City of Basketball Love

Daniel Hughes (@dan1el_sun)
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By the midway point of the second half of the St. Joe’s-Drexel matchup on Sunday, the sight of Dragons forward Rodney Williams pulling up to the free throw line was beginning to feel like some inescapable time loop.

That’s because the 6-foot-7 senior had already been there quite a few times.

In Drexel’s 72-71 loss to the Hawks at the DAC, Williams scored a career high 29 points, 11 of which came from a career-high 16 free throw attempts.

It’s representative of a massive leap forward the Richmond, Va. native has made in his final season of college basketball.

“That’s what Rodney’s capable of,” Drexel head coach Zach Spiker said. “I think we need that more often than not.”

Despite what the final score says, St. Joe’s never found out how to contain Williams on offense, and play after play the product of St. Christopher’s (Va.) muscled past Hawks defenders on his way to the rim. He made nine of his 17 attempts from the floor, and is shooting 52.6 percent overall this season.

In his 36 minutes of game time, Williams beat back defenders in the post, forcing St. Joe’s to foul him a total of nine times. The 225-pounder is shooting 70.1 percent from the charity stripe on the year.

The Dragons’ big man also dominated the glass, pulling down 10 boards to tie a season high and earn his second double-double of the year. Of those 10 rebounds, three came on the offensive end.

On Monday, a day after his outstanding performance, Williams was named player of the week in the Colonial Athletic Association for the first time in his career. He shared the honor with Denzel Ingram of UNCW.

He has been a constant in the Drexel rotation ever since he arrived on campus, averaging at least 20 minutes per game in all four of his seasons on Chestnut Street. But he has seen his role in the Dragons’ offense increase significantly this season, and the game Sunday against St. Joe’s was just another example of that.

Last season, Williams scored 10.5 points per game, second on the team behind then-senior Tavon Allen’s mark of 13.1 points per game. Through nine games this year, Williams has been putting up 16.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. With 150 points already this season, he is on pace to score over 516 points this year, which is 200 more than his total of 316 points last year. That puts him just 191 shy of 1,000; he’s currently on pace to finish out the regular season with 1,176 points, before the CAA Tournament and any potential postseason games to follow.

His emergence as a go-to scorer in the paint after showing flashes of that ability during his first three years on campus is a big reason why Spiker's Dragons have been, at 4-5, much more competitive than were expected after a six-win season a year ago.

On a Drexel program with a starting backcourt of two up-and-coming freshmen like Kurk Lee, Jr. and Kari Jonsson, Williams is a strong presence and a formidable option in the middle on both offense and defense, making him invaluable to Spiker’s young Drexel squad.

On Sunday, Williams stepped up big for those young players when they struggled. Although Lee put up his season average of 16 points, the 5-10 point guard only shot 37.5 percent from the floor, going 6-for-16.

Williams’ 29 points were massive for helping Drexel stay in the game as long as they did. He will look to continue his dominance on Friday when the Dragons visit Rider.

Right now, Drexel is looking to bounce back from a tough Philadelphia loss by staying aggressive.

“Our program is going to be successful because we don’t ever get on our heels. We stay in the center of the ring, we take a couple punches, we’re also good with delivering punches,” Spiker said. “(St. Joe’s) hit the final punch (on Sunday). Credit goes to them.”