TUCSON, Ariz. — His bandaged right pinky jutting out to the side for protection, Derrick Williams found himself beneath a pile of Wildcats after the latest and perhaps greatest game of his super sophomore season.
Williams could barely see the fans inside Arizona’s McKale Center th
rough his teammates’ arms and legs, but he could certainly hear their chants: “One more year”!
The way Williams is playing, it might be wishful thinking.
Whether he comes back or not, though, one thing’s for certain: Williams is quickly putting himself in elite company at this tradition-rich program.
“The thing about Arizona is we have such a spectacular tradition of winning teams, championships that everyone in here has seen this before,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “But when you look at the individual history of players having great seasons — I may be speaking out of turn on this — I think you have to probably put Derrick’s season to this point up there with some of the great ones that have played at Arizona.”
It’s been a rapid transformation.
Williams wasn’t one those gotta-have-him recruits out high school, wasn’t even the highest-rated player in Miller’s inaugural class.
Once he arrived in Tucson, he wasn’t sure he could score against college players, figured he’d be little more than a role player. Even as his freshman season progressed and it became obvious Williams could hang with the best of them, his coaches still had to prod him into shooting more.
Williams’ talent carried him to the Pac-10’s freshman of the year award and he spent the offseason working on his game, hoisting 700 jumpers a day and playing against elite-level competition.
This season, he’s become a national player of the year candidate and a potential NBA lottery pick — whenever he decides to come out.
Powerful, yet with a good touch from the perimeter, Williams is averaging 19.7 points — second-best in the Pac-10 — and 8.1 rebounds while leading the once-down Wildcats (23-4, 12-2) back into the polls (12th) and to the top of the conference standings.
Even with a bulky wrap on his injured finger, Williams continues to shoot lights out, hitting 63 percent from the field and a remarkable 27 of 40 from 3-point range.
“In practice, he’s probably our seventh-best 3-point shooter, and the game comes and the thing just goes in,” Miller said. “He’s such a gamer, he’s so clutch and he just has a way about him.”
Washington found that out Saturday night.
Two of the Pac-10’s most talented teams, the Wildcats and Huskies played an entertaining game in front of a juiced-up, white-T-shirt-wearing crowd at the McKale Center.
Arizona got out to a big lead, Washington fought its way back and then Williams took over.
He scored 10 of his 26 points in the final 6 minutes after Washington took the lead, including a 3-pointer in front of Arizona’s bench with just over a minute left. Williams finished 8 of 16 from the field, hitting both of his 3-point attempts, was 8 of 9 from the free-throw line and finished with 11 rebounds.
He saved his best for last, though.
With the Wildcats leading by one, Washington had the ball under Arizona’s basket with 2.2 seconds left. The Huskies got it into Darnell Gant, who turned and put up a shot over Arizona’s Jamelle Horne.
Racing off his man from the other side of the lane, Williams leaped and swatted Gant’s shot right at the apex, sending the ball several rows into the stands. He topped it off by tipping away the inbounds pass, preserving Arizona’s 87-86 win and setting off a wild, pile-on-top celebration near midcourt.
“Derrick Williams was obviously a monster,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said.
The question, as the season starts to wind down, is whether Williams will continue to have games like this at Arizona or with some NBA team. He certainly has the body and the game to make it on the next level. It’s just whether he’s ready to leave college life behind.
“With games like that, it makes me want to stay,” Williams said after swatting away the Huskies. “I came in with all four guys. That’s all I can say. We’ll see after the season.”
Either way, it’s shaping up to be a memorable one.
Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Damon Stoudamire, Mike Bibby, Gilbert Arenas, Richard Jefferson … Derrick Williams?
Quite possibly.
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