Buzz Williams discusses slow start vs. Ole Miss, what led to momentum shift

Texas A&M kept itself alive in the SEC title race with a win over Ole Miss on Tuesday night even after a slow start, and it wasn’t a win that came easy.

The Rebels came out of the gates hot and jumped to an early lead, a continuation of a pattern coach Buzz Williams saw develop in Ole Miss’ win over LSU this weekend.

“I think that their game Saturday, I thought they played incredibly well,” Williams said. “I thought they played with great freedom, great confidence. A much faster game than normal. In the first seven minutes obviously that continued.”

By the time the first seven minutes had expired in the Ole Miss game, Texas A&M found itself trailing by 12 points.

Naturally, Williams wasn’t thrilled with his team and got after them in the huddle to keep up with the pace of play and try to grind things down into a more comfortable rhythm.

Luckily his players were able to do that.

“We did not handle the intensity, we did not handle their pace,” Williams said of the opening stretch. “We were a little out of sorts. But I think we were down 12 with 13 minutes to play and then up six at half. I thought the rhythm was a little different and a little more conducive to how we want to play the rest of the first half.”

Texas A&M wasn’t completely able to keep the game at the rhythm it wanted to play at throughout the evening, but it was a far cry from the slow start in opening stretch where Ole Miss came out swinging out of the gate.

“There were stretches in the second half, to be honest with you, that I thought it was back to that same first seven-minute pace,” Williams said.

But this time the Aggies were able to take control against the Rebels and close things out in a 69-61 win that kept its title chances alive.