What’s the Buzz?
Texas A&M has built momentum going into a big game against Kentucky on Tuesday. The Aggies have back-to-back Quadrant 1 wins for the first time all season, over Alabama and Mississippi State, and are tied for fifth in the SEC with South Carolina and Mississippi State.
After Saturday’s 87-75 victory over Mississippi State, Coach Buzz Williams was asked how his team has built to this point in the season.
“I just think when you’re in a tornado, you’re not able to forecast,” Williams said. “We have a laundry list of things that we need to accomplish each day, so you spend your energy, your emotion and your time trying to accomplish the things on the list for that day.
“I think there has been some consistency over the last eight or nine weeks in how we approach our work. I think there’s been a crescendo in the comprehension level in the things we’re asking them to do on both ends of the floor. I think we’ve tried to remove as much as possible — whether that’s the playbook or whether that’s overwhelming them with information on the opponent — so that we can be held accountable to the things that matter the most.”
Williams said he’s thankful to have the Kentucky game at home.
“The next game and who it is and where it is, after all that we’ve been through, that’s why I’m so pitiful up here after a game. My brain is just playing pingpong.
“I think our guys are exhausted because they’re absolutely giving everything they have, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. To be thinking, ‘Oh, here comes Big Blue Nation and Coach Cal [John Calipari] and he’s the best,’ none of those words are going on amongst our team, our staff or our players. We’re just grateful to have the chance to see what our work has been able to do. There’s a level of excitement.”
Said Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland: “I give great respect to Buzz for what a great job he does and how this team has developed from the beginning of the year to where they are now. They’re a problem for everybody.”