Tennessee basketball handed Texas A&M just its second home loss of the season Saturday afternoon in a 77-71 win at Reed Arena in College Station.
The game was neck-and-neck for much of the game before Tennessee made a number of key plays late to secure its best road win of the season.
Following the game, Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams met with the media and discussed the Aggies’ poor shooting, how Tennessee pulled ahead late and much more. Here’s everything Williams said.
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On if he thought it would be that difficult to get to the rim against Tennessee’s No. 1-ranked defense
“No, I think that they’re No. 1, like we talked about yesterday, defensively, But they’re also No. 1 at preventing points in the paint. I was encouraged that we were able to shoot 20 free throws, just to be transparent. They didn’t get in the bonus in the first half. That was a good thing for us from a defensive standpoint. And then, I don’t, not not judging their team or even acting as if I have all the answers, but I don’t think that anything that we saw was something unique on either side of the ball.”
On what made Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier so difficult to guard
“Well, he was so good, particularly in the first half. It was an outlier stat for sure. And we changed some of our coverages in the second half because of his prowess in the first half. Thirteen threes (made) is really difficult to overcome by any team, but when one player makes eight of the 13, that probably means you’re going to be upside down somewhere, particularly in the first half we were. In some regards, I think for us to finish the possession with the defensive rebound at the rate that we did, 75% today, offensive rebound percentage, 40%, all of that stuff is really good. It’s not ever one thing when you win or lose, but that would for sure be a part of what transpired.”
On Texas A&M not being able to get stops in the final eight minutes
“I think categorically they were hot from three, that would be the most threes that they have made this season. That’s their average in regards to the number that they’ve attempted. It’s above their average, relative to percentage. I don’t know. I would have to rewind in my brain specific to the last eight minutes. What was the score? I think the eight minute timeout was 6:45. What was the score? (Texas A&M up 51-48). We were up three. And then when we were coming out of the last media, timeout (Wade Taylor IV) was shooting three free throws. Is that right? I think it might’ve been the eight to four and then the four to zero five seconds out of bounds under, their ball near their bench and five (Zeigler) hits the three, short clock. Again, those would be two things in that sequence. Yeah, again, it’s tit for tat, it’s chess, it’s checkmate. A lot of the same pieces were playing the same boards so to say. I thought our game at Missouri was an unbelievable atmosphere, unbelievable college game to start early February and I thought this was very similar. Thankful for the students that were here, the people that were here. I thought the environment was tremendous and I thought it was a really good game. We’re disappointed in the results, but I feel, my feelings do not matter whatsoever. But I do think that how our organization felt after the loss on Tuesday to start week eight, a little different than how our organization feels to conclude week eight. That’s a credit to coach (Barnes). That’s a credit to their players. That’s a credit to their team. Same with Mississippi State. So I’m not trying to be condescending or arrogant in what I’m saying, but probably not being a prophet, that’s probably what it’s about to be from here on out home. Home and road the next two weeks and the fight and the intensity and the physicality continues to ramp up.”
On if the 30 three-point attempts was about how Tennessee defended them
“I thought some of the things that we were doing offensively to make them make a decision on the weak side was pretty good. I think that’s probably four to six more than we typically make. I’m not at all saying that we are knocked down shooters, but a lot of those shots were really good shots because of the decisions that we were making. Whether that be Andy (Andersson Garcia) most of the time Gocci, a few times in that dead area on how you’re going to handle this. Thought that led to (Zhuric Phelps) makes, which were good. (Wade Taylor’s) attempts, CJ’s (Wilcher), I think eight shot one from that, I think. Yeah, he shot one from that, so I kinda like some of what that looked like. We were better in our spacing on the weak side. Some of those shots in the first half over there, nearest their bench when we were doing that, kind of triggered probably a higher volume of that than I anticipated.
“And you know, however you want to say it. (Zakai Zeigler) is as good as he is offensively, he’s that same level defensively. (Jahmai Mashack) will play for a long time because of his presence defensively. (Felix Okpara) is an elite-level shot blocker. So I like, again, it’s just you’re fighting the tension of really thin margins and so did it create more threes? Yes. Were they the right threes for us to take when it’s coming inside out? I think so.”
On how pivotal the basket interference all was with a minute and a half or so remaining:
“Yeah, I don’t think it’ll happen the rest of the year. That was a good play by (Wade Taylor) and I don’t, as much as we holler and scream about offensive rebounding, our go gets, we’re going to get, I haven’t watched it obviously, but it’s part of it.”
