Joni Taylor & Co. tip-off new season on Thursday vs. A&M-Corpus Christi

The head coach of the Texas A&M women’s basketball team, Joni Taylor, joined TexAgs Radio on Tuesday to chat about the new season beginning on Thursday against A&M-Corpus Christi and the Aggies’ roster, which features seven returners, four transfers and four freshmen.

Key notes from Joni Taylor interview

• I hope people show their excitement by filling up Reed Arena. I was at the men's game on Monday vs. Texas A&M-Commerce and felt the energy. We have a really exciting home schedule, so I hope people come out all season long. I am excited about this season and how this team has grown.
   
• I never want to take for granted the hard work our players have put in, especially our returners. The eight newcomers have raised our talent, but we can't take for granted the work of our seven returners. The struggles and the success at the end of the year really drove them. They're very tough.
   
• TOUGH means tough. There is a level of toughness we need to have. We're tougher than we were last year, but we're not as tough as we need to be. It's also an acronym for Trust, Ownership, Unity, Gratitude and Humility. We have eight new players and a full roster of 15 players. We have to trust ourselves. We have to take ownership of what we need to do. We have to be unified in all that we do. It's a team effort, not an individual effort. Gratitude and gratefulness speak for themselves because it's an honor to represent the Fightin' Texas Aggies. And then there is humility. We have to have pride and a lack of ego.
   
• We were so inexperienced last year. It was trial by fire. What we have this year is experience, but we still don't know how to win. Good teams know how to win, so that will be trial by fire this year in learning how to win. We did not win a game on the road last year if you take away the SEC Tournament games. We have to learn how to win, win on the road and rattle off back-to-back-to-back wins. We're still learning this year, but going through what we did last year has prepared this team for the position that we are in now.
   
• Do you have time for eight new players? We have four freshmen that we're excited about. Solè Williams is an elite guard from Ohio. Erica Moon is a guard from Georgia. Kylie Marshall was the No. 1 player in the state of Texas. We signed Vanessa Saidu from Minnesota late. We signed Kyndall Hunter, who is a Texas kid and played at Texas. We signed Endyia Rogers from Oregon, and she's going to be really exciting to watch. Lauren Ware brings experience and a championship mindset to our team. Aicha Coulibaly transferred within the league and is an all-conference player. She brings a level of effort and toughness to what we want to do.