A&M refuses to relax despite having secured its NCAA Tourney ticket

Click HERE to view Texas A&M’s Tuesday press conference.

Some people just can’t relax.

Texas A&M basketball coach Buzz Williams appears to be among them.

Although the No. 14 Aggies (22-9) are assured participation in March Madness, Williams doesn’t see the upcoming Southeastern Conference Tournament as a time for relaxation.

Williams won’t meditate. That is unless he’s pondering an SEC Tournament second-round matchup vs. Texas (18-14) on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. CT in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.

He isn’t interested in massages. That is, unless it’s considering how results in Nashville might massage A&M’s seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

His idea of guided imagery is the image of guiding A&M to the SEC Tournament championship.

“I think if you’re playing and they’re keeping score, let’s play to win,” Williams said on Tuesday. “I think all players and all coaches want to play for a championship. The longer you do it, the harder you realize that is to accomplish.

“From a competitive, character standpoint, I don’t know, as the leader or even as a player, you can go into a game going, ‘It’s OK if we lose. Let’s go home and rest,’ when your whole life you’ve dreamed of playing in March.”

Forward Henry Coleman III said the Aggies have gotten the message but definitely not the massage.

“If you’re going to the game saying you don’t want to give 110 percent, everything in your tank, then you can probably hop off the plane or the bus. We don’t want to take you,” Coleman said. “I don’t think there’s anybody sitting there thinking about what’s next. We’re thinking about what’s right in front of us.”
What’s right in front is Texas, which rallied from an 18-point deficit to defeat the Aggies 70-69 in Austin on Jan. 25.

Texas freshman Tre Johnson scored 30 points in the victory.

A&M shot just eight free throws in that game. The contrast, the Aggies hit 24 of 32 free throws in an 80-60 victory over the Longhorns in College Station on Jan. 4.
Conventional wisdom suggests Texas needs a victory more than A&M. The Longhorns, which are on the proverbial “bubble,” need a victory so that bubble doesn’t burst.

However, the Aggies dispute that notion. They closed the regular season with consecutive victories over then-No. 1 Auburn and on the road at LSU.

Star guard Wade Taylor IV scored 16 points vs. Auburn and 17 vs. LSU en route to setting the A&M career scoring record. Coleman had a double-double at LSU. Andersson Garcia had 21 rebounds in 19 points in those two games.

The Aggies dominated the boards in both games. They out-rebounded Auburn 41-25 and snatched 24 offensive rebounds. They out-rebounded LSU 42-27, with 14 coming on the offensive glass.

They want to continue that momentum in postseason play.

“I think it helps a lot to win your last home game, to win your last road game,” Williams said. “I think momentum is hard to touch. It’s hard to get. It’s hard to keep.”

That’s why the Aggies cannot relax.