The Texas A&M women's basketball team was right on schedule three weeks ago.
The Aggies were 22-6 going into their home game against Missouri on Feb. 26, had won four consecutive games and were ranked among the top 20 nationally with a team that was stocked with experienced guards and talent in the post.
Up next
NO. 11 UALR VS. NO. 6 TEXAS A&M
WHEN 3 p.m. Central Saturday
WHERE Wells Fargo Arena, Tempe, Ariz.
RECORDS Texas A&M 23-9; UALR 28-4.
SEEDS Texas A&M: No. 6. UALR: No. 11.
TV ESPN2
RADIO KPZK-AM, 1250, in Little Rock
It was enough for Coach Gary Blair to think it might be possible to make a run similar to what his team made last year when it advanced to the Elite Eight, or maybe even like in 2011 when the Aggies won the national title.
"We were ready to make that roll we've made every year," Blair said Tuesday.
Instead, the Aggies' luck went the other way.
Point guard Jordan Jones went down with a torn ACL and meniscus in the first half of the Missouri game and hasn't played since. Then Maddie Stock made a three-pointer with 0.1 seconds left as Missouri handed the Aggies a 70-69 loss. That started a string of three losses in their last four games.
The one positive for the sixth-seeded Aggies is they'll have had 15 days in between games when they play No. 11 seed UALR (28-4) at 3 p.m. Central on Saturday in Tempe, Ariz., in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
"We're trying to get our mojo back," Blair said.
It's been missing ever since Jones was lost three weeks ago. The junior from Houston was averaging 9.0 points, 6.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds in 30.9 minutes for the Aggies when she went down. More importantly, she was Texas A&M's unquestioned leader, a quality that was forged over 126 games played over the past three seasons.
Sophomore Curtyce Knox slid into the point guard role, but she's still working to get to Jones' level. In three starts since the injury -- two losses to LSU and a victory over Auburn -- she has made 8 of 18 shots and has 12 turnovers to 7 assists.
Blair has seen strides, but he'd like to see more in areas that don't involve statistics.
" You've got to know how to play within a play," Blair said. "The first option against a good defense is generally going to be taken away. That's where she is struggling a little. Sometimes she's ready to pass and the post players aren't ready yet. Or she goes onto the second option before the first option is really looked at."
Knox will be charged with leading Texas A&M's guards against UALR's trio of guards who have been the team's strength all season.
Junior Courtney Walker averages 14.4 points per game and has made 86.7 percent of her free throws, while Courtney Williams, a 6-1 junior, averages 14.5 points and 5.8 rebounds.
Foley's guards aren't as big, but he likes them just the same.
UALR seniors Taylor Gault and Ka'Nesheia Cobbins and junior Alexius Dawn combined to average 51.7 points per game in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Foley said they held their own against LSU and Oklahoma, both NCAA Tournament teams, and he is eager to see them against another major conference team.
"As well as they played against LSU, the way they scored against Oklahoma, there wasn't much difference," Foley said. "They're a little bigger at the guard spot, no doubt, but I don't see them posting up. So that's a plus. It will be an interesting matchup."
Blair likes his guards, too, but he'd like them even more if he got consistent point guard play Saturday afternoon.
"A point guard is so special," Blair said. "I've always used the analogy that in a good marriage you have to have a good wife, and you need a good point guard if you're a basketball coach."
Sports on 03/18/2015