'A Constant Tug of War': How In-Game Adjustments and Trust Pushed Aggies to 3-0 in SEC
Missouri Tigers forward Kobe Brown was a problem.
The senior — in just seven minutes — managed to score 10 points for the Tigers, breaking open an early lead over the Texas A&M Aggies.
The Aggies’ short-term solution turned into the story of the first half: A 6-6 guard named Hayden Hefner played his best minutes of basketball all season.
In the first half alone, Hefner was perfect from the field, putting up three 3s in his second-highest points performance of the season with 12. No stranger to shooting well against Missouri, Hefner’s career-high — which came last season — was also against the Tigers. Only this year, the Aggies faced a new-look Missouri team led by Dennis Gates, its first-year head coach.
“[Missouri] is such a unique prep,” Aggies head coach Buzz Williams said. “Coach [Gates] is a student of the game. You have to figure out how you’re going to slow them down … [and] you have to have a distinct plan.”
"We're happy that [Hefner] made a shot in 2023," he added. "That help[ed] us a lot."
The Aggies did find a way to slow down Gates and his ranked Tigers. They shot 43% from 3, Brown finished the game with 12 points — only adding 2 the rest of the game — and Missouri scored the lowest amount of points it had all season.
“[It was] definitely a tough first half," Gates said. "Our players] are more discouraged, if anything, because of how [many] normal shots that we have made, we missed. I think [Texas A&M] did a good job of disrupting the rhythm ... it seemed like we were in mud.
“We just got to get back to the drawing board.”
Responding to adjustments made by the Tigers with ones of their own, the Aggies added win number five to their impressive streak. Those adjustments, along with trust, told the story of the second half.
"In-game adjustments, I feel, are the most important thing," Texas A&M guard Wade Taylor IV said. "You could [do] one thing in practice and they come out into a whole different thing, so you just got to adjust to what the other team is doing. At the end of the day, [you just] continue to play as hard as you can."
For each new problem that arose on the court, a solution was found. After Brown’s solo run, his offensive performance seemingly disappeared, which Williams said happened after his team switched a smaller guard on him on the defensive end.
“I thought that was a good adjustment we made," Taylor said. "The coaches have it ready for us as soon as we come to the gym ... and it's been working so far."
In the second half, the Tigers came out of the break with guns blazing. A new defensive scheme involving a full-court press caught the Aggies off guard. Missouri forced 11 turnovers in the first 10 minutes and cut the massive lead down to just 4.
“We started to be passive a little bit," Taylor said."[We were] not trying to break and go score. ... We talked about that a lot pre-game and at previous practices ... but we [didn’t] use it when they started pressing.”
Once again, the Aggies proved their ability to adapt.
"Once we said in the huddle to just break the press and go score, I thought that helped,” Taylor said. “With them being a fast team, us being on the free throw line kind of slowed down [the game] … I'm glad we got to the line."
Just “getting to the line” was the simplest way to put it. To finish the night, Texas A&M made more free throws than Missouri attempted — most of which came in the second half.
"They got what they needed," Gates said. "That was foul shots. ... I had to sub [Brown] out. He picked up two fouls in the first half. Ultimately, we got to figure that part out ... I had to break the rhythm up that he had going.
The offense’s ability to draw fouls allowed the lead to balloon once more, the Aggies turning it back on at the defensive end to pull away again.
“Credit to our guys," Williams said. "[The lead] did go from whatever to 4, and now it's a game. But it was a game before [the lead] got to 4. I think our guys are growing up. I don't think that they're blaming [each other] ... I think that they're together."
Both Taylor and Texas A&M guard Tyrece Radford praised the coaching staff, crediting them for the second-half success after the team turned the lead back around.
"I feel like we have the best [coaching] staff in the country," Taylor said. "They feed it to us like we're first graders. They break it down day in and day out, and just tell us what we need to do."
"They break it down to us and we understand it and go out and do it at halftime," Radford added. "[We] make adjustments on the fly or in a timeout, and it shows our continuing to just apply it to the game."
Williams spoke to the difficulty of those coaching decisions, stating that the most important aspect of coaching comes down to balance.
“It's a constant tug of war," Williams said. "Are you going to play the way you want to play that gives your team the best chance? Or are you going to try to join them and play [the way that] they have proven to be elite at?"
He also gave credit to each one of his players, who he says all stepped up.
"I thought that [Radford] made play after play after play," Williams said. "I thought Henry [Coleman III] was as good as he has been all season. We're beginning to be reliant on [Julius Marble] — he's playing with a high level of confidence. And Dexter [Dennis] followed up the game of the year on Saturday, in my opinion ... with an even better performance."
Each Aggie who saw 10 minutes or more of game action scored double digits — a first for the offense. While Hefner was the first to do it Wednesday night, his scoring only motivated the other players on the court to also play hard and hold each other “accountable”.
“[Hayden] comes to practice every day," Taylor said. "[He's] excited, ready to work, one of the leaders ... so we knew he was coming. We know whoever takes [the scoring] that night, he's gonna give it the best he can give because that's just how our team is formed."
As Texas A&M looks ahead at its upcoming schedule, it will look to build upon its hot start in SEC play ahead of a likely ranking for the team in the upcoming days.
"We just [have] to breathe,” Taylor said. "Not just worrying about the score, [but] continuing to do what we practice every day."
Even more so than practice, however, comes trust — which the Aggies have plenty of — in their coaching staff, their in-game adjustments and in each other.
"[The most important thing for us] is to not get ahead of ourselves," Radford said. "Just take it one game at a time ... we know [this] was a good win, but we got to wake up tomorrow and still practice just like if it was a different result. We have to continue to stick to our roots."
You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @mattgzman
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