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Amari Williams can be frustrating at times to Kentucky fans.
He’s been criticized for not dunking the basketball when he’s near the rim or for making careless passes. Kentucky fans have wondered why he cannot play more minutes without needing to leave the game for a rest.
However, those who have to play against the 7-foot Williams, who transferred to Kentucky from Drexel, see him as a dominating presence.
College basketball stat guru Evan Miyakawa praises Williams for doing so “many vital things” for Kentucky every game like he did in Sunday’s win over Illinois when he had 10 rebounds, eight points, six assists, three blocks and one steal.
“He’s the best defensive rebounder in the country, he’s an elite passing big, and he has the best per-possession stats on the team,” Miyakawa said.
Illinois coach Brad Underwood certainly appreciated what Williams did in Kentucky’s 84-75 win.
“We saw Amari as a freshman, when he was at La Salle (Drexel), so it wasn’t any shock there. He’s just five years older and more mature,” Underwood said after the game. “He’s got great length and size. He’s a very unselfish player, a willing passer.
“He allows Koby Brea and Otega and those guys to cut and move, and he affects the game, he impacts it there is no doubt. Very good player, and I think they can — they can beat anybody.”
Williams was only 2-for-8 from the field and had only five points in the first round win over Troy. He grabbed 13 rebounds, including 12 defensive boards, and also had four assists and one block in 25 minutes but Troy coach Scott Cross said he impacted the game in a big way.
“His size and defensive ability was greater than what I expected. You see on film that he’s a big old guy, but, yeah, standing next to him, he really defended the rim well. I felt like we were able to get some advantages off the pick and roll to where we could maybe play 2-on-1,” Cross said. “But then you drive it in there and he’s blocking shots or he’s bluffing and getting back and he’s walling up guys. It just makes it really, really difficult. About the only thing you can do is pick and pop.
“He definitely gives them rim presence, a rim protector, would allow them to be a lot more aggressive. They can make mistakes defensively if they’ve got a guy like that. Amari Williams plugging up everything in the paint was hard for our guys. I think we were able to get some good looks off the pick and roll, but you go right in and have got a seven-footer shot blocker sitting in the paint, and that’s hard to deal with.”
Kentucky Radio Network analyst Jack Givens knows Kentucky will need even more from Williams against Tennessee in Indianapolis on Friday night.
“The bigs he is going to play against are going to be bigger and stronger than what he faced (against Troy). He is so big and such an athlete and elevates so well you have to deliver a message to the defense that he is matched against,” Givens said. “When you get a chance, you have to dunk the ball.
“You have to make the defensive player think dunk every time. If you keep laying it up they are going to hit you harder and harder to throw you off balance. He has to bring a little more aggression. He is going to have to deliver on those opportunities around the basket.”
Williams averaged 10.9 points and a team-high 8.6 rebounds per game. He also leads UK with 41 blocks and is second in assists with 107 in 34 games. He’s shooting 56.6 percent from the field and 62.9 percent at the foul line.
In the 78-73 win at Tennessee on Jan. 28, he had 10 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three turnovers in 20 minutes. Two weeks later in Rupp Arena in a 75-64 win, he had only six points, three rebounds, two assists and three turnovers in 21 minutes.
One Response
Its a love dislike relationship with Williams. One of my pet peeves is that when he’s around the basket he would probably shoot 70% if he would just dunk the damn ball or use the glass. His finger rolls and short floaters rarely go in. Last game he was dunking the ball more which led to more points for him and more points for Kentucky. Another thing is he rarely uses two hands to grab a rebound and that usually cost him 3-4 more rebounds a game. Something else that bothers me is the fact he dribbles the ball down the court to much. We need a guard to come get the ball from him instead of him running down the court looking for a open man. This cost him about 2-3 turnovers every game. If he cleaned these 3 things up he would be a NBA draft pick probably late second round because he can pass the ball great when he catches the pass from the 3 point line and inside. It has made his numbers not look as good as they could be. If Pope would have him on the block more he would be the most dominant big man in college basketball but opposing teams try to pull him away from the rim as much as they can and it works. Why does Garrison and Williams never play at the same time? I would love to see at least 3-4 minutes of them together on the court. I know Garrison backs up Williams but I think it would benefit both of them if they were on the floor together it would make the opposing team play there 4 against Garrison and he would completely dominate the 4 but by playing him at the 5 he s about even with the the other team. In the last 5 games Pope has done a better job at substitutions. It seems like when everyone gets playing time we click on all cylinders. When he only plays 7-8 guys is when we struggle. I’m looking for Chandler and Oweh to have a big game against Tennessee. My only problem with this is it will be very very very hard to beat Tennessee 3 times in one year. It was hard enough to beat them twice. I think whoever made the bracket did this on purpose. Its kind of boring to play the same team 3 times. I would rather even play Houston then play Tennessee. Because I know they are going to be extremely motivated. If they lose to us Friday the Tennessee fans will want to fire the great Rick Barnes for losing to us 3 times. To me we have achieved exactly what I thought we would achieve. I said if we go to the sweet 16 this season would be considered successful to me. So if we win this game I think Pope will win a championship in the next 2 seasons. When Perry and and Noah and Chandler are juniors and seniors we will be unstoppable. Also with Lewis and Johnson and Moreno as sophomores we will be very special. It feels good to be a Kentucky fan because to me this will Popes worst year as the coach of Kentucky he has a bunch of non athletic kids and threw this team together without having time to really analyze who he wanted on this team. He basin ad to take what he could get. From this year on he will get whoever he wants and as the role players get older we will get better and better. If Oweh comes back next year I think we will win a championship. This year in happy with the body of work we have done and every win from this point on will just be icing on the cake.