Buzz Williams discusses Texas A&M's big half, adjustments in SEC Tournament semifinal

Texas A&M blitzed Vanderbilt out of the gates, riding a hot shooting start to a 49-25 halftime lead in an SEC Tournament semifinal game.

The Aggies went 20-of-29 shooting from the floor, all while forcing the Commodores into 12 turnovers.

“I think our staff did a really good job in a short prep of preparing our guys,” coach Buzz Williams told ESPN’s Marty Smith at halftime just before going into the locker room. “We haven’t played them in a long time. Played them the last week in January. Their team’s completely different.”

Though Texas A&M got out to a dominant position in the first half of the SEC Tournament semifinal matchup, Williams isn’t about to let his players slack off in the second half. After all, Vanderbilt is a team full of shooters.

Williams pointed to Vanderbilt’s excellent run of play recently as another reason his guys can’t take the second half lightly.

“Coach is coach of the year,” Williams said. “They’ve won 10 out of their last 11 games, the hottest Power 5 team in the country to some extent. They played incredibly well last night, so I think our guys remembered some of what happened the first game.”

Texas A&M won the prior meeting between the two teams, a home game, 72-66. Williams has seen some tweaks and has adjusted the Aggies appropriately in the SEC Tournament.

“We’ve made some changes from watching them since they’ve been here,” he said. “They’re a completely different team. Really hard to guard because they’re playing, in essence, with five guys on the floor that can shoot. We’re thankful. We’ve got to try to keep the ball out of the middle.”

How will Texas A&M avoid letting Vanderbilt back into the game?

“We’ve got to go 1-0 in the next possession,” Williams said. “The fans and Twitter says we get complacent. Good people don’t get complacent, they get better.”