Buzz Williams previews SEC/ACC Challenge against Wake Forest

After a 2-1 weekend in Las Vegas, Buzz Williams & Co. return to Reed Arena to host the 2024 SEC/ACC Challenge against Wake Forest. The head coach joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Live to discuss the Aggies' upcoming test.

Key notes from Buzz Williams interview 

• Oregon is really good. They ended up winning the whole thing. It's historical in that it was the first one. That organization is going to take over college basketball. I know that's a strong statement, but they're already involved in many things that are already beginning to change the landscape. Hearing it for the first time and seeing what they've been doing, for us to be a part of it, was a great experience and will only continue as that business grows. Being in Vegas for seven days is a long time, so we're thankful for how the last two games ended and the response from our guys.
   
• With all humility, rebounding has become the niche we have created over the last few years. It has become a massive component of what we do on both sides of the floor in how we make and practice it. We are not the best athletes, and we're not creating something new, but this happens more in a game from a volume standpoint than anything other than made baskets. 
   
• If you add up all of the field goal makes and rebounds from both teams, that will be one and two in every game, no matter what. We have to do that with each year, with each month, otherwise, it won't be a game. The players have responded, the coaches have done incredible in teaching, and our guys have received it. It's just become the fabric of what we do. It has become a staple in our program that, without it, we're probably not in the position that we're in.
   
• Those two kids from Rutgers are lottery picks. They're high lottery picks. Going into our game, they had been shooting 53 balls between the two of them. They are ultra-talented. Against Creighton, they're up one, and Rutgers was a one-point game. It is because of the schedule that have played thus far.
   
• Nothing will be different on Tuesday, Thursday, the following Saturday. I don't know if that's the right thing. I don't. The numbers in the net constantly morph and change. As a team, we don't want to lose to UCF or Oregon, but Oregon winning the whole thing ends up helping us in the future.
   
• Should rebounding be the overwhelming thing in our program? I think it's the only shot we have got. You want to take as much of the guesswork out of the decision to get an invitation to March Madness as possible. We have to do this to at least give ourselves a margin. This grown-up team and experienced team has never played this schedule.
   
• I don't think we are 6-2 without Henry Coleman III. Even in the few times we have spoken on Monday mornings, I have mentioned it. Analytically, he is through the roof. Tuesday, we were okay in some ways, but we were never completely connected on both ends of the floor the way we had to be to have a chance to beat an important team the full night. It's not exclusively because of his talent. The analytics reveal it.
   
• He has already graduated from college and decided to return to extend his college career. He loves his team, and he's an incredible leader. Everything that we are doing on both sides of the ball, he completely knows it. He can say it before I say it. That consistency that he has given us this season particularly in Vegas. The job that Henry did against No. 11 from Creighton was the better player in that game. His consistency has been so important for us. 
   
• They scored 90 against Alabama and 84 against Notre Dame. So many of their points come from the free-throw line. Within the first six minutes of the second half, Wade Taylor IV scored 26 points. He is first on the scouting report and has guarded every way conceivably possible as a guard. His offense changed us in the second half. Solomon Washington's defense did, too. Things would be different if he didn't get hurt in the first part of that Oregon game. He had such a presence for us defensively.
   
• It will be interesting at the conference. Our kids on our team are younger, but it's also not as engrained because changes have been happening since they were in high school. It is going to continue to morph. I paid attention early in my tenure when things kept changing. Because of that, my sons and the players are engulfed in the things that are constantly swirling around.