My All-Time Favorite Players: 10th - Grant Williams
Grant Williams is a tremendously gifted player, who excels on and off the court. His mother is an engineer for NASA in his hometown of Houston, Texas. Grant was offered by Ivy League schools, Harvard and Yale, but chose Tennessee to further his basketball career. Grant has played just 2 seasons with the Vols thus far, but his play in that short time has earned him a spot in the top-10 of my all-time favorite players.
Grant had an outstanding freshman season. In the Vols' matchup against Chaminade in the Maui Invitational, he scored 10 points, while adding 4 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists and 2 steals. On December 15, 2016, he became the first freshman Vol since Chris Lofton in 2005 to have a 30-point outing. He did so by scoring 30 points on 10-12 shooting and 10-13 from the charity stripe against Lipscomb. To begin SEC play, Tennessee took down Texas A&M on the road. Grant had a lot to do with this, as he finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds and tied a school record with 6 blocks, his current career high. His first double-double came in an 11-point, 15 rebound effort versus Arkansas. My favorite performance of his came in the memorable upset of No. 4 Kentucky in Thompson-Boling Arena. He did everything for the Vols on this night, recording 13 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals. You simply can not ask for more from a player, in terms of effort and execution. In February, he earned SEC Co-Freshman of the Week after posting 30 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal against Georgia. He had a huge game at LSU, logging 16 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Grant's first year on Rocky Top was incredibly historic. He started in 29 games, but saw action in all 32. His average of 12.6 PPG was second on the team, while he led Tennessee with 5.9 RPG and 1.9 blocks-per-game (BPG). He posted 4 double-doubles on the season, 3 coming within the final 5 games of the season. He corralled 94 offensive rebounds as a freshman, the most ever by a Tennessee freshman and the sixth-most by any Vol in a single season. He became the third Vol in Tennessee history to have multiple 30-point games as a freshman, joining the elite company of Bernard King and Allan Houston. His defensive presence was evident, as he blocked 61 shots, breaking the previous Tennessee record for freshmen of 39 (C.J. Black 1996-97). He now boasts the second-most blocks ever recorded in one season by any Tennessee player. He was clearly deserving of his SEC All-Freshman team nomination.
As for his sophomore season, he somehow managed to perform even better than he did as a freshman. Early in the season, he logged 19 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists against Lipscomb. Then, in the home victory over Kentucky, he recorded 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. On January 9 of this year, he scored a remarkable, career-high 37 points on 12-20 shooting at Vanderbilt. This was the most points scored in a game by a Vol since Ron Slay's 38 on January 4, 2003. In a home matchup against Florida, Grant scored 23 points to go along 6 rebounds. He scored 11 of the Vols final 18 points, carrying them to a close win. After scoring 22 points as Tennessee won a share of the SEC regular-season title, he contributed 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and a block in the SEC Tournament semifinal game versus Arkansas. Additionally, in the SEC Tournament championship game, he posted 15 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.
With another incredible year, Williams was named the 2018 SEC Player of the Year. He joined Hall of Famer, Bernard King, as the only 2 Vols to earn this honor as underclassmen. He led Tennessee in scoring, with 15.2 PPG, and recorded 6 RPG, 66 total assists and 44 total blocks. Currently, Grant is just 67 points away from becoming the 49th Vol to join the 1,000-point club. Additionally, he is 14th on the all-time Tennessee offensive rebound list, with 175, and 15th on the all-time Tennessee blocks list, with 105.
Grant is obviously one of my favorite players on the current squad, seeing as though he is tenth among my all-time favorites. He is very friendly to the crowd of fans, young and old, that gather around him for pictures and autographs after home games. My favorite moment of his career has got to be when he posterized an Arkansas player last season. He stole the ball, gathered himself, before driving to the hoop and jumping from the middle of the paint to throw down a powerful one-handed dunk. It was incredible to watch. As for next season, he currently holds the longest active streak of consecutive starts for Tennessee, with 64. The 2018 AP All-American Honorable Mention will look to improve on a stellar sophomore year. In preparation for next season, he has already attended the Athletes in Action "Captains Academy" leadership camp and conference in Xenia, Ohio, this summer. His work ethic is indescribable, and it has helped Tennessee regain its national prominence under Rick Barnes. I am excited to see what Grant will do as a junior. He is focused, motivated, and hungry to bring more championships to Knoxville.
