Thursday, January 06, 2000
Xavier needs more from Williams
BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Darnell Williams was summoned to coach Skip Prosser's hotel room in Milwaukee on Sunday night. There, Prosser and assistant coach Jeff Battle talked to the Xavier senior guard about developing a sense of urgency.
“I knew it would happen sooner or later,” Williams said. “They've done it to every senior that's been here. They're just trying to help me out, just telling me things I need to do.”
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VIRGINIA TECH at XU
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• When: 8p.m. today
• Where: Cincinnati Gardens (10,100)
• Records: Virginia Tech 6-5, Xavier 9-3
• TV: Channel 64
• Radio: WLW-AM (700)
• Tickets: About 1,500 left
BY THE NUMBERS
• 6: Consecutive XU victories over Virginia Tech
• 3-1: XU's record in A-10 openers
• 2-2: Virginia Tech's record in A-10 openers
• 8-4: XU's record when the A-10 season started last year
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The 6-foot-5 guard, who sat out last year with a knee injury, has three months of college basketball left.
He begins his final Atlantic 10 Conference season tonight against Virginia Tech at the Cincinnati Gardens.
“He needs that bounce, that joie de vivre, the enthusiasm for the game,” Prosser said of Williams. “His game can't be all technical and all cerebral; it's got to be just the pure love of playing and playing free. That's when he's at his best. We've seen that in spurts.”
The Musketeers (9-3) were picked in preseason to win the A-10 West Division. For that to happen, Williams will have to play a key role.
He is third on the team in scoring at 12.2 points a game but is shooting a career-low 38.9 percent from the field.
Two years ago, Williams was XU's leading scorer, averaging 17.3 points and shooting 55.9 percent from the field.
“It's time to start fresh, because it's a whole new season,” he said. “This is when it really counts, the conference.”
NBA scouts have been watching since preseason. The early consensus was that Williams would have to be re-evaluated after the first of the year.
Williams' goal has always been to play professionally.
“I think about it every day, all the time, especially when I flip on the TV and see Pose out there, or other people that I know,” he said, referring to former teammate James Posey, who starts for the Denver Nuggets.
Williams said he would have scouted himself this way over the past 12 games: “Missed some shots. Still doesn't finish a lot of shots that he should but plays hard, never backs away from taking a shot, and keeps his team level in times of adversity in games.”
Though Williams did not play particularly well in XU's loss at Marquette Sunday — his four points was his lowest output in almost three years — it hurt the Musketeers that he fouled out with 9:01 remaining.
Williams provides leadership and poise on the court because of his experience. Four games this season have been decided by five points or fewer; Williams has played in 23 such games in his XU career.
His shooting has been streaky from the 3-point line and in the paint. Williams has been driving to the basket with some success recently, but he's 2-of-8 on 3-point tries over the last two games.
“Now I've got to put it all together,” he said. “I'm happy with the little things, defense and that we're winning. I've just got to put the work in, try to do something to make this special, not for me personally but for the team.”
Virginia Tech (6-5) comes in with four losses in its last six games.
Xavier has not lost to the Hokies since the 1995-96 season and has won the past three games at the Gardens — where XU has won 23 in a row — by an average of 23.3 points.
The challenge for the Musketeers is bouncing back from their two-point loss at Marquette on Sunday, when they lost an 18-point lead.
“The second half against Toledo and the first half at Marquette were as well as we could play,” Prosser said. “When we put 40 minutes together, we were able to compete with the best team in the country (UC). When we don't put 40 minutes together, then we're not able to compete.”
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