Buzz Williams reveals ‘recipe’ that Texas A&M must follow for success

A great game plan can often be the difference in winning and losing. That’s why, to get Texas A&M to where they want to go, Buzz Williams is persisting when it comes to the recipe that can make the Aggies a five-star success.

Williams spoke about the formula for success for the Aggies during postgame radio following their 73-69 win at LSU on Saturday. He knows that, if they follow the instructions, Texas A&M can have a chance in every game that they play. That’s evidenced by their results through the course of five games in conference play.

“I don’t know how good we are but I do know we have our best chance when we follow the recipe,” said Williams. “Entering today, we had played 165 minutes. 50 of those minutes? We had not done that. I thought today, despite all the things, all the storylines that could be created from the first half, the second half? I thought our entire group followed the recipe. That gives us a chance. It doesn’t ensure success.”

“We did not follow it for 40 minutes two weeks ago today. Did follow it for 40 minutes at Auburn, followed it for 45 minutes against Kentucky. We did not follow it the first 10 minutes, slightly a little bit more, against Arkansas,” Williams recalled. “I thought, today, that we did.”

The recipe becomes even more important to follow on the road where victories are hard to come by. As Williams noted as he continued, the difference was so slim statistically that they could’ve easily lost to the Tigers for the second time in two weeks. Instead, they did enough to squeak one out by a hair over the final moments in Baton Rouge.

“This is how thin the margin is. It was a low-possession game. It was a 65-possession game,” Williams explained. “If you count points per possession? When we have the ball 65 times, we scored at a rate of 1.12 – pretty good. Defensively? Now, LSU has the ball. We’re on defense. They get the ball 65 times. They score 1.11.”

“So the margin, on the road, at 1-3? At an institution that has never won here two times in a row? The margin is going to be 0.01,” said Williams. “It’s so difficult, emotionally, for anybody, for any program just across the country.”

Texas A&M moved to 11-7 overall and to 2-3 in the SEC with the much-needed win. Now, as they head back to the kitchen in College Station in preparation for a three-game home stand, Williams wants them to continue to tweak the recipe in order to make it one that’d get a top-notch review from any critic.

“How can you respond and go to the next thing regardless of result? Then how can you develop a formula so that, regardless of opponent, you know that we have to continue to find ways to make the formula 0.01 better over the course of a nine and a half week regular season?” asked Williams.