Joni Taylor's Aggies 'have a lot of learning to do' after 62-56 loss to Islanders

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi got the best of Joni Taylor & Co. as the women's basketball program dropped its first season-opener in 11 years. The head coach joined TexAgs Live to discuss where the Aggies came up short and the three-day turnaround with UTSA on Thursday.

Key notes from Joni Taylor interview

• We have our "Bike Build" in December every year since 2022. Our team raises money to buy bikes from Academy Sports and Outdoors. I think all of us can remember our excitement when we got our first bikes. The event is called The Bike Build because we get the bikes in the box, build them and give them to kids in the Brazos Valley.
   
• As unfortunate as it was, I cannot say that I was shocked at the outcome. After our three scrimmages, we talked to our team and asked them, "What is the identity of our team?" We don't have a calling card, and we just aren't consistent. We have got to get it figured out. We have had enough time for a group to figure it out. We had three players on the court who hadn't played basketball for two years and one who had not played in three years.
   
• On top of limited loads for certain players, our chemistry is funky right now, which is unfortunate because we had great chemistry from our foreign tour. We're unfamiliar with each other, and it just showed up on the court. We know that our defense is what we need to hang our hat on so that our offense and chemistry can catch up, and we didn't do that last night.
   
• We have got to get it figured out. We've had enough conversations to know that that's what should be forming. We play all summer. We work out. We practice and condition, and we sit down and establish our goals before school starts. We should be very clear on what we are striving to do. We haven't gotten there yet. Jalen Hurts said, "Either you win, or you learn," so we have a lot of learning to do after last night.
   
• We have three games next week. Those teams are really good. We can't talk about UTSA until we look at the film from last night. We have to sit on it and watch it, and then we've got to move on from it and get better. We have to make some quick adjustments and have some mental toughness, especially with three games this week.
   
• During the SEC, we're going to play three games in a week. This week will prepare us for what we will face later on.