Robert Williams looks to escape slump Saturday against Prairie View
If Robert Williams played baseball he’d be on an offensive tear.
Alas, Texas A&M’s 6-foot-10 forward plays basketball, so his recent 4-for-4 qualifies as a confounding slump. Williams has scored just four points in each of the Aggies last four games.
That’s quite perplexing considering he’d netted 32 in his first two games and averaged 14.5 points in the final 10 games of last season. He’ll aim to break out of that slump and the (7-1) Aggies will aim to bounce back from their only defeat on Saturday against Prairie View (2-6) at Reed Arena.
“I think you’ll see an improvement on that soon,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said on Friday. “I think he’s put too much pressure of himself to try not to fail instead of cutting loose and being assertive.
“I think you’ll see him more aggressive. He’s just adjusting to the expectations and everybody expecting him to do so many things. He’s trying not to mess up. But he’s been more aggressive in practice.” Interestingly, Williams’ scoring decline isn’t a matter of poor shooting. It’s a matter of not shooting.
In the last four games he’s actually shot 50 percent from the field. However, he’s only taken seven shots. He made more than that when he hit 10 of 12 en route to 21 points in a 98-87 victory over Penn State.
Then his slump began.
Fortunately, A&M has had more than enough offensive weaponry to compensate. D.J. Hogg, Tyler Davis, Admon Gilder and Duane Wilson, who are all averaging in double figures. In fact, Davis is coming off a 21-point effort in a 67-64 lost to Arizona on Tuesday night.
The Aggies now have four home games against — quite frankly — inferior teams leading up to the opening of Southeastern Conference play.
Of course, Kennedy doesn’t want to take any win for granted.
“We’ve got to get to where we make it a habit of being good every day no matter who we’re playing,” he said. “I’m more concerned about intangibles and exams (than Williams’ scoring). But you see so many upsets this time of the year. You just want to make sure it doesn’t happen to you.”
Statistics indicate Prairie View isn’t likely to pull off an upset. The Panthers are ranked 272nd in the nation in scoring defense having allowed an average of 77.1 points per game.
Prairie View allowed at least 80 points in its first four games — including 100 to Oregon. The Panthers have allowed at least 69 points in each of their last three games — against Cal-Santa Barbara, New Mexico State and Hawaii.
That doesn’t bode well for facing the Aggies, who are averaging 80 points per game.
Prairie View has some scoring threats, too. Junior guard Gary Blackston and senior forward Zachary Hamilton average more than 17 points and junior guard Dennis Jones averages 10.5. But the Panthers don’t appear to have the scoring depth to truly threaten A&M.
Especially if Williams breaks out of his slump.
