Everything Buzz Williams said after Texas A&M pulled off another impressive win over UK

Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams has the formula for beating this Kentucky basketball team.

Two of UK’s nine losses this season have come at the hands of the Aggies, who defeated UK in overtime in College Station in January and who did so again Friday night, 97-87, in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Texas A&M (20-13 overall) was the No. 7 seed in the conference tournament, while UK (now 23-9 overall) was the No. 2 seed.

Unlike that close January win in Texas though, Friday’s result was clear cut: The Aggies led for 38:31 of the 40-minute game and led by at least two possessions for the final 12:16 of the contest.

Junior guard Wade Taylor IV was phenomenal again for Texas A&M: After scoring 31 points in that January win, Taylor had 32 in Friday’s victory.

Similarly, fifth-year guard Tyrece Radford has also had the Wildcats’ number this season: Radford went for 28 points in the January game and 23 more on Friday night.

But there was also a fair deal of outliers about the Aggies’ strong showing to knock out the Wildcats from the conference tournament. Texas A&M entered the game shooting 27.7% from 3-point range this season (350th in the nation) and making an average of 6.7 3-pointers per game.

The Aggies shot 42.3% on Friday and made 11 3-pointers in the win. Williams’ team also had plenty of success in the lane (a combined 15-for-19 on dunks and layups) and on the run (18-14 advantage in fast-break points).

It all amounted to an ideal recipe for the Aggies to book their spot in the SEC Tournament semifinals, and assure themselves of an NCAA Tournament bid.

Afterward, Williams met with reporters at Bridgestone Arena to discuss how he led an upset win over Kentucky for the second time in as many months.

Here’s everything Williams said:

Question about Wade Taylor IV stepping up in big moments:

He just has an elite level IQ off the floor, but he has just as high of an IQ as a player. He understands time, score and momentum arguably as well as anybody I’ve ever been around.

He obviously has the ability to score. He kind of has a vibe for should I score, should I shoot, is now the right time for Texas A&M to shoot. I think that’s how he was raised. Had a lot of good coaches. I think it’s hard to say it in words. I think that is an innate gift. Arguably as talented as he is offensively, that may be his best gift.

I know he can score, but he can really control the game, particularly with somebody that has the ball. Getting the ball on time, on target to the right person at the right time. That’s not in the stat sheet, but obviously it’s very important to our group.

Question about if Friday night was Texas A&M’s best game of the season:

I don’t know. Obviously I’m exhausted after two games in two days. Incredibly thankful that we have a chance to play again tomorrow. Grateful for the synergy and the connectedness of our guys, not just the five games in March, but I think the five-game losing streak in February, for them to stay connected, speaks to who they are.

We’re thankful for the right, for sure, excited. It’s fun. All of the things that I’m supposed to say. But I also think that it’s scarring our heart in a good way to overcome a lot of what’s transpired.

When you lose five in a row, a lot of things are revealed. To be able to flip that to five wins in a row, it doesn’t take away the wins, but you’re probably in a different place in regards to the maturity of what we saw transpire during the five-game losing streak. I hope that we can continue to handle the five-game winning streak in the right way.

Question about if Texas A&M’s style of play is built for winning games at this time of the season:

We can’t play the way Kentucky plays. Coach is a Hall of Fame coach and still coaching. Probably has another decade left. Kentucky is arguably the best job at any level in college basketball. It’s arguable that they have the most talented roster.

For us to try to play the way they play, we have zero probability of winning. But in truth — you know this because you’ve watched so many games — if we’re just trying to base it on talent, let’s just play how the opponent plays, we have a very low chance of success.

In different ways, whatever that may be, our coaches have done a good job of identifying how can we bend it our way. It’s never aesthetically pleasing to the public, but it’s very identifiable to us.

I think that the words of our staff and the words of our players, not that you can hear it, but they know when the intangible things are present. We probably spend less time on the tactical stuff and more time on the things that we know are vital for us to even have a chance.

Question about if Texas A&M’s SEC Tournament run in 2022, which didn’t lead to an NCAA Tournament bid, helped galvanize the program:

Yeah, I think what I would say on that is we just don’t pay attention to any of it. That’s not to be condescending to you. In that same year, we started 4-0 in conference play, then we lost eight games in a row. Six of those games were decided by two possessions or less. The four young men on our team that were a part of that have also been a part of 72 wins now since they’ve been here. The eight-game losing streak in that particular season, the five-game losing streak here, I’ve got to do a better job coaching.

Good coaches don’t lose that many games in a row.

I do think that there’s been some wisdom 22 months later in the approach of how we handled the five-game losing streak and what has transpired since then. There hasn’t been much talk within our group on, Well, they say this, and if we do this, if we do that. In truth, whatever it is, we have to do more, right? If you go 9-9 in the SEC, for Texas A&M that’s not good enough, right? If you play 13 quad one and quad two games, that’s not enough if you’re at Texas A&M.

There’s always going to be something that you have to do more. So we’re bankrupt from all of the things that we can’t control. We try to give all of our emotion and energy to the things that we can.

Question about his reaction to John Calipari saying Texas A&M is an NCAA Tournament team:

No, sir.

Question about Williams having a ‘blessing’ on his shirt and the way in which he delivers messages to his team:

Thanks for asking. It’s the only time I wear a quote shirt. I turn them into a quilt. This is our 10th year in a row doing it. 12 quote shirts a year. This was year five, quote shirt number 10. It’s awesome, isn’t it?

We gave it to them on the Friday, the first Friday of the year. We played at Ohio State. The presence of the blessing. We’re very grateful. We’re very thankful. But that’s not the absence of the pressure, right? You have to beat Ole Miss. Then when you beat Ole Miss, you’re still not in. You have to beat Kentucky. Then the next question is, Do you think that you’re in?

It’s not the absence of the pressure. The presence of the blessing is not the absence of pressure, nor the requirement of production. What’s the response? We’re grateful, we’re thankful, we have joy. What do we have to do? We have to go wake up and do more work. Each day with our work, can we get a little bit better?

Thanks for asking.

Question about how much tougher the SEC Tournament will become next year after Oklahoma and Texas join the conference:

No, ma’am. But thanks for reminding me because I think it’s incredibly tough right now (smiling).

I think in my five years, in the pandemic year we didn’t play a game in February, so the numbers are a little out of sorts. I think in year two we only played 10 games. With each passing year, almost within each passing week, I think the margin within the league has almost become invisible. I think last year we were 15-3 and finished second, but yet this year, if you were 15-3, you would have won the league, right?

This year we were 9-9, and we happened to finish alone in seventh place. If you looked at just the five seasons that I’ve been here, that’s what I can speak to, you can see how is the bottom progressing, is the middle progressing? I don’t know. Our quad three losses, other than Memphis, they lost a really good player to injury, but our quad three losses are within our league at the buzzer by one. That’s within our league.

I know every coach says their league is the best. I don’t want to necessarily say that. But I think with each passing year, there’s evidence and data that suggests this league is continuing to become more and more difficult. Can’t you tell how I’ve aged in the five years, or you didn’t know me then (smiling)?

Kentucky goes one-and-done in the SEC Tournament again. Texas A&M beats Cats in Nashville.

John Calipari laments another early exit in an all-blue Nashville. ‘I felt for the fans.’

Box score from Kentucky basketball’s 97-87 SEC Tournament loss to Texas A&M

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Here’s what John Calipari said after UK basketball lost early, again, in the SEC Tournament

Shot charts from Kentucky basketball’s 97-87 SEC Tournament loss to Texas A&M