Buzz Williams takes the blame for Texas A&M's slow start vs. Memphis

Texas A&M has not gotten off to the start they hoped after narrowly missing the NCAA Tournament last spring. The Aggies just fell to 6-5 with a loss on the road at Memphis. That’s a veteran team that plays great defense — really no shame in dropping that one on the road. But, it’d be good for Buzz Williams to finally win one of these higher profile matchups.

Though it was a respectable performance against the Tigers, Williams still took the fall after the game, noting that it is his job as head coach to have his guys playing with the requisite toughness and fight. You’ll certainly need both in a road game against a good team at the college level.

“I just told them the truth. I thought in the first half they were way tougher than we were,” admitted Buzz Williams after the game. “I thought that we were not playing with the edge that you have to play with against a really good team with a really good coach in an incredible environment. I think a lot of that has to do with the opponent. But I think a big portion of that has to do with the type of toughness and competitiveness that you have to play with. And that’s one thousand percent the head coach at Texas A&M’s fault. That’s what I told them at halftime.”

Texas A&M went into the break down nine against Memphis and having given up 45 points to the Tigers in the first 20 minutes. An inexcusable defensive performance by the Aggies. Luckily, the tide did turn somewhat in the second half.

“I thought we were markedly better in the second half in that regard,” Williams continued. “The toughness, the edge, the competitiveness, the togetherness that’s required. And so I told them postgame, what I said was what I believe, and what transpired the second half is the way that we have to be in my opinion. In our four losses, we have lost the intangible category of toughness and edge and fight and scrap and claw that you have to have. And so I have to do a better job of making sure that they understand that’s what’s required when you play on the road, when you play a neutral side opponent, when you play really good players with really good coaches.”

That’s the key to unlocking this team’s ceiling.

“When we do that I think we’ll be really good. And when we don’t do that I think we’ll continue to get this same sort of test. We need our good players to be good players when it’s time to be good players. And I think we have a lot of good players, but we can’t give away possessions because of immaturity or negative emotion or I’m in my own sphere and I’m not connected. When we get that figured out II think we’ll be good.”

At the end of the day, Buzz Williams knows where Texas A&M needs to improve but ultimately has to implement those changes himself.

“But I think we’re foolish to not say what it is. I’ve got to find a way to do a better job where the game is about a fight, a figurative fight. I’m not being negative, not saying we should play the wrong way. Those are not my words. But we got to have invisible shoulder pads like we’re here and we’re excited and we’re gonna do what’s required. Not only the tangible pieces, but also the intangible things.”