leading the team with one block per game. Junior guard Kayla Wells is the only other player on the team to average double-digit points per game with 11.7.
Blair said in order to rebound from the loss against Florida State, the Aggies need to maintain the intensity for the entire game while also not getting out-rebounded by Central Arkansas.
“You win the game on the board, and that takes a consistent effort. You cannot just rebound when you are the four or the five, that is something we have not done well all year. That is something we have not done well all year, and that’s up to me as a coach that Chennedy and Kayla are going to the boards.”
On the season, the duo are averaging a combined 6.7 total rebounds per game but only 1.4 offensive rebounds per game. In their loss to Florida State the two had eight defensive rebounds but zero offensive rebounds.
The Aggies will be taking on Central Arkansas at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday at Reed Arena. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.