SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAYS

October 14, 2026

Joni Taylor

Texas A&M Aggies

Women's Media Day Press Conference

Q. Considering when you first got to Texas A&M, you had a lot of injuries. You've had some situations since then. Do you ever feel like you can't get a break?

JONI TAYLOR: We have had our share of injuries and players being out. What I have learned is just to find a way, to figure out a way.

I'm fortunate that anytime we've been in that situation, those players have been able to come back and have great careers. We're looking forward to that same thing for Essence next year when she returns to our team.

We've got to figure out how to play without her. We have to figure out how to not look for executions, be resilient.

I see it as an opportunity to lead and have the right messaging for our team, because that's life, right? You have a plan. You work hard to put that plan into place. You show up and things are not what you thought. That's life.

The quicker our student-athletes can learn that lesson and how to persevere on that, they're going to pull back on that for the rest of their lives. We look at those moments as opportunities.

Q. Last season your team went 7-9 in conference play. What were the strengths and weaknesses that you've been working on in the off-season?

JONI TAYLOR: I think we have to learn how to play in the SEC last year. We had several newcomers that never played in the league. If you never played in this league, you just don't know what it's like, no matter how much you prepare for it, you watch it and you practice it.

Once we continue to figure those things out, I think what you saw as we continued to play, the chemistry got better, the same shots we missed in January, we made in February. We didn't change our offense or defense. The players continued to work. It was them, they were bought in and they believed in our system, what we were doing. They stuck together.

Q. What were you trying to do with your roster in the off-season? What was your goal?

JONI TAYLOR: I think every year our roster is designed to get better and to compete in this league at the highest level. So that's our goal every single time we go into the off-season, whether it's signing high school players or looking for players in the portal.

You have to have a certain level of talent to play in this league, but you also have to have the right kind of people. We want both of those things. We believe you can have the right kind of people and the right kind of talent.

What we set out to do this year is no different than what we do to set out every year, is to bring the right kind of people and young ladies into our program and represent us off the floor, as well.

Q. The momentum you built at the end of last year winning six of your last seven, with the returners that you brought back, how do you make sure you're picking up where you left off?

JONI TAYLOR: I think our returners have an understanding of this league and what this league entails.

The schedule, the SEC is challenging. It is hard. So when we looked at our schedule last year, we knew that we were going to have some hard times.

I think the thing we try to do as much as possible is to have the conversation before the thing happens, whatever that thing is. That way if that thing does happen, now we're not all trying to figure out what to do or build the house. Our foundation looks good. Our culture was good. That's why you saw us make the run that we did. It was totally player led.

I want to give a shout-out to our assistant coaches. We have great leadership out of our assistant coaches. They could all be head coaches. They continued to do what we asked them to do. Show up every day with the right belief, put their hardhat on and get to work. So that's what we've done in the off-season.

I think our players who are returning are better prepared to lead. They're better prepared to compete in this league. Their bodies look great. Their mindset is different. Excited to see what our returners especially and our newcomers that have transferred from the league. That's another thing that is different, our transfers that we brought in all came from the SEC. We have a great understanding of what the expectation is.

Q. You're still a pretty well-known person in Tuscaloosa. What have you seen from this Alabama program the past couple years? How well do you know Coach Love?

JONI TAYLOR: Two parts to your question. What have I seen? Kristy Curry did an amazing job at the University of Alabama with the roster she was able to build year after year. She was able to take that team to multiple, multiple NCAA tournaments. It was incredible to watch her do that.

I know Pauline very well. We were assistant coaches together. We grew up in this league together. To now see her have an opportunity to lead my alma mater is exciting. I fully support her. I'm excited for her. I'm excited to see what she's going to do in Tuscaloosa.

Q. Can you tell us what the team motto is this year, what you want your team to take away from that?

JONI TAYLOR: Our team motto this year is "do more." "Do more." Whether that's in the classroom, on the court, in the community. What more can we do? Let's not look to the left or the right, let's not ask somebody else to do more, what can we do every single day when we look in the mirror to do more. Can we get one more rebound, assist, steal, one more shot, more reps up in the gym. Do more because we have enough.

What we saw all the time is everybody doesn't have to do everything, but everybody has to do more.

Q. Does that spring from being on the bubble and being close last year to being on the right side of this year?

JONI TAYLOR: Part of it. Thank you for that question. Part of it is what could we have done differently? Could we have done more last year? There's a couple games that I think we all would have wanted to get back.

I think another part of it is as we go through the summer, we really evaluate who our team is. We go into the summer not knowing what our motto is going to be. After we watch them, whether it's on the track, in the weight room, in practice, we kind of formulate what is going to be our rally cry.

Honestly this year we just kept hearing that word, whether our strength coach saying, we got to do more. We got to do more. If we were to cut off the baseline, what would have happened? It just really fell in our lap. We started looking around. Before I knew it, before we called it our theme, everybody was saying, "do more." So it stuck.

Q. In the last 24 years of your coaching, what has been your favorite part of coaching women's basketball?

JONI TAYLOR: Man, you just aged me. Has it been that long (smiling)?

My favorite part of coaching basketball is to pour life into young women. I'm one of the most competitive people you'll run across. I love X's and O's, I love recruiting, all of it. What is most important to me, what I value and what I enjoy is watching a freshman walk in and having their parents trust us with the next four to five years of their life, knowing we're going to do something to propel them into making their dreams come true.

Q. Does the basketball appetite in Texas get overlooked?

JONI TAYLOR: Not in Texas. Maybe in other places, but not in Texas. We have a great fan base. We are in a great state for basketball, men and women. We are very fortunate to be in an environment that really, really enjoys basketball.

Q. How much was that excitement stoked last year by what the men did, Bucky, his style of play?

JONI TAYLOR: I think it's great. We're excited to be across the hall from Bucky and his entire staff. What tremendous men they have down the hallway. Bucky ball I have known for a really long time. For him to have the opportunity to come to Texas A&M and us work together side by side, it's been great.

It's been fun watching them continue to bring their style, get the fan base excited about his style of play.

It's fun. It's fun to watch. We were extremely happy for the success he had in year one.

Q. You've brought in a lot of freshmen and sophomores. Freshmen for these last two recruiting classes. Who are some of the ones we saw a little bit last year from that maybe will have a bigger role this year?

JONI TAYLOR: Specifically to your question, I think we want to have a mix of freshmen and transfers. It's important for us to recruit high school players, some of the high school players we watch are the most talented players in the country. We have to have a mix on our roster.

Chaney had a great summer. She came in, she works really hard. She attacked the things she would probably say areas she needs to get better in. She is shooting the ball really well. She's our fire. She shows up every single day and leads the way in terms of effort and energy.

Anita had a chance to represent her national team this summer. What a great opportunity for her to return home and put on that jersey representing her country. She grew, she got better, she got stronger. While she wasn't with us over the summer, she came back in great shape, with a different mentality. Playing against grown women all summer always makes you better.

We're excited to see what both of them are going to do this season.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much.

JONI TAYLOR: Thank you.