Troy Williams can dunk. That, everyone knows.
But Saturday night, he showed how he can be more than that. The junior forward’s 19-point performance wasn’t the only thing that brought the Assembly Hall crowd to its feet.
Williams played maybe his best defensive game of the year in the Hoosiers’ 77-73 win over No. 17 Purdue.
What showed up on the stat sheet were his four steals. What didn’t is the handful of times he was on the floor diving for the loose ball.
In one instance in the first half, Williams was guarding the ball at the top of the key, knocked the ball loose and then dove on it, wrapping his arms around the Purdue player’s leg. It resulted in a jump ball and possession to IU.
Early in the second half, he was defending on the wing. Purdue’s guard lost control and Williams was the first sprawled across the court, grabbing the ball while trying to stay in bounds.
Again, IU earned the possession.
“Troy was incredibly committed on the defensive end this week, and it’s amazing what happens to your offense,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “Troy played a phenomenal game.”
Less than a week ago, Williams scored zero points against Michigan State.
He’s led IU in scoring in both games since. Against Nebraska on Wednesday, Williams tallied 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting. That effort carried over against the Boilers.
He said before Wednesday’s game he met with Crean and made a change in his mindset, which has made the difference in his success.
“Just staying on the attacking mindset really,” Williams said. “Reading what’s there, not trying to force anything, letting the game come to me.”
They talked about Williams being more aggressive and then put him in situations on the court where he can be.
“The worst thing that could happen when somebody’s struggling is you keep reminding them of it,” Crean said. “The last thing we want to do is dwell on what’s not working. We want to spend enough time on what is and try to refine it.”
Williams played his best minutes in the first half Saturday, scoring 14 points before the break. It seemed every time the IU offense became stagnant, he made it go again.
The Hoosiers had gone almost five minutes without a field goal to end the first half before Williams scored a breakaway layup to put his team up by nine.
And when the Boilers, who trailed by as many as 19, started a run of their own in the second half, Williams stepped back and knocked down a long jumper to end it.
“Troy playing like that — he’s basically unstoppable,” senior guard Yogi Ferrell said. “He gets lost in the game. When he’s doing that, playing at such a high level, we feed off that energy.”
Williams helped give the Hoosiers sole possession of first place in the Big Ten standings.
He also gave the crowd plenty to cheer for in what is IU’s biggest rivalry game. So as Williams walked off the court, he put his arm around Ferrell’s shoulder and they both pointed up at the fans.
