Buzz Williams discusses A&M basketball's 'roughest' week of the season

Texas A&M dropped its second game in a row on Saturday, falling to Alabama to move to 6-6 in conference play. The Aggies' head coach, Buzz Williams, joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Radio to discuss the team's two losses to Vanderbilt and Alabama. 

Key notes from Buzz Williams interview

• This past week was the roughest week we've had this year. Two straight road games. We faced the slowest team in the country and then the fastest team in the country. We didn't play well in either game, and we got what we deserved.
   
• Last week, we did not play well. It was a devastating loss against Vanderbilt. Then, we played the fastest team in the country in Alabama, and they made 18 threes.
   
• This year, there have been more road wins than any year in Power 5. I always thought Auburn was a tough place to play. I think against Tennessee, we are 1-1 on the road against them. We have only played against Kentucky once there. Alabama has changed a lot throughout the years that we’ve played them.
   
• The margin is thin whether at home or on the road. We love the environment at Reed Arena. They are all hard when you get to games past Valentine’s Day.
   
• Looking back to our loss against Arkansas earlier this year, there were many outlier stats. We were down 20, 10 minutes into the game. We were up one with seven seconds left in the game. Solomon Washington fouled out in 18 minutes, Wildens Leveque fouled out in 16 minutes, Henry Coleman III didn't play, and they shot 40 free throws. Wade Taylor IV had 41 points.
   
• We need everyone back healthy tomorrow, I think part of our fouling was because Coleman wasn’t playing. We have to defend without fouling and finish the possession with a rebound. We need to shoot more shots than they shoot and make more free throws than they attempt.
   
• The SEC is playing a tougher non-conference schedule, not just Texas A&M, but the conference in total. Who we are playing in non-conference rises the tide a little bit.
   
• What’s hurting us is not Quad I. We have more Quad I wins than anybody other than four teams, but what is hurting us are the Quad III losses. Losing to Arkansas at the buzzer, losing against Vanderbilt at the buzzer, and then losing a home game to LSU. Our problem is not top-heavy, our problem is the Quad III.
   
• I wish we’d shoot the free throw better. I wish we wouldn't have let Alabama score 18 threes, but there isn’t one thing that you can point to and say, “Hey we need to do this.”
   
• Our effective field goal percentage is 341st in the country. We need to make more shots, but nobody knows that our offense is ranked 34th. How is our offense ranked top-40, but our field goal percentage is among the worst? It’s because we are doing all the things other than shooting. We don’t turn it over. We offensive rebound. We get fouled. Last year, our offense was ranked 34th, and last year we shot the ball three percent better.
   
• I’m not defending myself. We need to win the games we are supposed to win. We should have won the game at Arkansas.
   
• There are a lot of margins, and they’re razor-thin. We have to continue to work to find ways to adjust, knowing what the margins are going to be. Backing away from it is not the answer. We are going to run to it, and we’re going to give our best day of work and see if that's good enough to get the split against Arkansas. Then, we have to get better on Thursday to try and figure out a way to go 2-0 against Tennessee.