Photo by Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M Women's Basketball
* Watching film from the Kansas game last year, he has to realize that Danielle Adams scored 40 points in that game and that they don’t have Danielle Adams or Sydney Colson right now.
* The team was not communicating on the defensive end early in the game and Missouri was able to get out to a 14-7 lead before a called timeout. Missouri was able to make a couple of good high-low passes and was executing pretty well early on. Out of the timeout, the communication on the court got a lot better.
* Sometimes having your smaller post players in is better than having your larger ones in on the defensive end of the court. Kelsey Assarian made a big difference early off the bench.
* Collins, Pratcher and Assarian came in and did a great job of turning the tide and after that the team played well. Missouri was held to 28 percent shooting and 19 points in the second half.
* One thing the team can’t afford to do on the road the next two games is to get behind like they did against Missouri. You absolutely can’t get behind, let them gain momentum and let the crowd get into the game. The crowd last night was able to get us back into the game last night after being down early.
* Kelsey Assarian is not one of the outspoken players on the team, but she is one of the noisiest players on the court because something is always happening when she is there. She is involved in everything that is on the floor and that’s the type of player you want to have on the team. She isn’t afraid to sacrifice her body for the play and has some pretty solid spin moves inside when she gets an offensive rebound. She is more than willing to do all the dirty work. She will sit there on the bench patiently and maybe play three minutes a game some days. When you look at her stat line at the end of the ball game, she has done everything right and it’s a pleasure to coach her.
* There are five seniors on this team. Right now, Collins and Assarian are playing great off the bench, and where would this team be without White, Elonu and Carter. You have to have players that are able to be coached, and that’s what this team has with those five.
* When you look at players like Assarian and Collins, who were both ranked in the top 100 coming out of high school, what happens many times with those types of players is the parents get involved when they think their kid isn’t playing enough. Most of, if not all of the time, parents don’t come to practice, so they aren’t able to see exactly what is going on day to day with the team. This is not the case with these kids … they are 100 percent bought in to what the team is doing.
* Collins has played behind so many great guards in her time at A&M. Now that she is a senior, she has learned to accept the leadership role and everything that comes with it.
* Assarian, Collins and Elonu are all working on their masters degree, which shows how badly they want to be at A&M. It shows that they are committed to their role and being a teammate to the other girls on the team.
* No one talks about Elonu much, but she is a double-double waiting to happen every game. She almost had one last night even though she only played 21 minutes because of foul problems.
* He dreads the day that he loses this senior class. Even though talent is coming up and talent is already on campus, the leadership of the senior class will be sorely missed.
* Kansas has balance just like this team does. Their players are not going to come off of the court because they do not have tremendous depth. They play five players 35 minutes a game if they can. They have two Texans on the team, with one being Carolyn Davis, who has led the league in field goal percentage for a couple of years. They also have Monica Engelman, who does a great job of shooting and plays hard all the time. Angel Goodrich is one of the top three point guards in the league, out of Oklahoma. She has been battling an injury but should be back full blast this weekend.
* Last year against Kansas, they played so fast and probably won’t be able to go that fast on offense this year without Sydney Colson and Danielle Adams.
* Kansas is 4-1 in conference going into this game and the crowd will be fired up. If they can say that they beat the national champions, then they can use that to their advantage in recruiting. Kansas realizes that the NCAA committee looks at who your big wins are against, not how many wins you have.
* The team needs to get off to a good start and balance the transition game with the zone offense. The team has seen 80 minutes of zone defense in the last two games against Iowa State and Missouri. Expects to see a lot more of man-to-man defense against Kansas.
Talkin' Hoops with Gary Blair
Notes from Gary Blair Interview
* Couldn’t get to sleep until 1:00 a.m. last night and then was up early to speak to the Rotary Club this morning.* Watching film from the Kansas game last year, he has to realize that Danielle Adams scored 40 points in that game and that they don’t have Danielle Adams or Sydney Colson right now.
* The team was not communicating on the defensive end early in the game and Missouri was able to get out to a 14-7 lead before a called timeout. Missouri was able to make a couple of good high-low passes and was executing pretty well early on. Out of the timeout, the communication on the court got a lot better.
* Sometimes having your smaller post players in is better than having your larger ones in on the defensive end of the court. Kelsey Assarian made a big difference early off the bench.
* Collins, Pratcher and Assarian came in and did a great job of turning the tide and after that the team played well. Missouri was held to 28 percent shooting and 19 points in the second half.
* One thing the team can’t afford to do on the road the next two games is to get behind like they did against Missouri. You absolutely can’t get behind, let them gain momentum and let the crowd get into the game. The crowd last night was able to get us back into the game last night after being down early.
* Kelsey Assarian is not one of the outspoken players on the team, but she is one of the noisiest players on the court because something is always happening when she is there. She is involved in everything that is on the floor and that’s the type of player you want to have on the team. She isn’t afraid to sacrifice her body for the play and has some pretty solid spin moves inside when she gets an offensive rebound. She is more than willing to do all the dirty work. She will sit there on the bench patiently and maybe play three minutes a game some days. When you look at her stat line at the end of the ball game, she has done everything right and it’s a pleasure to coach her.
* There are five seniors on this team. Right now, Collins and Assarian are playing great off the bench, and where would this team be without White, Elonu and Carter. You have to have players that are able to be coached, and that’s what this team has with those five.
* When you look at players like Assarian and Collins, who were both ranked in the top 100 coming out of high school, what happens many times with those types of players is the parents get involved when they think their kid isn’t playing enough. Most of, if not all of the time, parents don’t come to practice, so they aren’t able to see exactly what is going on day to day with the team. This is not the case with these kids … they are 100 percent bought in to what the team is doing.
* Collins has played behind so many great guards in her time at A&M. Now that she is a senior, she has learned to accept the leadership role and everything that comes with it.
* Assarian, Collins and Elonu are all working on their masters degree, which shows how badly they want to be at A&M. It shows that they are committed to their role and being a teammate to the other girls on the team.
* No one talks about Elonu much, but she is a double-double waiting to happen every game. She almost had one last night even though she only played 21 minutes because of foul problems.
* He dreads the day that he loses this senior class. Even though talent is coming up and talent is already on campus, the leadership of the senior class will be sorely missed.
* Kansas has balance just like this team does. Their players are not going to come off of the court because they do not have tremendous depth. They play five players 35 minutes a game if they can. They have two Texans on the team, with one being Carolyn Davis, who has led the league in field goal percentage for a couple of years. They also have Monica Engelman, who does a great job of shooting and plays hard all the time. Angel Goodrich is one of the top three point guards in the league, out of Oklahoma. She has been battling an injury but should be back full blast this weekend.
* Last year against Kansas, they played so fast and probably won’t be able to go that fast on offense this year without Sydney Colson and Danielle Adams.
* Kansas is 4-1 in conference going into this game and the crowd will be fired up. If they can say that they beat the national champions, then they can use that to their advantage in recruiting. Kansas realizes that the NCAA committee looks at who your big wins are against, not how many wins you have.
* The team needs to get off to a good start and balance the transition game with the zone offense. The team has seen 80 minutes of zone defense in the last two games against Iowa State and Missouri. Expects to see a lot more of man-to-man defense against Kansas.
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