Gary Blair on win over MU, shooting struggles & hosting OSU

Notes from Gary Blair interview

* Snuck out of Missouri with a close win on Tuesday night. The crowd was only about 800 people and the team started out playing okay but let Missouri gain some confidence and started missing easy baskets. Missouri was hitting the 3-ball like crazy. 30 of their 52 points came from behind the arc. Missouri had the lead most of the second half and then the team acted like defending national champions and went on an 11-0 run to clinch the game in the final minute of play. Seeing this team is able to win when they didn’t play their best gives the staff a lot of hope about the future of the team. A&M shot 42% which is enough to live on and win with but he would like to see that number be higher against Oklahoma State on Saturday.

* Alexia Standish has been working on her jump shot because that’s the one shot she doesn’t have. She’s very accurate on most of her other shots and is getting better. She still needs to learn how to get the ball to the post players at the right time, and she has been working on that. Hopes the Missouri game gave her a lot of confidence because both her and Adrienne Pratcher played well at the point guard position.

* The blowout loss to Baylor was a humbling experience because the whole state and nation was watching on television and when it was time to show up to play, A&M didn’t. A&M hasn’t had a lot of success in beating Baylor, but they have always played well and that could not be said for last Saturday’s performance. Baylor showed why they are the best team in the country last night when they beat Oklahoma State by 32. The team knows where Baylor is right now, but they also know where A&M is capable of going too. Doesn’t think Baylor can get much better because they are already so good.

* The move of the three point line back to the men’s line has affected A&M as well as every other school in the country. It hasn’t affected the point guards as much because they are shooting the three off of the skip pass where they have time to get set before they shoot. Sydney Carter and Tyra White however are having a tough time with the new line. Since Tyra is a pure jump shooter, it’s hard for that Ray Allen-esque shot to go in unless you have a strong wrist. She is also a, “line-drive shooter” which makes it even harder for her to hit from deep. Carter shoots the high ball and it’s not the line that has affected her as much as it is the expectations given to her. Without Sydney Colson and Danielle Adams, she is having to be more of a go-to player rather than a go-to stopper. Iowa State and Texas Tech still have the double lines on the court which fooled him at least once during the games played in Ames and Lubbock. A&M is in the top two teams in the league even though they are shooting less three’s than any other team in the conference because they have people that can play the inside game and have people who can hit the mid-range shot consistently.

* His family is not coming into town this week, so he will be at all of the A&M sporting events this weekend. Plans on going to the men’s game against Missouri, catching a little of the softball game and then going over to Blue Bell Park for the baseball game. Wants the fans to come out and support the women’s basketball team because it’s the breast cancer awareness game. It’s great when fans can come buy their pink shirt for $5 and support a cause that is very special to everybody. The team needs to protect their second place right now because they travel to Oklahoma next week who is also fighting them for that spot.