Buzz Williams shares message for Solomon Washington before Georgia game

Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams talked with Solomon Washington before Saturday’s win over Georgia about what he is hoping to see out of the young freshman forward.

Washington had missed about two weeks before returning during the Aggies’ midweek loss to Arkansas.

“I’ve been talking to Solo,” Williams said after the Georgia game. “At Arkansas, I wasn’t planning on playing him. We went around the world before the game on a tour, and we had some foul trouble there in the first half. I thought that our offensive rebounding was keeping us in the game at Arkansas. And I thought their offensive rebounding is why we were losing at Arkansas. So we played Solo as a perimeter player to give us some more pressure on the rim. He played more possessions than I was planning on him plan.”

He played only four minutes against the Razorbacks. But after the game, Williams and Washington talked about expectations for him coming back from his absence.

“I told him yesterday, hey man, you need to be really sharp today because we need to get you back to where you were because when you join our team, our team is different than when you left — even though you don’t think so,” Williams said.

Buzz Williams liked being able to get Solomon Washington, others extra minutes

Texas A&M dominated Georgia to the tune of an 82-57 victory on Saturday in College Station, Texas.

The victory allowed Buzz Williams to get Solomon Washington some extended run on the court. He played 15 minutes, scoring seven points and grabbing four boards.

He wasn’t the only one to get more minutes that usual either. Thirteen players played in the game, including 10 players in double-digit minutes. No one played more than 24 minutes.

“I thought that the minutes he played along with the minutes that the others that typically don’t play got were very valuable for them for our future,” Williams said. “And then the guys that typically play more minutes for them to be able to not play their typical minutes. I like both sides of that equation.”