Buzz Williams recaps Texas A&M's disappointing showing in SEC opener

Key notes from Buzz Williams interview

• I've spent a lot of time thinking, studying, and writing over the last nine months. The number one thing I've learned and I'd take with me to 2021 is that my priority has to be the relationships within the program and those who have been through the program. I feel like I've been distracted by what people have said. I've been distracted from what my priorities should be. I have to get back to why I wanted to coach. I thought I'd grow up and be a high school JV coach. Sometimes I spend too much time emotionally and mentally giving time away that doesn't impact those within our program or those who have been one of the programs. One of our traditions is that we have a dinner on New Year's Eve where we play games in stuff. One of those is "one word," and I've spent time studying about the word I'll use tonight, but I've also studied what our kids came up with last year.
   
• I thought we were together regarding our spirit during the 30 hours leading up to the LSU game. The counter to that is that we don't have the consistency relative to our roster in how we prepare every day. We're too volatile in our daily work. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's average, and other times, it's really bad. You cannot be a top team if you're only good in the last 30 hours. It has to be every day. I have to do a better job in our preparation. By the time we got to the last 30 minutes of our work on Monday, our spirit was in the right place. From Sunday after church to Monday, we were awful in our preparation. We cannot afford to give that amount of time away. The reason you see so many struggles is the inconsistency in the preparation. We have to do a better job in our consistency in how we train daily. The group has to have that because we're at a point relative to our margin where it has to be all of us, and that includes me.
   
• We haven't had consistency from our older guys. I said that when we played Tarleton and when we played New Orleans. As I keep telling our team, we do not make light of it. It's very serious to be consistent. All of the new conditions that 2020 has presented us are not just happening to us. Everyone is dealing with them. I do not want to place blame on older players, but there is some justification for struggles for newer players. If you're an older player, you know why things are happening. We lost to LSU twice last year for the same reasons we lost this year. You know what is required from your preparation because you've been here. We need to talk about how we will prepare today and then talk about tomorrow when it comes. Figuring out the consistency on a daily basis might change the outcomes in the games. Eventually, once our training gets there, we will figure out how to execute an in-game situation.
   
• I don't want to pick on Emanuel Miller because of his numbers. Jaxson Robinson had one rebound in all of our non-conference games. He had seven vs. LSU in 18 rebounds against the best players we've played against. That should happen in how we prepare today. If you say that about any player in any game, you'd see the discrepancy. Eman is a beautiful human being. If you look at his numbers, there is consistency in his numbers. It's not exclusively because of his talent, but it is because of how he trains and the consistency he does with it. He's focused on doing him. We have to get to the point where Texas A&M does us.
   
• Auburn has shot more 3s than 2s in more of their games than not. They made 15 3s last night, and they shot 27. Long shots equal long rebounds. That means that the tallest guys on the floor are not going to get the rebounds. The guards have to rebound. In the game vs. LSU, they shot 27 3s and made nine. That's 18 rebounds. Our guards got four rebounds combined. That total has to go up. Only getting four means something went really wrong. Our defensive rebounding percentage was way too low. It's hard to have success with that. Couple that with our turnovers. When you talk about what we have to do vs. Auburn, remember that we're face hall of famer Bruce Pearl. For us, we know they will shoot a bunch of 3s. We have to contest those. When they shoot it and miss, we have to be in the mix to get it. We cannot turn it over 20 percent of the time. If we were playing TexAgs University instead of Auburn University, that would still hold true.