Buzz William’s Texas A&M squad ended Vanderbilt’s hot streak on Saturday. The Aggies defeated the Commodores 87-75 in Saturday’s SEC Tournament semifinals to reach the conference championship game.

Texas A&M is now 2-0 in the conference tourney after beating Arkansas on Friday. For the Aggies, it was a big adjustment in a short turnaround playing 2 very different teams. Williams said it all started with his staff.

“I thought our staff did a really good job in a short turnaround,” Williams told reporters. “We haven’t played these guys in seven weeks. I would say they run the most complex offense in the league. I think their team is completely evolved into something that it wasn’t with the injury to their post player.”

Williams called Arkansas a “smashmouth” game. Vanderbilt, however, presented a very different challenge, particularly on defense.

“They’re playing with 4 shooters always. Most of the time they’re playing with 5. If (Quentin Millora-Brown) is not in the game, every player on the floor can shoot (3-pointers),” Williams said. “In the last 5 games, 44% of their shots have been from (behind the 3-point line).

“It is going to be a different game. It’s not going to be a smashmouth game like yesterday’s game was because they stretch the floor so much. They want to play fast, even though their pace of tempo throughout the year is still considered slow. That’s because they’re playing different.

“They won 10 out of their last 11 games in the league. I think they lost one game in February, that’s it. So I think the pace is going to be different because of that. I thought that our plan, they executed at a really high rate, and we were able to get I think five turkeys in the first half. That always makes your offense look better to force point because you’re playing in a broken floor.”

Texas A&M was led by Wade Taylor IV, who had 25 points, shooting 8-of-13 from the floor and 5-of-6 at the line. One of the keys for the Aggies was getting to the free-throw line. Texas A&M made 15-of-25 free throws while Vanderbilt shot just 15, making 10. The Aggies never trailed in the game, winning the box score when it came to turnovers, rebounds, bench points and assists.