By ROBERT CESSNATexas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair loves his team but loathes the schedule the Big 12's computer gave it. The 10th-ranked Aggies (12-1) will play their first four league road games against ranked opponents.
A&M's gauntlet run starts at No. 15 Texas at 5 p.m. Saturday in Austin at the Erwin Center. The Aggies also travel to South rivals Oklahoma on Jan. 17 and Baylor on Jan. 27 and then play at Nebraska on Feb. 6.
Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor and Nebraska have a combined 47-7 record with five of those losses coming against Top 10 teams.
A&M has home games Wednesday against Iowa State and Jan. 23 against Texas Tech.
The Aggies started league play 5-2 start last season en route to earning a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament. Two seasons ago, the Aggies lost four of their first five league games but rebounded to win 15 of 16 to reach the Elite Eight for the first time.
"You always have to win your home games," Blair said. "I think a road win, particularly in the Big 12 South, is worth one and a half."
The Aggies have won at Texas the last two seasons but were a combined 0-4 at Baylor and Oklahoma.
"Going into Texas, it's like coach says, it's going to be a real eye-opener for us," sophomore guard Tyra White said. "But our nonconference schedule should really help us going into a big game like Texas and playing at Baylor and at Oklahoma. Those are three big road games right away."
A&M won a dozen nonconference games for the third straight season against the toughest competition in Blair's seven years coaching the Aggies. They won at Auburn, California and New Mexico with the lone loss at Texas Christian by a bucket. A&M opened the season with a seven-game winning streak jump-started by an 18-point victory over then-No. 6 Duke.
"Hopefully the road schedule we've played so far got us ready for what we're fixing to face," Blair said. "That four to open up the season is pretty scary."
Texas (11-3) is trying to win its league opener for the first time under third-year head coach Gail Goestenkos, who is 0-5 against the Aggies.
UT has won six straight since a 20-point loss at Tennessee. The Longhorns, led by 6-foot senior guard Brittainey Raven (15.1 points per game) and 6-2 junior guard Kathleen Nash (14 ppg), are the highest ranked team the Aggies have faced since Duke.
"I just think you throw everything at Texas that you have," said Blair, who has won seven of the last eight against UT. "We're healthy. We've prepared well. We've played well. [Now] you just let it happen."
Blair is taking his best offensive team to Austin. The Aggies are averaging 83.3 points per game. Four players are averaging at least 9.3 per game led by senior Tanisha Smith (17.1), last season's Big 12 newcomer of the year, and junior college transfer Danielle Adams (14.8) who is picked to win the same honor this season.
"We have a lot of threats on our team," said White, who is averaging 11 points a game and has scored in double figures in seven straight. "They have to pretty much guard everyone."
And it's up to Blair's point guards -- Sydney Colson and Sydney Carter -- to keep everyone involved and the offense rolling.
"If Colson can stay out on the floor 25 to 30 minutes, I'll feel a whole lot better because then I can put Carter in to fix what's wrong," Blair said.
A&M's guard play also will be crucial against UT's various traps, which gave the Aggies problems last season.
Blair expects the Longhorns to start their tallest lineup possible, attempting to give the Aggies matchup problems on the wings. Still, A&M has won the last four meetings in Austin.
"I can tell you pretty sure what's going to happen. It's going to be a close game," Blair said. "When we've won over there before, they've all been double-figure games. But I don't think they can blow us out, and I don't think we can blow them out. I just hope we are going to make the decisions at the end of the game that are going to help us win."
A&M-UT isn't the only rivalry game to open league play. Kansas will be at Kansas State.
"We should not be playing each other in the first round without our students and their students [in school]," Blair said "To me, there's no excuse for that to happen. They say it's the computer. I don't think it's the computer. You can change the computer."
Two other headline matchups this weekend are No. 5 Baylor at No. 23 Oklahoma State and No. 12 Nebraska at Iowa State, which is No. 23 in the coaches' poll. Texas and Nebraska also square off Tuesday.
Blair said his team is physically ready for the early grind, but that's only half the battle.
"We've got to become more mentally tough on a consistent basis," he said. "We have to be able to adjust to what the defenses are doing. I think we can score on anybody, but at the same time, we've got to be a little better defensively and a little more focused on offense to run our stuff when the defense takes something away."
*
NOTES -- The A&M-UT women's game is part of a doubleheader. The UT men will play Colorado at 12:45 p.m. ... A&M junior guard Maryann Baker (3.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg) and sophomore post Kelsey Assarian (4.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg) have been high-energy players off the bench, combining to average 26 minutes per game. ... UT has a 5-1 edge in this year's State Farm Lone Star Showdown. A half point is at stake in Saturday's game.
Gary Blair doesn't like being the lead-in game to his beloved Dallas Cowboys. Read Robert Cessna's blog at aggiesports.com
A&M WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday's game: No. 10 Texas A&M (12-1) at No. 15 Texas (11-3), 5 p.m.
Erwin Center, Austin
TV/radio: FSN/KZNE, 1150 AM
A&M-UT LINEUPS
TEXAS A&M (12-1)
NAME POS. HT. CL. PPG RPG
Sydney Colson G 5-8 Jr. 7.2 5.3*
Tanisha Smith F 6-0 Sr. 17.1 4.5
Tyra White G 6-0 So. 11.0 3.1
Danielle Adams F 6-1 Jr. 14.8 4.4
Damitria Buchanan F 6-2 Sr. 3.8 4.6
TEXAS (11-3)
NAME POS. HT. CL. PPG RPG
Erika Arriaran G 5-10 Sr. 8.3 2.6*
Kathleen Nash G 6-2 Jr. 14.0 7.4
Brittainey Raven G 6-0 Sr. 15.1 5.1
Yvonne Anderson G 5-7 So. 4.9 2.0
Kristen Nash F 6-3 Sr. 4.4 4.7
*assists per game
Notice about comments:
Theeagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. theeagle.com cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here.
Aggiesports.com is proud to offer our users enhanced commenting features. You can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends’ recent posts, add an avatar that fits your personality and more. If you have posted here before you’ll need to sign up again, and if you’ve never posted start now by signing up! If you've already registered for the new comments on www.theeagle.com then just use your Eagle username to log in and start commenting.
