Akron transfer made an imprint at RMU
‘Next year I won’t be sheltered from, I guess you could just say life’
When Josh Williams transferred to Robert Morris three years ago, he didn’t have many expectations for what things would be like in Moon.
Coincidentally, Williams had spent his first two college seasons at Akron, playing under current Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot. But the 6-foot-2 guard said he was ready to get some more playing time and decided to transfer away from the
Zips.
Williams knew his brother, Jon, had committed to play for the Colonials, so he made the move. He said Robert Morris coach Andy Toole told Josh he would have the freedom to be his own player, but, as Williams pointed out, when you play basketball for as long as he has, “you hear a lot of things from a lot of coaches.”
Three years later, though, it’s safe to say the gamble worked out for Williams and
the Colonials. He tied the NCAA Division I record for most 3-pointers in a game by hitting 15 in a game against Mount Aloysius last season. That same performance gave him the Robert Morris record for points, field goals and 3-pointers in a game.
The Akron native also topped 1,000 points in his career and is the second Colonias player to make 100 3pointers in a season.
Saturday, Williams will play his final regular-season home game at Robert Morris. He will do as the team’s leading scorer, averaging 13.2 points per game to go along with 4.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
“I was actually talking with Jon yesterday,” Josh said Wednesday. “We weren’t talking about anything, we were just hanging around the house, and I was just thinking, ‘Wow this is my last college game. This is my last regularseason college game with my brother.’ And then to think that next year I won’t be sheltered from, I guess you could just say life. Like, I’ll be on my own, probably playing professionally somewhere.
“So I just kind of sat down and reflected on how I started at Akron, the accomplishments I had there, and my development since I’ve been here and just throughout my four or five years playing. It definitely dawned on me. It hit me a little harder yesterday.”
The situation for senior day at a school such as Robert Morris is unique because the Northeast Conference tournament uses its campus locations for postseason tournament games. As a result, the Colonials have clinched at least one more home game. In fact, if Robert Morris beats St. Francis, Pa., Saturday, it will clinch home-court advantage throughout the NEC tournament, giving it an inside track to the NCAA tournament.
And that’s the main thing Williams wants to check off his list. With the Zips, he made the Mid-American tournament championship twice and lost both times, once on a buzzer-eater and once by five points. Last year, with the Colonials, Williams and his team lost in the semifinals of the NEC tournament.
“It would be a big relief,” Williams said. “... Two regular-season championships, made it to the conference tournament and came up short twice. That stuff, it’ll never leave me, ever. So to make it there would be almost like a weight lifted off my shoulders.”
While those experiences have been painful for Williams, they’ve also helped him at Robert Morris.
What he learned at Akron,
in a program that is a perennial contender to make the NCAA tournament, he has brought with him to Robert Morris.
“If you’ve been around winning programs and you’ve been around programs that have struggled to win, there’s a consistency level to how you work,” Robert Morris coach Andy Toole said Wednesday.
“There’s a standard to how you work. There’s an understanding of the individual responsibility guys have in order to go out and handle their business every day. And I think that he certainly does that here and did that here for us once he became a part of our program. He was like, ‘This is what this looks like. This is when you’re on the court. This is when you’re ready to play. This is how you compete every day. This is what’s important.’ ”
The hope now is that Williams’ example outlasts his time with the Colonials, setting up guys like his brother or sophomore guards Dante Treacy and Cameron Wilbon to step up when Williams is gone.
As for the little time he has left, Williams and his fellow seniors will be honored Saturday before their last regularseason home game. He doesn’t expect to be emotional, but that he thinks his mom “will be more emotional than anybody.” He said he thinks his emotions will come out whenever the season ends entirely.
He could be right, but his expectations have been wrong before.
“I think people expect to be successful, but in a manner like that — I mean, I’ll never be taken out of the NCAA record books, ever,” Williams said. “Somebody could break it. Somebody could tie it like I did, but I’m one of three right now. There’s a lot of people that play college basketball and never score 1,000 points. Three-hundred 3s over the course of my career, it’s just a blessing to have.
“I’ve always thought of myself as being a good player, a top-tier player, but those are statistics that some people aren’t as fortunate to have. I’m highly thankful and honored.