Memphis lands Williams
Transfer forward led Evansville in scoring last season as a sophomore
Another top transfer is Memphis -bound.
Deandre Williams, Evansville's leading scorer as a sophomore last season, announced his intention Friday to sign with the Tigers. Williams made his decision on Instagram Live by wearing a blue shirt before turning around to put on a Memphis hat, as did other family members and friends.
The 6-foot-9, 200-pound forward paced the Purple Aces with 15.2 points and 6.9 rebounds a game and picked Memphis over Kentucky, Arkansas and Baylor.
Williams is the second Division I transfer to sign with Memphis this offseason, joining former Virginia Tech standout Landers Nolley II.
Neither player would be eligible for the 2020-21 season unless the NCAA grants them individual waivers or it approves the proposed blanket one-time transfer waiver — which is reportedly unlikely to get done in time for the upcoming sports seasons — for football, men's and women's basketball, baseball and hockey.
Nolley is rated by ESPN'S Jeff Borzello as the third-best “sit-out transfer,” while Williams is 27th.
If Williams is granted immediate eligibility, he would bring added punch to a young lineup in need of a veteran inside presence to help account for the loss of reigning AAC Player of the Year Precious Achiuwa.
Despite missing 14 games with a back injury (Evansville went winless without him), Williams also contributed as a facilitator and a rim protector.
He averaged one block per game (18 games) and 2.7 assists (compared to 2.1 turnovers).
A high percentage shooter across the board, Williams led all Purple Aces with more than two attempts in field goal percentage (64.8), three-point percentage (45.5) and free throw percentage (80.0).
Williams left Klein Forest High following his junior season, enrolled in online courses and competed in the Sports Association of Texas for Christian Homeschoolers (SATCH), which has since been renamed Houston Homeschool Athletics Basketball, according to the
Evansville Courier & Press. He spent the 2017-18 season at Nation Wide Academy (Oklahoma City), an upstart post-graduate program.
Williams was subsequently declared ineligible for the 2018-19 season at Evansville after being classified as an academic non-qualifier.
He joins a Memphis frontcourt that already includes sophomore Malcolm Dandridge, redshirt junior Isaiah Stokes (who sat out last season after transferring from Florida) and junior college transfer Ahmad Rand, who led the NJCAA in blocks each of the past two seasons.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.