Texas-sized showdown awaits Arizona Women’s Basketball

Winning and advancing is all that matters in the NCAA Tournament, and after a tight win over BYU, Arizona Women’s Basketball (18-5, 13-4) faces a tough Texas A&M squad. 

When the Arizona Women’s Basketball team finally takes to the court on Saturday evening, it will be making program history as the Wildcats will be playing in their first Sweet 16 in 23 years.

After a narrow, but gutsy win over BYU just days prior, the stakes get even higher now as the Wildcats will face one of the best teams in the Tournament with their matchup against No. 2 Texas A&M.

Arizona Wildcats

Coming in, the Aggies should be riding high with two-straight wins to open Tournament play. However, Texas A&M has looked a bit shaky to start, escaping with wins narrow wins over Troy and Iowa State. Nonetheless, all that matters is winning and advancing.

Led by a deep group, the Aggies have five different players averaging double-figures, however, there is no doubt that senior guard Aaliyah Wilson and senior forward N’dea Jones make this team tick, and together, they make for one hell of a dynamic duo.

Texas A&M has one of the best offenses in the country, averaging 75.8 points per game which ranks No. 24 overall. They can light up the scoreboard and are one of the better shooting teams in the country, especially from beyond the arc as they are shooting 37.7 percent as a team.

Arizona Women’s Basketball has one of the better defensive teams, but they are going to have to match A&M’s athleticism and size to win.

If the Wildcats are to come away with the victory here, these are the Keys to the Game:

Let’s Get Offensive: As we’ve said numerous times before, Arizona is a good defensive team, however, where they sometimes struggle is on the offensive side of the ball, averaging just 67 points per game as a team.

Against an offensive powerhouse like Texas A&M, the Wildcats are going to need a better offensive performance than they did against BYU, or it is going to be a long night.

If Arizona can keep pace with Texas A&M, I like their chances of pulling off the upset.

Make the open Shots: Against BYU, the Wildcats shot just an abysmal 21-59 (35.6 percent) from the field. Luckily for them, their poor shooting performance didn’t matter too much as they ultimately came away with the win anyway.

However, against the Aggies, Arizona cannot have a repeat performance, unless they’re ready to come home. A&M is averaging 84 points in their first two games of the Tournament, and they are just too deep of a team to go ice cold.

The Wildcats need to be ready and need to capitalize on their shots once they get them. Do that, and they just might be able to pull off the upset.

Bring the Intensity: Once again, this is another consistent theme for Arizona. The Tournament is all about winning and advancing, no matter how ugly the performance is. With a great opportunity to put the pressure on Texas A&M, Arizona needs to bring it, because in reality, they have nothing to lose.

Be ready, bring the intensity, and your chances of winning greatly increase, especially in a do-or-die situation.

Game Information:

Date: Saturday, March 27th, 2021

Time: 5:00 PM (Arizona Time)

Location: San Antonio, TX – Alamo Dome (64,000… 0)

Television: ESPN2

Radio: 1400 AM Radio – Tucson

Team Records:

• Arizona Wildcats (18-5, 13-4):  Arizona has gotten to its first Sweet 16 for this first time in 23 years, but after two wins, the Wildcats face a difficult challenge with Texas A&M.
• Texas A&M Aggies (25-2, 13-1): Texas A&M is one of the better teams in the tournament and have had a pair of tight games thus far, but all that matters is winning and advancing. Can the Aggies get past an opportunistic Arizona team?