Buzz Williams & Co. looking to rise above .500 in SEC play this week

Following a close-call win against Florida, Texas A&M basketball has 10 games remaining in conference play. Buzz Williams joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Radio to discuss the victory, the week ahead facing Missouri and Tennessee and more.

Key notes from Buzz Williams interview 

• We did some good things on Saturday against Florida, but whether it’s a win or close loss to Arkansas or Ole Miss, there are always narratives that are created from these games. I felt like we have improved, and the margin is so small in this conference, I don't know if there is one.
   
• There was a lot that transpired. Tyrece Radford was great. Wade Taylor IV had three fouls in the first half for the first time in his career. We had zero timeouts left with over eight minutes to go in the game, and it’s like life. The intangibles matter, and we have to have those intangibles become a category in these games.
   
• I thought the defensive possession prior to the end of the game was really good. Our guys did a lot of good things to get the ball back. I’m sure that Wade has never had three fouls in the first half of a game in his life, and he has never had a turnover like that before in his life.
   
• During their timeout, I asked if he wanted to stay in the game or not and he said, “Of course.” I drew up what I thought they were going to run and talked about what we needed to do, how we were going to handle the ball-screen coverage and how important it would be to finish the possession with the shot. We knew they weren’t going to run the clock low, and they are a really good rebounding team, so it was about making sure it was only one shot.
   
• The three games at home are obviously great, but that’s the first time the SEC included a bye in the middle of that home stretch. We start the process of studying them with our game and then study the games since our game. Sometimes, there are three games in between, and sometimes there are five games in between.
   
• We do the prep work leading up to our first game. We study that first game, and then we base our decisions on that and what they’ve done since our game.
   
• Manny Obaseki was tremendous on Saturday against Florida. I admire him so much. He’s resistant to all the outside noise. He’s loyal, and he’s ultra-talented. I think you can tell by the reaction of his teammates. He gets fouled at a rate higher than anyone on our team. He had a huge defensive rebound, and I thought he was really good guarding the ball. If we can have guys who have not been prominent for us step up, I think that changes our team a little bit.
   
• I love Boots. I admire him. He’s not perfect. I'm not perfect. I'm happy that he played well. All of that will play itself out, and maybe some people can apologize to him for things that were said. I love him. I love his family. We’re really appreciative of who they are to us and thankful for how he played despite everything that was said pregame and postgame.
   
• I’m going to be guarded in what I say, I’ve been caught off guard to be transparent by how all of this has played out. I’m going to be protective of those in our group regardless of what is being said. That’s part of the exposure that comes with the job. Even for our players, we aren’t trying to be holier than thou in any respect. We make a lot of mistakes.
   
• We need to shoot the ball better. We need to make free throws, and we have a lot of work to do, but we have good human beings on our staff and within our program.
   
• I didn’t know that the student had hit the half-court shot until after the game. I said postgame that I would match the $1,000 prize, and I wanted to be a person of my word. I told her to reach out to the office so they could get her information and we could send her that money. I was texting with the people at the office, and they said she reached out last night, so I wrote a check for Liz this morning. We doubled down, and good for her. We should give her tuition for the year or something.