Aggies put trust in hard-driving Taylor
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams put the pressure on one of his star players to perform at the highest level. In the classroom.
“He had a 4.0 GPA last semester,” Williams said of sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV. “I think that will continue the rest of his time here.”
Williams calls Taylor “Four,” not for his grade point average but for being the son of Wade Taylor III and fourth in the same-named lineage of what Williams considers a role model family. Taylor IV also happens to be tied for fifth in the Southeastern Conference with 16.1 points per game and is fifth in the league with 118 assists.
“His parents have raised him (right) … and his dad is an example to me of how to be a husband and a father,” Williams said. “He does an incredible job with both of his children. His sister (Kennedy Taylor) is the all-time assists leader at Texas State. She graduated early and is earning her master’s degree.
“They’re about the right things. No glamour — they don’t want glamour — they want to work and go to school. You can tell that’s how ‘Four’ was raised.”
Taylor and the Aggies, who on Monday moved up a spot to No. 24 in the latest Associated Press poll, play at Mississippi on Tuesday night as A&M (21-8, 13-3 SEC) continues trying to close out league play on a high. A&M, which is coming off a seven-point loss at Mississippi State, hosts No. 2 Alabama on Saturday morning to finish the regular season.
“I love being around our guys,” Williams said. “I know the results make it easier, but I love who they are as people, and I think that’s a big reason why we’re in the position we’re in.”
One of those primary people is Taylor, whom Williams began recruiting immediately out of Lancaster High following the coach’s arrival at A&M four years ago from Virginia Tech.
“He has a very high EQ (emotional quotient) — a very high EQ of himself, but (also) a very high EQ of his teammates and his coaches,” Williams said. “The combination of his IQ and EQ has bled into his IQ as a player.
“Sometimes he walks a delicate line because some of what he does is considered risky, and some of what he does is very high risk/high reward.”
Taylor’s energetic, no fear approach has helped lead to what figures to be the Aggies’ first NCAA Tournament bid in five years and first under Williams. Taylor has scored at least 18 points in six consecutive games, and he’s shot 10 or more free throws in each of the last three thanks to his ability to drive and that high risk/high reward approach.
“He has the propensity to get fouled because he walks that delicate line,” Williams said. “Is he about to drive? Is he about to shoot? Is he about to create for someone else?”
Fellow guard Tyrece Radford is one the players who has benefited from Taylor’s creating for his teammates, and the dynamic duo comprises the SEC’s highest-scoring guard tandem with 30.1 points per game.
“I’m trying to get a couple of free throws a game — get that average up,” Taylor said with a smile. “(I love) the belief that the coaches and players have in me and the belief in me to lead and to take those steps to be a leader no matter how old or what year I am … because I know how bad this team wants to win and how bad I want to win.”
An A&M victory at Oxford, Miss., on Tuesday night would lock up the No. 2 seed of the SEC tournament, which starts next week in Nashville, Tenn. The Aggies still own an outside shot at a share of the SEC title. Alabama (25-4, 15-1) owns a two-game lead on A&M and hosts rival Auburn on Wednesday night before traveling to College Station on Saturday.
“It’s high reward,” Taylor said of the Aggies’ prospects down the stretch and springing into the NCAA postseason. “This is what we dream of as little kids: growing up and being able to play in these big-time games on national television. There are a lot of opportunities, and we’re just going to take them headfirst.”