Freshman Josh Williams is putting University of Akron men’s basketball coach Keith Dambrot into a precarious situation.
Williams, who came to the Zips after a standout career at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, is pressing his case for playing time — not with words, but with his deeds on the hardwood.
Williams has uncorked two sublime performances in probably two of the Zips’ biggest games of the season so far.
Against Central Michigan on Friday, Williams established a career high with 22 points on 6-of-7 shots, all of them 3-pointers, in a 92-87 home victory. That effort came just three days after Williams scored a then-career best 20 points in an 80-68 victory at Ohio.
In those two games, he hit 13-of-15 shots overall and 10-of-12 from beyond the arc.
“His play has been terrific,” Dambrot said of Williams, a 6-foot-2 guard averaging 6.2 points per game for the Zips, now 19-4 overall and 8-2 in the Mid-American Conference. “At both ends of the floors he continues to improve.”
Williams was crucial in the victory over Central Michigan, which avenged a 92-81 road loss on Jan. 12 to the Chippewas. With Central drawing close in the second half, Williams hit three 3-pointers to fuel a 22-1 run as the Zips pulled away.
“Josh hit some bombs,” Dambrot said. “I watch when he shoots at practice and his range has improved in the past month. And he’s outdistancing the defense — there is no defense the place he’s shooting the ball from, and I think that caused the run.”
Williams scored his previous high of 15 points on Jan. 23 in a 75-46 win over Miami, but then did not score in the Zips’ next two games, when he averaged 13 minutes per game.
In the three games in which he’s scored in double figures, though, Williams has played about 22 minutes and averaged 15.9 points per game.
Williams — who drew interest from Ohio, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Toledo, Butler and Western Kentucky while in high school — has put in plenty of extra work to earn those minutes.
“I say the big difference is the confidence thing — building confidence before practice and after practice,” Williams said. “Just getting more reps and more shots and seeing them fall down, so now they’re starting to fall in the game.”
With Williams’ development, the Zips have tremendous flexibility with three guards capable of starting, each with the ability to handle the ball and shoot from the outside — exactly the way Dambrot likes to play offensive. As the UA coach said, it stretches opponents to smithereens.
The key is Williams keeping it up.
“If you ask him, I shouldn’t miss any [shots],” Williams joked of Dambrot’s expectations. “He doesn’t think I should miss one.”
Although that might be unrealistic, it does look as if Williams has found a groove.
“I’m just shooting,” he said. “If it’s going in, it’s going in. If I miss one, the next one I just have to shoot with more confidence.”
Williams’ recent production has earned him any extra minutes he receives.
“I probably haven’t done as good a job of managing him as I should have, but I love his personality. I love his work ethic, what he does,” Dambrot said of Williams. “He gets in the gym every day. He’s just a high quality guy and he’s going to be one of the best players we’ve ever had.”
Gold at the arc
The Zips continue to be one of the best 3-point teams in both defense and offense. They rank No. 1 in the nation in defensive 3-point field goal percentage.
Offensively they’re No. 3 with 11.3 3-pointers per game and fifth with 260 total 3-pointers, according to the most recent NCAA statistics.
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Zips blog at www.ohio.com/zips. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ.