Virginia did a great job keeping Wake Forest star Alondes Williams in check, holding him to two points, no assists and three turnovers in the first half, and he still had just four points on 1-of-6 shooting with just two assists and seven turnovers inside of eight minutes to go.
Credit to Reece Beekman for that work.
Then Williams, a 6’5” senior who transferred in from Oklahoma, started imposing his will.
“I feel like late in the game he really wanted to score, and he’s a very strong player, getting downhill, using his body well, and he was able to get some offensive boards as well. All around, when he wants to get to the rim, he’s going to put his head down and go,” UVA guard Armaan Franklin said.
Williams, who came in averaging 20.7 points and 5.0 assists per game, scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the final 7:11, had two assists, and while it wasn’t pretty, it was effective, and it keyed the Demon Deacons to a come-from-behind 63-55 win.
“Alondes just willed the one ball in, and I think he got three offensive rebounds in one possession. He just kept going back at it,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said.
Williams finished with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting, four assists, a ghastly eight turnovers, and the W.
“I thought, for the most part, we played pretty hard defensively, but they made some plays down the stretch, and oftentimes, games come down to whether you can you go make a play on either offense or defense, on the glass, offensive rebounding or defensive rebounding,” UVA coach Tony Bennett said.
Six of his 10 points down the stretch, as Wake was outscoring Virginia 23-8 in the final 8:13 to erase a seven-point deficit, came on offensive rebounds.
“We guarded him pretty well and didn’t let him get his way, but then he got some key offensive rebounds. You look at that and he had five offensive rebounds,” Bennett said. “He’s really explosive and quick off the floor. Then he made a couple plays in the post, and that was significant.”
Story by Chris Graham
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