Aaliyah Moore is on a mission. The senior forward is entering her fourth season as a Longhorn, hoping for something she hasn’t yet experienced: a year unblemished by injury.
This season, she thinks the Longhorns have the players to put together a championship team, including herself. When asked who she thinks is going to have a breakout year, Moore replied: “Can I say myself?”
Coming out of high school, Moore boasted a long list of accolades. She was named a 2021 McDonald’s All-American and Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year two years in a row. In a podcast with Recruit Oklahoma, Moore revealed she received her first Division I offer in seventh grade from Oklahoma State.
Injuries sidelined her freshman year and a torn ACL against Alabama State on Dec. 11, 2022 ended her sophomore season. Lingering injuries kept her from being 100% last season, so she feels Texas has only seen bits and pieces of her game.
Moore wants to log a double-double every game, hoping for ten points or ten rebounds each time she takes the court. Her dreams of being drafted into the WNBA have propelled her to focus on one of her weaknesses from years prior: her three-point shot. Moore knows that improving her three-ball will prove to professional scouts that she’s leveled up as an offensive playmaker. No one is going to be able to guard her, she said.
“You might as well put, ‘Good luck guarding her,’ because you won’t be able to stop me,” Moore said about her potential scouting report heading into the year.
Moore has the track record to make this happen. Last year, she scored double-doubles in 21 out of 33 games and helped the team win their 12th Big 12 tournament championship. The year before, she averaged 11.2 points in her nine games before the ACL injury.
“My attitude for this year is no one’s going to stop me,” Moore said.
Head coach Vic Schaefer emphasized he felt Moore’s frustration at her injuries and wants to help her reach her full potential. He knows she can be a difference-maker, but she needs to stay healthy.
“If she can feel good, we all know she can be a heck of a basketball player, and that’s what we want for her,” Schaefer said. “It’s what we want for our team.”
Sixth-year forward Taylor Jones said that Moore, nicknamed AMO by the team, is a vocal leader and a part of the puzzle that makes up a fiercely competitive group. This year’s team will have five seniors on the roster, most notably star point guard Rori Harmon, who returns after missing most of last season due to injury. Schaefer said he is looking to these players to lead the team.
“Our veterans have to play like veterans,” Schaefer said. “It’s as simple as that. If you’re a senior, you play like a senior.”
Moore is confident that her and her teammates’ abilities will guide them through a season filled with challenges.
“When you have a full team of people that will do anything for the team to win, you can’t beat that,” Moore said.
