INSIDE JOB
Opponents are devising ways to try to handle UNM’s Tim Williams
There is no sound on the videos coaches watch in the film room or on laptops on flights from city to city during the season.
So, the fact that senior Tim Williams continues to quietly put together as unassuming a dominant season as one can imagine doesn’t translate when opposing coaches around the Mountain West prepare for the Lobos.
He is averaging 17.6 points, and 7.0 rebounds a game while shooting a league-best 57.5 percent despite continually being double-teamed.
While Craig Neal and Elijah Brown remain the focus of the heckling and constant taunting of opposing fan bases, it’s Williams who has been demanding the bulk of attention of coaches preparing for the Lobos.
That was the case Sunday at San Diego State with the Aztecs focusing a post-trap scheme on the 6-foot-8 power forward, and that’s the case tonight as the Utah State Aggies prepare to face the Lobos (9-5, 2-0 Mountain West) in Logan, Utah.
“He is a big, strong guy and if you leave him in one-on-one coverage on the block, he can score,” said Aggies secondyear coach Tim Duryea. “He can go over his right shoulder, left shoulder and is very skilled down there. He gets doubled so much at the block that he can make midrange jumpers in a high-low situation or by popping off of a ball-screen situation. He can put the ball on the floor and go by you. They
can iso him and he’ll drive by his defender. He is also a good offensive rebounder. He really has no holes in his offensive game. He doesn’t shoot 3s, but 18 feet and in there is nothing he can’t do offensively.”
No better sign of respect was given than when UNM faced arguably the two best defenses it will play this season —Arizona and SDSU. Both coaches made it clear Williams was their main concern and sent multiple post defenders at him with every touch, daring other Lobos to beat them. It worked for Sean Miller and Arizona, it didn’t for Steve Fisher and SDSU.
Sunday in Viejas Arena, the Aztecs shut down Williams and the entire Lobos offense in the first half when sending two, sometimes even three defenders at Williams when he’d receive an entry pass within 15 feet of the basket. His first half stat line ended with more turnovers (4) than shots attempted (3).
But in the second half, thanks to some minor tweaks by the Lobos and the versatility of Williams, that plan fell apart.
“I think Williams figured out that when he bounced the ball, that’s when we were going to double,” said SDSU point guard Jeremy Hemsley. “He did a good job of being more patient and then just making the right plays. He wasn’t trying to force anything out of character. I think that helped them out a lot on that end.”
Along with better floor spacing from his teammates, Williams also often went away from deeper back-to-the-basket touches and stepped out facing the rim with the ability then to dribble past defenders, yet another weapon in his bag, says Duryea.
“If he were just a low-block scorer, then you could take him out with a double team, but he is a good enough passer that he can make you pay in that situation,” Duryea said. “If you double team him all night on the block, then he can go out and face up and put the ball on the floor and has a variety of ways that he can score. That is the secret in his consistency.”
Williams’ ability to read the field, if you will, and decide whether to pass or run is reminiscent of his high school football-playing days when he was a dual-threat quarterback in Illinois.
“You can put him at different places on the floor,” Neal said. “I think the biggest thing, one thing he did play in high school, he did play quarterback, so he’s able to make plays, make reads. So we were able set them up when they doubled us . ... And then we were able to play off Tim in transition. There’s a lot of places he can be successful.”