Buzz Williams shares why faith in Wade Taylor was most important aspect of game-winning play

Texas A&M led Missouri for much of the afternoon on Saturday until a run by the Tigers midway through the second half tightened things up. Eventually, the game set up perfectly for a game-winner from Wade Taylor.

Taylor got a look at the top of the arc from 3-point range and buried it, sending Texas A&M home a 67-64 winner.

The game-winning play was designed by the coaching staff for Wade Taylor.

“It was a draw-up. There’s nothing that he will ever do on the court that surprises me,” coach Buzz Williams said. “I think that there is value in that our entire organization has great faith in him, regardless of what his stats are entering the game, during the game. That’s probably his greatest gift is he’s fearless. But he’s fearless with the appropriate amount of humility.”

Wade Taylor had no problem taking on the game-winning attempt, which was facilitated by a slick pass from Andersson Garcia at the top of the arc.

But the look was not necessarily an easy one to get.

“I thought what coach Lyle (Wolf) drew up was spot on,” Williams said. “To some of the earlier questions, a lot of their personnel changes, but also their ball screen coverage changes. There’s a lot of different things going on that don’t necessarily show up in the box score.”

Whatever the case, Texas A&M executed perfectly to get the ball in Wade Taylor’s hands with a shot to win it. More often than not that’s great basketball, even if the shot doesn’t fall.

On Saturday night, though, it splashed through.

Coach Buzz Williams also spread the credit around for the final look, giving Garcia props for a crafty pass that freed Wade Taylor for the shot.

“I thought the important thing was that we took the last shot, considering all that had transpired, particularly in the second half,” Williams said. “We wanted to make sure that it was the last shot. And AG is probably our best decision-maker that has some level of size. I thought how he handled the options in that, he’s deserving of that credit too.”