The Winding Road to 1,000 Points
Thomas Dick, Athletics Communications
The 1,000 Point Club. It’s a significant milestone recognized by every collegiate basketball program in America. The path to The Club has many roads. Few have traveled a road with more curves and switchbacks to get to The Club than Aaliyah Patty.
When Texas A&M’s fifth-year senior Aaliyah Patty made a layup at the 4:46 mark of the third quarter at Mississippi State, she hit the milestone. A benchmark signifying a stellar career.
Patty’s road included two schools, three coaches, a COVID shutdown and Ohio State’s self-imposed postseason ban.
A milestone only few reach.
— Texas A&M Women's Basketball (@AggieWBB) February 12, 2023
Congrats @aaliyahbabbyy ??#GigEm pic.twitter.com/h6vrtCd4Vx
The road to 1,000 for the West Chester, Illinois, product started November 6, 2018, with Ohio State. In her first game, she scored four points in a stat sheet-filling game that included three rebounds two blocks and three steals in 20 minutes.
On a squad with 10 newcomers, Patty had a strong rookie campaign. She averaged 6.2 points and 3.8 steals per game. She credits that season with laying the foundation for reaching the milestone.
“Freshman year I came in with six grad transfers and four freshmen,” Patty said. “Almost an entirely new team. Even though I was young and playing with a lot of older players, I got a chance to play a lot of minutes as a freshman. I’m thankful I’ve had opportunities to contribute and grow since the first day I started playing.”
She showed steady improvement her second year in Columbus, playing in 33 games, averaging 7.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. Ohio State was 21-12 and an obvious NCAA Tournament selection when COVID shut down the season.
“It hurt,” Patty said. “That was a season where we felt like we had a really good team with really good players. Hearing that news was devastating because I think we could have had a really good tournament.”
Patty started 18 games her “COVID sophomore” season in 2020-21 as the Buckeyes went 13-7. She averaged 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, but the campaign was sullied by the taint of an NCAA investigation.
In December 2020, Ohio State announced it was self-imposing a postseason ban as the NCAA was putting the program under the microscope. There was a frustration to the end of the year as the Buckeyes wouldn’t have the opportunity to accomplish their goal of winning it all.
“At the end of the year, the main goal is to win an NCAA Championship,” Patty said following the tumultuous season. “So not being able to play for that goal, it was hard trying to find what we were playing for as a team. I mean I’m not happy I went through it, but you had to go out and play hard for yourself and your teammates.”
Shortly after the season ended, Patty entered the transfer portal. After taking a few weeks to weigh her options, she named the Brazos Valley as her destination to finish her collegiate playing career.
“They just won an SEC Championship, that had a lot to do with it,” Patty said. “When I was talking to the coaches it felt comfortable and I liked the atmosphere.”
The news of Patty coming to Texas A&M was exciting for hall of fame head coach Gary Blair as he looked to fill out his 2021-22 squad. Blair’s bunch was coming off a stellar 25-3 campaign, winning the SEC regular-season title and heading to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
“We are bringing in a highly sought-after player who has nearly 60 starts in her career for a top-25 program,” Blair said in April 2021. “She brings versatility to the front court. Aaliyah presents a matchup problem around the interior. She can shoot, pick and pop, screen and roll, and hit the trailing three, which is exactly what post players in today’s game have to be able to do.”
In October 2021, with the expectations for A&M sky high for the upcoming season, Blair announced he was retiring after the 2021-22 campaign.
Picked to finish second in the league in the preseason coaches poll, things didn’t go as planned for Blair’s final ride. The Maroon & White finished 14-15 and a 4-12 league record. Patty was the Aggies’ leading rebounder, pulling down 7.4 boards per game while averaging 6.4 points and 1.4 blocks.
After an extensive national search, the Aggies landed Joni Taylor as their next coach. The former Georgia coach values players who can do multiple things – rebound, push the pace, score. She was bringing a brand of basketball where Patty could flourish. Her fifth year brought her third head coach, but Patty embraced the opportunity.
“She’s a great coach,” Patty said in October. “Everyone knows that. Everyone has seen it. Everyone has seen her style of play, so just to be able to be a part of that, I was excited for it.”
Texas A&M went through expected growing pains in Taylor’s inaugural season in Aggieland. But then the unexpected happened with the Maroon & White experiencing injury after injury. Sydnee Roby, Janiah Barker, Tineya Hylton, Sahara Jones, Maliyah Johnson. The Aggies played a month’s worth of games with just seven players available. Through it all, Patty showed up and led the team as A&M played lockdown defense to stay in games where the opponents had more firepower available. The iron Aggie is one of just three players to play in all 22 games this season.
“I can't say enough about just how she has put her body on the line,” Taylor said. “She's definitely mentally and physically fatigued, but she's shown up every single day and has tried to do what we've asked her to do.”
The 1,000 points and the scoring aren’t what impresses Coach Taylor. It was Patty’s willingness to continue to grow, learn and expand her game. Even as a fifth-year player, Patty is becoming.
“We noticed every time she didn't get the ball or every time she missed a shot, she was hanging her head and she took herself down this rabbit hole,” Taylor said. “So, we had a conversation – ‘Why are you putting all your value in scoring? Is that all you are? Are you not a rim protector? Are you not a rebounder? Are you not a facilitator? Are you not a vocal leader? Are you not a cheerleader for your teammates? Let's figure out who all you are instead of just labeling yourself as a scorer.’”
Patty has taken the conversation to heart. Expanding her horizons on the court is something she works on every day. And every contest you can expect something different from the forward – fourteen rebounds at Kansas, five blocks against SMU, a career-high 11 assists in a victory over Georgia, and, yes, points, including another career high with 21 points at Vanderbilt.
“I'm just really, really proud of her growth,” Taylor said. “That's hard for a fifth-year senior to do when their identity has been in scoring. They think their identity has been to be a scorer and this is my last year to go and do whatever it is that I think I'm supposed to do. And to be willing to do something different is very rare for somebody who is that experienced. You know, no matter what it is that we now ask her to do, she's a willing participant in the plan that we have for her, and that changes from game to game.”
In a year of becoming, Patty not only became a member of the 1,000-point club, but so much more.
