Buzz Williams credits intensity of Andre Gordon as a starter

Although his impact doesn’t always show in the stat sheet, Andre Gordon is emerging as a big part of the Texas A&M starting lineup this season. His performance garnered some high praise from Buzz Williams.

Gordon had two assists in 14 minutes against Memphis, but Williams said his intensity and energy had an effect on the rest of the roster. His ability to take care of the basketball is also important, and Williams said that effort is more important than the stats.

“We know what Dre is going to give us,” Williams said. “He’s going to play really hard, he’s going to do exactly what he’s supposed to do when he’s supposed to do it. He is for us, he cares who wins and who loses, and he might make a shot. But if you look at his numbers, you wouldn’t suggest he should play a lot. But if you look at the things that don’t have numbers on the box score — like, he had a plus-minus against Memphis and was a zero across the board. That’s because he takes up space when he’s supposed to. I think he had two assists. He doesn’t turn it over. We still have to score. We have to find ways to score.

“In some ways, I think Dex played really well against Oregon State, but Dex has a lot of those same qualities. [He] impacts the game, not necessarily all the time in the stat sheet. Dex has zero rebounds in the first half at Memphis, has four rebounds in the second half. … I think Dre is an example of that in the 15-ish minutes out of 200 that he’s playing. Now, we need to find the other 185 because I think Dre will probably give you what Dre gives you.”

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.”