Buzz Williams on fast start, Isaiah Watts, shifting to Big Ten play

Ahmed Ghafir
Dec 28, 2025
6 min read

Everything that head coach Buzz Williams said after the 73-58 non-conference finale win vs. Old Dominion:

On the 17-0 run to start the game

“I think anytime there's a change of pace, a change of place, you pray that there's a change of perspective in a healthy way. I think our guys have been incredibly resilient through all that has transpired in the first semester, regardless of results. I think our staff has been incredibly good at trying to find, within all of our deficiencies, margins and how we can improve. Instead of just saying them, trying to find ways to measure them. And I think that - similar to your question - like I think tonight was our fifth game of the month and we're starting a different group again because we're still trying to figure out all of the different things. And so within these measurements, each practice, we're grading every practice like it's a game. So when we go in the film room today, we're talking about the game from last night so that we can accumulate some evidence of these measurements and pictures for our guys to see. We continue to try to adapt and adjust some of the things we're doing defensively and just as many of the things that we're doing offensively. And sometimes they stick, sometimes they don't, but I think there has been some carry over despite the results over the last three weeks. And so to be able to start like that, it was encouraging [in] a lot of ways for them to see some of the things that we talk about, some of the pictures that we show, some of the measurements that we talk about in practice that we're acting like as a game. And then we're giving them those same measurements in timeouts, a lot of the things that are not seen on a stat sheet. And so the group is continuing to have positive trajectory.”

On Isaiah Watts’ first start, 17 first-half points

“The easy answer is, we've tried everybody else - this guy, that guy, these two guys together. And I think a little bit of it - not being condescending at all - I think some of it is coming from what we're measuring every day, not just for Watts but for everyone. And we post the grades, and then go through the grades and then show them the clips of why that was their grade. And so I think Watts is really smart. He's from a basketball environment his whole life and so he's able to take what I'm saying about him, but like other smart players, he's able to take what I'm saying about someone else and apply it to him. And so I'm not saying that group is the answer, but that group did accumulate more turkeys and more assists with less turnovers than any other group that we have played, whether they were healthy, not healthy, etc. So that's a good start.”

On the different defensive sets used vs. Old Dominion

“We're still trying to add to the list. I don't know that we can do one thing great. We're trying to see maybe if we can accumulate enough things that we can do okay and then throughout a game, if it's working, maybe just stick with it longer than we were planning. And so we've tried to account within the itinerary of practice, offensively and defensively. We call it discovery. And so some of the things that you saw tonight, we had never done. And so as a 12 minute defensive segment, kind of like a football practice, this is discovery defense. Here's a 12 minute offensive discovery. We're not going to be great at anything, but can we have a rolodex of things that if one thing is not working, okay, what's the next? What's plan B? And then if Plan B is all we need, then we'll just stay with that. And some of that is what we've learned from the previous 8, ten weeks. Some of that is because of the roster and all that's transpired because some of what we were doing when [Pharrel Payne] was healthy, our kids know, but we're not doing now. Some of what we were doing when Solo was out, we know, but we've made changes since Solo's back. So some of it is kind of a hodgepodge, and then some of what we've learned from that is, okay, well, let's try this. And so Christmas night, we got back going. And so we've had three discovery segments and then we've tried some of them tonight and some of them look good, and some of them will need to keep working on probably.”

On 10-of-19 from 3PT in the first half, 1-of-10 in the second half

“I think we had 14 baskets in the first half and 12 of them were assisted on two turnovers. I'm happy that they were threes, or the percentage. I was more happy with the type of three that it was. Not that it was assisted, but how did it get to that point? I thought we did a much better job of getting the defense in rotation that led to an uncontested shot and or a one-more pass. And I thought in the second half, we turned it over six times. In some of our games we would be happy with six turnovers, but some of the threes we shot in the second half were not the same types of threes, and so I think the percentage says from my studies, when the ball comes inside-out and the shooter is going to catch it with ten toes to the rim, they're going to shoot a higher percentage typically, it's 20 to 25% more when the ball is coming inside out, because that's how you practice. Here. I'm going to throw it to you, shoot it. But if the ball is coming right to left, and you're playing east and west, [it] doesn't mean you're not going to make it. You're just not going to make as high a percentage. And I thought in the second half, we took more of those.”

On transitioning to conference play, what Buzz wants to see from his team

“Eight games in in November is as many as you can play, and four games before Christmas is as few as you can play. The one thing that I would say is - I'm not talking about the health of our team. I'm talking about what's transpired relative to some of the traction on some of these questions we're talking about. I think we've had growth. And to your point, the next ten weeks are going to be heavier than the last ten weeks, regardless of the health of our roster. And so how can we increase our endurance physically, which all teams will as the game shortens? How can we increase our endurance mentally? Because we're going to have to have multiple things that we're going to have to be able to execute to his question. And so mentally, you have to be able to go from this thing to the next thing and still be able to execute. And then emotionally, how can our endurance increase as it gets heavier? I think it's 18 conference games left and nine are at home, nine are on the road. And so we'll plan the month of January tomorrow. Tomorrow is our team’s off day. We have a calendar meeting to plan the month and I know that this is the first time in my career where the timing of your games can be any day of the week. And so I want to give some thought to your question on how are we going to manage - is there two days in between games? Is there five days in between games? Are we on this side of the country or are we on the other side of the country? So we’re going to meet as a staff, other than just the group that normally helps me with the calendar because I think we have to be thoughtful in how we manage our emotions, how we manage mentally, how we manage physically because ten weeks, 18 games - that’s a lot for every team, specifically us.”

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