University of Minnesota Athletics
Senior Spotlight: Mikayla Bailey
8/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Mikayla Bailey led the Golden Gophers with 65 3-pointers last season. She played in a career-high 33 games and averaged a career-high 34.3 minutes as a junior. Bailey joined GopherSports.com for a Q&A three weeks away from the start of fall semester.
GopherSports: Last season you were able to play more minutes in more games than your first two years. How good did it feel to be out there?
Mikayla Bailey: It was honestly so great. Getting sick my freshman and sophomore year and just going through those obstacles was hard, but it only made me stronger. I felt great my junior year, and it just felt great to help the team out, be a solid player for the team and have the coaches have confidence in me to put me out there. It was great to be healthy. So thankful to be out on the court.
GS: What were some of the highlights of summer practice for you individually, and for the team?
MB: I thought our team did a great job this summer adapting to the changes that were being made with our strength coach and all that. We came in and we were all ready to go for the summer. We all wanted to get better. I think we did a great job of communicating and adapting to the changes. Everybody was on board. I think we also got a lot better on the court with our individual skills. It was a good summer.
GS: Off the court, what were some of your summer highlights?
MB: I actually went up north with my family. We went up to Grand View Lodge on Gull Lake, which was a great time. I went fishing and skiing, and it was just a fun time to be away from basketball and just spend some time from family.
GS: Last year, 65 of your 72 field goals were 3-pointers. Does anyone tease you about mostly shooting outside the arc?
MB: My brother probably. He'll tease me a little bit. "Why don't you get into the lane more?" or, "You can do more than that." But I feel so good at the 3-point line, and when I'm open I'm going to shoot it. That's just been my specialty. I'm hoping this year to do a little bit more. I've been working on my jump shot a lot more. I feel pretty good about my game thus far and I'm excited to keep working on my game this summer.
GS: Being a 3-point specialist, do you have any favorite shooters to watch?
MB: I absolutely love Steph Curry. He's probably my favorite shooter/player to watch. He's just effortless with the ball. I always watched him during the Finals and I just admire his game and also his beliefs.
GS: What experiences are you looking forward to as your senior year of school gets closer?
MB: I'm looking forward to being with the team. I'm excited to hang out with my teammates, especially moving into our new apartment. We just moved in and I have some great roommates-Rachel (Banham), Shayne (Mullaney) and Jo (Hedstrom). It will be fun to be in a new atmosphere and new place, spend some time with them and just enjoy my senior year and make the most of it. I'm really excited to play with Rachel again.
GS: What are some of your goals for the 2015-16 season?
MB: Personally, I hope to stay healthy and continue to work on my game. I want to help the team out as much as I can. As for the team, I hope that we get back to the NCAA Tournament and we go farther than we did. I thought we could have gone farther last year, but I'm hoping this year we can get back to that and go as far as we can go. I think we have a great group of girls coming in. I'm excited to get the team together and start practicing. It should be fun.
