Williams' squad looks to learn from shortcomings as SEC play nears

Texas A&M basketball fell just short of victory against Houston at the Halal Guys Showcase on Saturday. Head coach Buzz Williams joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Radio to discuss the shortcomings that have surfaced and A&M's response with two non-conference games to go.

Key notes from Buzz Williams interview

• I thought the environment playing Houston was through the roof. We are grateful for that attendance. That venue is as good as any in the country. For the Aggies and Cougars, there was a Sweet 16, Elite Eight type of environment and with the same physicality. A lot of things felt like the second week in March.
   
• A lot of it has to do with the first six weeks of the season. We have played more Quadrant 1 games than anyone other than Purdue. We have won more Quad 1 games than anyone in our league. We have reps.
   
• We were down 21 against Iowa State. We were playing without Henry Coleman III and Tyrece Radford. There was some justification for how poorly we played. On Saturday, we were down 21 with 15:39 to play. We outscored Houston by 19 points in that time.
   
• I told our team, let’s talk about the first 25 minutes. What is there to learn? I told our team I was not ready to talk to them about Houston. I didn't have peace yet with what I wanted to say.
   
• If you think about our Quad 1 games, we lost to Houston by four and moved up seven spots in the NET. They moved up to No. 1. We lost to Memphis by six, and we were bad. They will be a Quad 1 in a month. We lost to FAU. We lost at Virginia by 12.
   
• We won at SMU. That's Quad 1. We beat Ohio State. That's Quad 1. We beat Iowa State. That's Quad 1. I want to study all of those games before I talk to our team about Houston. We can see what we need to run offensively, what we need to be better defensively and who gives us the best chance. We need to see what correlates. That is the next right step.
   
• Our staff is broken into offensive, defensive, etc. guys. I have a lot of different text threads. On Saturday on the way home up until this morning, I am sending manuscripts of text saying, "I want to know this. I want to look this up relative to those games."
   
• I told our kids I was sending those texts this morning and then asked them what is the first thing that will be said about FAU? Coleman said, "Well, Boots and I did not play." I said, "Yes, sir." Should the data count? It counts because it is on the board. Nobody on the NCAA’s NET Rankings is saying, "Oh, Radford and Coleman did not play." I told them I wanted to study this stuff.
   
• When I am asking questions about Houston, what is the first thing I will say? Radford said, “I did not play.” I told him he may end up being one of the best players/people I have ever coached. Everyone in our group knows the depth of love I have for him, but that is not on the board.
   
• At A&M Media Day, I made the decision that I was not going to talk about the health of our players. I told our team the reason why. I told them that the local media halfway likes me. Other people will try to go straight to the players to get it out of them. It's not for the public to know. I am not doing it to be a jerk. I said it before we ever played a game. As a program, we have adjusted to all of it the best we can.
   
• Last year at this point, we were 6-5. We were 120th in the NET. Now, we are 7-4 and 16th in the NET.
   
• You sit on the bus after the game and think, wouldn't it be different if Radford played? That's part of it. Best on best, what would it be? You have to figure it out when you are not at your best.