No. 10 Texas A&M women’s basketball is looking to extend its undefeated record.
The Aggies have played four games so far this season, winning every single matchup, with their most recent being 66-61 against A&M’s rival, Texas. Next up, the maroon and white will take on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
A&M coach Gary Blair said each team’s prior games have shown their strengths.
“Little Rock is coming off of an SEC win,” Blair said. “We’re coming off of a Big 12 Challenge win. So Little Rock does not play any guaranteed [to win] games. They play all the big boys… they’re always picked first or second in [their] league.”
The Trojans currently have a 2-1 record, with their only loss against Rice in their season opener. Little Rock’s last matchup was an 82-74 victory against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Dec. 5.
A&M has had an impressive season so far. Most notable has been its offensive strength, which can be seen through senior forward N’dea Jones and senior center Ciera Johnson.
On the statsheet for the 2020-21 season, Jones has logged 74 points in 129 minutes of play, also posting three steals. Johnson has put up 45 points in 133 total minutes of play, while also logging five assists.
Blair said the duo has good synergy in regard to A&M’s philosophy for beating Little Rock.
“We know exactly what [Little Rock] is going to do,” Blair said. “You beat it with execution. You do not beat it with creativity all the time. Power the ball inside, if they double-team, pass out, hit the cutters. Both [Jones and Johnson] are seniors and are working very well together.”
A player to watch on the Trojans’ side of the court is redshirt junior point guard Bre’Amber Scott. Scott is a silver medalist at the World University Games and has posted a season total of 59 points and four assists, averaging 19.7 points a game.
Also noteworthy for the Aggies is that they have added a new player, junior point guard Alexis Morris from Rutgers University, to their roster.
Blair said he hopes to utilize four of A&M’s nine total point guards on the roster.
“I’ve got four options at the point guard,” Blair said. “And I’ve never had that before. So it’s up to me not to keep everyone happy, because that never happens, but to keep everybody productive and for me to be able to utilize each point-guard’s strength. And each one of them is as different as night and day.”
Tip-off for Thursday’s game is set for 6:30 p.m. in Little Rock, Ark., at the Jack Stephens Center. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.