After a second troubling loss to No. 2 ranked South Carolina, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team has set its sights on the Florida Gators Thursday evening.
“The most important game after a loss is the next one,” Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair said at Tuesday’s press conference.
The No. 12 Aggies (15-6, 5-3) have lived up to that adage so far this season. They have followed every loss they have had with a win in the next game.
That run will be put to the test Thursday, when the women’s hoops squad travels to Gainesville to take on No. 22 Florida. The Gators (18-4, 6-3) are currently ranked second in the SEC. Blair said the team is playing the best basketball right now of anyone in the conference with the exception of South Carolina, who is ranked No. 2 in the country and still has not lost this season.
Florida, picked to finish 12th in the preseason SEC polls, boasts the highest-scoring offense in the SEC. “They want to trap, they want to run, they want to hurry,” Blair said. “They’ll give up a couple of layups. They don’t care. They want to be able to score in transition or off your turnovers.”
The Aggies do not plan on trying to slow the game down and will focus instead on being in control.
“We have to be efficient when we run,” Blair said. “Florida turns the ball over. They don’t care because they know they’re going to turn you over. I want to make sure we don’t turn it over. I’m not going to slow down the game, but we’re going to take care of the ball a lot better than we did against South Carolina.”
Blair said getting the ball inside will be a priority this game, as A&M is the bigger team.
“We will have a size advantage, but they are as athletic as any team we will face in this league,” Blair said.
Blair said being positive this week will be pivotal if the Aggies hope to rebound from Sunday’s nail-biting loss to South Carolina.
“You go in and show [the players] the highs,” Blair said. “You go in and show them the 15-0 run against South Carolina, you show them when we executed our half-court offense.”
The Aggies will not have much time off after they play the Gators, as they will quickly turn around and play at home Sunday against No. 23 Tennessee, who has recently lost five of their last eight games.
