Texas A&M Aggies HC Buzz Williams Reacts to Brutal Timeout vs. Texas Longhorns

There's many reasons why the Texas A&M Aggies dropped a 94-89 double-overtime heartbreaker to the Texas Longhorns in the SEC Tournament on Thursday but one could argue that a poorly-timed timeout from head coach Buzz Williams near the end of the first overtime was the out-of-nowhere dagger that prevented the Aggies from securing a win.

With about 1:30 to play in the first overtime and Texas A&M leading 78-74, Aggies forward Pharrel Payne recovered a loose ball during a sloppy sequence. Once he saw Payne with the ball, Williams tried to signal timeout for about two seconds. Simultaneously, Payne quickly passed out to Wade Taylor IV, who drilled an open triple that would have essentially iced the game for A&M.

Unfortunately for the Aggies, the official granted timeout and blew his whistle as soon as Taylor IV caught the ball, wiping away the shot and resetting the possession. Still with a chance to seal the win on the ensuing inbound pass with seven seconds on the shot clock, Williams inexplicably drew up a lob play toward the rim that was easily batted away by Texas, as the Longhorns gained possession.

Mar 8, 2025; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Buzz Williams looks on against the LSU Tigers during the first half at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The Longhorns took advantage, as Jordan Pope hit a corner triple to cut the lead to one. Texas tied things up with a dunk in the final seconds to force a second overtime before eventually winning the game.

When speaking to the media after the game, Williams said he felt confident calling the timeout but apologized when seeing the result in hindsight.

"I thought it was scrambled. We had possession," Williams said, per TexAgs. "We had two timeouts. We got two offensive rebounds and both shot attempts we just okay. I apologized for calling it but I still felt comfortable calling it."

While the timeout call was unfortunate, the Aggies could have made it null and void by executing on the inbound play. Instead, the lob play at the rim dashed a second chance Texas A&M had at winning the game.

Williams gave credit to Texas for the win but it's clear the Aggies will have to dig deep and improve on the little things headed into the NCAA Tournament.

"I thought our guys did a lot of great things," Williams said. "Credit to Texas for doing great things. I think that's why it's called madness. It's never going to be perfect but we have to handle it. We didn't play to our recipe in the first half."

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