Buzz Williams says improving on the glass is Aggies' 'top priority'

Key notes from Buzz Williams interview

• We found out the Tulane game was going to be canceled right before the game on Saturday. I think the administration was trying to figure something out during that game. The only teams you could play are the teams that might still need a game or someone dealing with the same issue that we have with having a game canceled. There are not many teams available, and could they get here? We made several attempts, but nothing seemed to work for potential opponents or us. We will practice today and tomorrow, take Wednesday off, work on Thursday before we travel to Corvallis that night, practice on Friday before we play on Saturday.
   
• We played eight games in November, and that's the most you can play in that timeframe. It was good, and we learned a lot about our team. Regarding our 11-day layoff, we were able to learn from our eight games and utilize the time off. I thought it was healthy. With our team, we need to play and practice. We need both.
   
• I think we've done good things. I've been disappointed with our effort, togetherness and aggressiveness on Saturday. It was arguably the worst we've played. We did not play how we needed to. We gave them too many offensive rebounds, and we turned it over at our highest rate all year. When we did get fouled, we shot 44 perfect from the free-throw line. Looking at one number, it should've been a double-digit game. With all three of those numbers, it shouldn't have been a game. To only lose by four tells you something. We need to start better.
   
• Sometimes, it's not about winning as much as putting yourself in a position to lose. Shooting 44 perfect from the line, that's a loss. Giving the opponent second chances 50 percent of the time, that's a loss. Only shooting 75 percent of the time you have the ball, that's a loss. Those numbers won't work whether it's a home game, road game, non-conference or conference.
   
• We do a game of free-throw shooting during practice at times. We were shooting 71 percent before going to Las Vegas. In the last two games in Las Vegas, we did not shoot well from the free-throw line. Saturday's game was the worst in my 15-year career as a coach. There are some things to look at mechanically, but there also has to be a mentality. You cannot shoot 44 percent from the line and lose by four points. We do have to shoot it better from the free-throw line, and we have made some changes this morning when we watched practice.
   
• You have to finish the defensive possession with a rebound. Going into that game, defensively, we were top-40 in the country in the numbers that matter. We were really bad in defensive rebounding percentage. For us to be top-40 and not rebounding like we should say we're doing a lot of good stuff as a whole. TCU was third in the country in offensive rebounding, and they rebounded at an even higher percentage against us.