Troy Williams keeps fidgeting with his water bottle. He’s folding and unfolding his hands. He’s looking over at the stat sheet.
His eyes are wandering around the room. They look disheartened. It’s like he’s waiting for someone to ask him about his big day.
The junior forward is coming off one of his best games of the year. He’s actually just had two phenomenal games in a row. He had just passed the 1,000 point mark in his career.
Yet no one is asking Troy Williams about that. He is hardly being asked anything.
The questions are about all of the frontcourt players stepping up or IU being in first place in the Big Ten, not the leading scorer. Williams is asked one question, and of course it revolves around improving from his awful zero-point performance at Michigan State a week earlier.
It looks like Williams just wants some acknowledgment of his big day, or rather, his big week. He deserves it.
The media can be hard on Williams. I’ve been as hard on him as anyone. He can play out of control. Sometimes he tries to overcompensate for a mistake, causing another one.
The Michigan State game was the greatest example of that. That performance was the pinnacle of IU’s faithful turning on him.
How did he respond? By playing as aggressively as ever, and it’s been a show as of late.
In the last two games against Nebraska and Purdue, Williams combined to shoot 15-of-20 from the field for 37 points. He was everywhere on the floor, yet simultaneously more disciplined.
He could be seen diving, like full-extension diving, for the ball on three separate occasions Saturday. IU Coach Tom Crean said Williams had 13 deflections in the first half and finished with 18.
The last thing IU wanted to do, Crean said, was focus on what wasn’t working.Those who have worked with Crean in the past always cite this philosophy.
“The worst thing that could happen when somebody is struggling is you keep reminding them of it, right?” he said.
Yet we like to remind Williams of it. We remind him of it often, rarely giving him credit for when he steps up.
Here I am giving Williams credit. Back on Feb. 11, when IU beat Iowa 85-78, Crean joked Williams was like the biblical figure Lazarus because he resurrected himself a couple of times that game.
Maybe that is something people need to just accept about Williams. He is kind of like Lazarus. I would bet Williams will have another bad game in the next week or two that will make IU fans want to pull their hair out.
But he will probably resurrect himself again. He will bounce back with another scene-stealing performance. Maybe Crean is right. You shouldn’t try to rein in Williams or control him. You have to refine the things he does well and get the most out of them.
That means let him be aggressive, just make sure it’s on both ends.
The way Williams hit the 1,000 point mark was fitting to his career. He had just hit a 3-pointer, and on the next possession, he stole the ball from Purdue’s Rapheal Davis.
Williams took off down the court and broke away, since few can catch up to him on a breakaway. He leaped, threw his arm back and dunked. He became the 49th Hoosier in the 1,000 point club.
“Troy playing like that — he’s basically unstoppable,” senior guard Yogi Ferrell said.
brodmill@indiana.edu
