Buzz Williams says going zone in second half 'changed the rhythm' of Arkansas win

Texas A&M rallied at home to defeat Arkansas 62-56 at home on Wednesday. The Aggies were down nine points at halftime to the Razorbacks, but made some adjustments at the break that helped propel them to victory. One of those adjustments was switching to a zone defense, which Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams believes made a difference down the stretch.

“I don’t like to talk about myself in any sort of way so I’m not saying it was my decision. But I do think it changed the rhythm, I do think it was a big part of it for sure,” Williams said.

The Aggies held Arkansas to just 23 points in the second half, the least amount of second half points they’ve allowed this season. They also held the Razorbacks’ two leading scorer Ricky Council and Anthony Black below their season scoring averages with just nine and six points, both only making three of their field goal attempts.

They won the turnover battle as well forcing the Razorbacks into 13 turnovers on the night, which included two steal apiece from Tyrece Radford and Wade Taylor. Taylor led all scorers with 18 points, notching his sixth double-digit scoring outing in the team’s last seven matchups.

The Aggies Wednesday win paired with Alabama‘s loss inches them a little bit closer to the top spot in the SEC standings, as they now sit just one game behind the Crimson Tide. They’ve won their last four straight games, and a strong finish to the season could put them on the throne of the SEC when the regular season is all said and done.

Buzz Williams discusses the evolution of the necessity of transfer portal

Head coach Buzz Williams, like many coaches across the country, is still trying to figure out the transfer portal.

During his weekly press conference ahead of Texas A&M’s game against Florida, Williams discussed how the transfer portal has changed recruiting and roster management.

“I don’t know that I have the answer,” Williams said. “I don’t know that every player you sign can be from the portal and I don’t know that every player you sign can be a high school senior. I think a part of what has changed this initially with the portal coming into play is it’s the oldest group of players in the history of college basketball, and that’s because everybody has that extra year of COVID. I don’t know if the data every coach always says you want to get old and stay old. But some of that has been on steroids so to say just because there’s so many players now playing, including (Dexter Dennis), who, without the pandemic, their eligibility would have already expired.”

The Aggies landed fives players in the transfer portal last offseason and signed three high school prospects.

“It’s one thing that we talk a lot about when we visit about recruiting,” Williams said. “How do you continue to add the right character? Because I don’t think that it works unless you have the right people. And then how can you properly diagnose what is it that you need immediately versus what is it that you need maybe that can grow from within?”

On3’s Peter Warren contributed to this report