Buzz Williams says there's 'a lot to learn' for SEC play from Memphis game

With conference play looming, Texas A&M headed into Memphis for one last road tune-up. It didn’t go as planned, though, as the Tigers defeated the Aggies 83-79 on Saturday.

But Buzz Williams said that game had some valuable lessons for his team with three games remaining in the non-conference schedule.

“There’s a lot to learn from it,” Williams said Monday. “I [had] never coached a game there. It is an incredible environment. If I had known the environment, I wouldn’t have taken my daughters. I didn’t know. It is, like, superb. Great arena; great support; really, really good players; really, really good coaches.

“As I’ve mentioned to the team before we played Memphis and even in postgame, we probably have 14-16 more of these. Maybe not all on the road, but in regards to the value of the possession, that’s what’s coming. We need to hurry up and figure out this category of things that I’m talking about, regardless of who we’re playing … because of what’s upon the horizon.”

Memphis had its way on offense in the matchup, going 29-for-52 from the field and scored 17 points off 17 Texas A&M turnovers to pull out the victory. The Aggies now turn their attention to a Tuesday tilt against Wofford before closing out the calendar year against Northwestern State and Prairie View A&M. Then, conference play gets going Jan. 4 against Florida on the road in Gainesville.

Buzz Williams takes the blame for Texas A&M’s slow start vs. Memphis

Texas A&M has not gotten off to the start it hoped after narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament last spring, falling to 6-5 with a loss on the road at Memphis. Though it was a respectable performance against the Tigers, Buzz Williams still took the fall after the game, noting that it is his job as head coach to have his guys playing with the proper toughness and fight.

“I just told them the truth: I thought in the first half they were way tougher than we were,” Williams said. “I thought that we were not playing with the edge that you have to play with against a really good team with a really good coach in an incredible environment. I think a lot of that has to do with the opponent.

“But I think a big portion of that has to do with the type of toughness and competitiveness that you have to play with. And that’s one thousand percent the head coach at Texas A&M’s fault. That’s what I told them at halftime.”