A 'Leaner, Bouncier' Goggles Guy in 2016
October 05, 2015 03:37 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Mountaineer basketball fans can expect to see a “leaner, bouncier” Devin Williams this season, according to veteran coach Bob Huggins.
That’s really good news, because the old Goggles Guy wasn’t too bad last year. Williams earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors in 2015, and heading into this season he is regarded as one of the league’s top 10 returning players.
Late last year, the 6-foot-9-inch, 260-pound junior forward became one of West Virginia’s go-to offensive players.
The Cincinnati resident scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a victory over Oklahoma State in the regular-season finale and then contributed 18 points and seven boards before fouling out in West Virginia’s Big 12 tournament loss to Baylor.
In the NCAA tournament, he was the best player on the floor against Buffalo, scoring 17 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a second-round victory over the Bulls in Columbus, Ohio. Two days later against Maryland, Williams was once again a force in the paint by scoring 16 points and pulling down 10 rebounds in a 69-59 thrashing of the 12th-ranked Terps.
In the Sweet 16 round against Kentucky in Cleveland, Williams ran into a stone wall against Kentucky’s massive front line that featured three first-rounders - Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein and Trey Lyles. Williams was just 2 of 9 from the floor and finished with nine points against a defense designed to stop him. However, he’s far wiser for the experience.
Williams’s rough game against Kentucky notwithstanding, Huggins believes Devin’s two performances against Buffalo and Maryland could nudge him closer toward being the type of dominant inside player he is capable of becoming this season.
“I thought he played really well in those two games,” said Huggins last Thursday on the eve of preseason practice. “The offensive rebounds he got in the Buffalo game won the game, and I think he will continue to do that.”
And while last year’s team was clearly under Juwan Staten’s influence, there were many times when Huggins drew up plays for Williams when he needed critical baskets. Huggins expects to continue to do that this season.
“We threw him the ball when we needed baskets,” said Huggins. “Our guys had so much confidence in him getting us second shots, and I don’t see why that would change.”
Williams made marked improvement during his sophomore season, increasing his scoring average from 8.4 points per game as a freshman to 11.6 points per contest; he averaged nearly a rebound per game more on the glass and his shooting percentage increased from 41.4 percent as a freshman to nearly 45 percent last season.
Additionally, Williams was also much more reliable at the free throw line where he should be spending a lot of time this year, the forward knocking down better than 70 percent of his charities after converting less than 58 percent of them as a freshman.
All of that is encouraging, but perhaps the most promising aspect of Williams’s play last season was his growing court awareness.
Huggins said Williams is becoming a far better passer and consequently, that will make him a far better offensive player.
“The guys that are really hard to guard are the guys who are great passers,” the coach pointed out. “Think about (NBA Hall of Famer) Larry Bird and how well he passed the ball. It’s hard to run a double and it’s hard to try and get the ball out of his hands when he can find an open guy. When I had Kenyon (Martin) he was that way. Kenyon could really, really pass the ball and Devin is getting better and better at that.”
Having your No. 1 low-post player identify double teams and locate unguarded teammates opens the offense up to many more possibilities.
“That just freezes the defense and let’s them get isolated a little bit more,” Huggins explained.
Last year, a considerable amount of West Virginia’s scoring came from a suffocating press that led the country with an average of 10.7 steals per game. West Virginia’s ability to shut down teams and create offense from its defense compensated for an overall inability to shoot the basketball, the Mountaineers converting only 40.8 percent of their field goal tries, including a scattershot 31.6 percent from 3.
Williams can help the Mountaineers’ half-court sets this year with his ability to score around the goal and also by locating open teammates when teams gang up on him in the paint.
Huggins believes senior forward Jonathan Holton can also help things along by continuing to shoot the basketball the way he has shot it during the preseason.
“Jon shot the ball really well this summer,” Huggins said. “If Jon can shoot the ball the way he shot it this summer that will really help Devin because that will really spread everybody out all that much better.”
Huggins said Holton’s improved shooting stroke is simply a matter of getting more arc on his shots. “He’s getting it above the rim,” he said.
Holton consistently knocking down open shots from the corner, wing or elbow will give Williams even more space to operate in the paint, which could be a very good thing for the Mountaineers considering he’s probably in the best shape of his life.
“I think he’s had a good summer,” said Huggins. “I’m sure fresh legs has something to do with that too. You look at him and he’s not carrying around any extra weight. I think this is the leanest he’s ever been, but he’s still 260-something.”
An unsettling prospect for opposing teams, for sure.
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