Buzz Williams shares positive takeaway from Texas A&M's close games

Texas A&M has gotten out to a 12-7 start to the season, but it has done so against one of the most challenging slates in the country. And coach Buzz Williams sees some definite advantages in that.

For one, his squad has learned how to play in close games. They’ve been involved in several of them.

In fact, the Aggies have now played in seven games that were decided by two possessions or fewer, including each of the last four games. In the last four, Texas A&M has won three, including a big upset of No. 6 Kentucky.

William broke down two of the team’s most recent losses, where it didn’t learn the lessons of the rest of the season.

“What I would say, we lost at Arkansas in the first 10 minutes of the game in many respects,” Williams said. “We lost versus LSU because we were pitiful from start to finish.”

To be clear, that’s not necessarily the norm for this team.

But the group has had to learn that it’s going to face a tough opponent just about every night. That’s just the way it is this year and certainly now that the team has gotten into conference play.

“I just mentioned it to our team in the locker room, no matter what the NET says, no matter what KenPom says, no matter what Twitter says, all of this is incredibly hard and the margin is almost invisible,” Buzz Williams said. “I think our group, some of the turmoil with things that we can’t control, I think has hardened us in a good way. I think playing the non-conference schedule we played is for sure a part of that. We’ve played eight Quad 1 games, more than anybody in our league. Distinctly more. I think that matters.”

It has been a murderer’s row for sure. Texas A&M has beaten Iowa State, Ohio State, Penn State and SMU. The Aggies have lost to Florida Atlantic, Houston, Memphis and Virginia.

For Williams, it’s all about seeing the benefits of that tough early schedule come to life in the second half of the season. He’s hopeful it will pay dividends.

“I also think that their resolve, their resiliency, the accumulated reps of being in these sorts of games — I don’t think that we’re the best team,” Buzz Williams said. “I don’t think I’m the best coach. I don’t think we have the best players. But you could argue that we have a competitive advantage in regards to being in difficult situations that require you to be your best physically, mentally and emotionally. And to some degree, because of how we practice and those games, they don’t flinch.

“That doesn’t mean that we’re going to win. We lost at Arkansas, like you said. But the adjectives that a coach would use on our maturity and those situations has become almost exemplary for our group. And I think that’s going to be important over the remaining two-thirds of conference play.”