Should Aggies Be 'Embarrassed?' Coach Buzz Williams Says Yes

A&M continues to plummet down the conference standings after losing a seventh-straight game on Tuesday

Texas A&M men's basketball has gone through its fair share of highs and lows as we near the final stretch of the season. 

A tight 67-64 win over Missouri on Jan. 15 marked the eighth-straight victory for the Aggies heading into a matchup with No. 12 Kentucky. 

But despite the momentum at their backs, the Aggies have done a complete 180 and are now in the midst of a seven-game losing streak after Tuesday's home loss to LSU, the program's longest slump since 2004 (17 games). 

For A&M head coach Buzz Williams, it's becoming hard to come up with answers for what went wrong. 

"I'm not sure that an opening statement is required," Williams said after Tuesday's loss. "After losing six in a row, we should be embarrassed prior to the jump ball. That's probably telling you the whole truth."

The Aggies went scorching in the second half, scoring 52 points in the final 20 minutes after trailing by 20 headed into the locker room. But it was the abysmal 16 first-half points that cost A&M in the end.

“I talked about fight, I talked about togetherness," Williams said. "But i didn’t sense it would be as poor as it was in the first half.”

Aggies' forward Henry Coleman III posted 12 points and 12 rebounds in what was his fourth-straight game scoring in double digits. His confidence in the team's ability to pick things up doesn't seem altered. 

“Everybody on this team has a story," Coleman III said. "We wake up (with a competitive fire)."

The Aggies' fiery play in the second half is a positive reinforcement that this team will still fight when the going gets tough. Out-rebounding LSU on the offensive glass 22 to 12 proves that effort and energy can be A&M's calling card. 

Consistency for this type of production could be just on the horizon, but Williams knows it starts with intensity from the opening tip.

“From an energy perspective, in order to execute the things that we know we have to do to, the prerequisite is playing with an incredible amount of fervor and energy," he said. 

Perhaps the lack of energy in the paint is shown through the Aggies' over-reliance on the 3-point shot, as the team went 8 of 30 (26.6 percent) from deep. This approach is understandable during a comeback attempt, but the Aggies' rebounding numbers show that high-energy play is key to victory.

A&M (15-9, 4-7) will have its next chance to prove this is the case in Saturday's road matchup with the No. 1 Auburn Tigers (22-2, 10-1), a team that is certain to be motivated after having their 19-game win streak snapped against Arkansas on Tuesday night. 

The Aggies don't have much to lose in a game where they will be huge underdogs. Why not go out and play with some fire? 

“That fire inside each and every one of us is the reason why we play this game and we play it the way we do," Coleman III said.

Saturday's tipoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. C.T at Auburn Arena.

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