For the first time in his life, Troy Williams cut down the nets.
His teams never won when he was growing up, so the junior forward was only given individual awards.
But the feeling he had as he was cutting down his piece of the net after IU’s 80-62 win against Maryland in the last game of the regular season was different.
“It’s so much better to have stuff as a team,” Williams said. “That feeling up there is one of no other. It’s just a great feeling.”
This all came after Williams led the Hoosiers in scoring with 23 points and grabbed five rebounds. IU Coach Tom Crean said Williams was playing fast and taking advantage of a mismatch against Maryland’s Robert Carter.
He scored the first four points of the game for IU and 11 of the first 13 to start the second half.
“Troy played like he was shot out of a cannon,” Crean said. “He really did, and he did it playing under control. A couple mistakes here and there, but he played fast and was aggressive. The way he started the second half was tremendous going to the basket and he made great reads.”
Williams was also honored himself on senior night. Before the game, Crean presented him with a commemorative basketball recognizing Williams scoring his 1,000th career point Feb. 20 against Purdue.
When Williams was given the ball, and the sold-out Assembly Hall stood on its feet and applauded him, he couldn’t help but think how far he’s come.
There was the Michigan State loss on Valentine’s Day, when he was kept scoreless and looked helpless offensively at points. There was the blowout loss at Duke on Dec. 2, 2015, when Williams was criticized by a large portion of the fan base for blocking a shot out of bounds too aggressively.
But all the negatives this year, and in his first two years, have made Williams stronger, he said.
Williams came from a recruiting class that has seen two players transfer, another leave the program after multiple run-ins with the law and another drafted to the NBA after his freshman season.
His first year in Bloomington was rough. He was suspended for the first four games of his sophomore year, but this year has been incredible for Williams.
“We just won really big this year,” Williams said. “I learned so much from those two years and the people who are still here have learned so much from it and we all grew from it.”
There have also been the yearly fights with senior guard Yogi Ferrell — fights Williams said have made both players closer and stronger. His first two years in Bloomington weren’t just rough for him, but for the entire team.
But that’s just made moments like he and Ferrell being the last two players off Branch McCracken Court on Sunday, and Williams addressing the crowd while holding the Big Ten trophy, that much better.
“Everybody on the team has somewhat hit rock bottom,” Williams said. “To come up now and see how far it brought us is just an amazing feeling.”
So Williams isn’t going to forget Sunday for a while. He’s going to cherish the memory of cutting off his piece of the net from Assembly Hall to cap off a championship season where he went undefeated at home.
After the game he was sitting with his Big Ten championship hat on backwards and his piece of net tucked neatly inside between the hat and his head.
He’s going to wear his piece of net for a while.
“Probably all day,” Williams said. “I’m going to go out to eat with my family and keep it in there still.”
