The Rams and Spiders put arguably the conference’s best rivalry on display this Saturday afternoon, but fans who tuned in to watch a good, top-half A-10 basketball game were also treated to a performance that hammered home something not enough people are talking about: Vince Williams is currently playing A-10 Player of the Year level basketball.
Williams finished the Spiders game with a career-high 22 points and added 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. He hit nine of his 13 attempts in the 2-point win. It was his masterpiece game, but his entire conference play resume has been virtually flawless. Consider the numbers…
Williams A-10 Play Rankings
Offensive rating: 2nd
True shooting percentage: 1st
3-point %: 4th
Assist rate: 8th
Defensive rebound percentage: 8th
Steal percentage: 7th
Blocks percentage: 12th
Williams is averaging 15.9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game while only turning it over 1.8 times per contest in his 32.2 minutes of action. On the season he leads all Atlantic 10 players in defensive rating and overall box plus/minus. It’s a level of versatility that is jaw-dropping, stat categories (assist rate, three-point percentage and blocks percentage) that you just never see linked.
The senior from Toledo has completely flipped a switch since conference play began and is a main reason VCU is just a game back of conference leader, Davidson, at 6-2.
“He just knows how to play basketball on both ends of the court”, VCU Head Coach Mike Rhoades commented following Williams’ Herculean performance in the Robins Center. “Every year that he’s been at VCU he has matured as a young man, that’s made him a better basketball player”.
Williams’ senior numbers are up across the board, something the black and gold desperately needed following the early departure of Bones Hyland to the NBA Draft. The 6’6 wing has checked in as the kenpom statistical MVP in five of VCU’s eight conference games and is averaging 19.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per contests during VCU’s current three-game win streak.
Williams has posted a sub-100 offensive rating just once during conference play, a 90 o-rating performance in VCU’s conference opener at Dayton. While the Rams on the season rank second nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, in league play the Flyers are currently the king of the mountain in that stat. Williams and the black and gold will tip it up in the rematch this Wednesday night at 9PM.
