The Blue Devils hammered the Five-Star Hawks 128-80 last night, but the story was not so much the margin of victory, as it was the play of freshman point guard Jason Williams.
Williams led the Blue Devils with 25 points and nine assists to go along with seven rebounds and earned the praise of coach Mike Krzyzewski.
"I thought Jason did a really nice job of handling our team," Krzyzewski said. "He did a really good job tonight."
The statistics make Williams' impact apparent, but do not fully demonstrate the impact the freshman had throughout much of the game. Williams led the Blue Devils in playing time and controlled the ball for almost every minute Duke was on offense. In the process, he turned the ball over only four times.
Williams started the game and jumped down the throat of the Hawks from the opening tip-off. He personally outscored the Hawks 6-2 in the first four minutes of play.
Throughout the game, Williams was most effective driving to the hoop. The penetration he created set up many of the 15 three-pointers the Blue Devils scored.
"I think penetration is one of the stronger points of my game," Williams said. "When I kept penetrating my defender would slack off me, then I was able to find Shane [Battier] and Mike [Dunleavy], and I'd get open looks. When I get the open looks I'll knock it down, that's no problem."
Williams' nine assists look good in the box score, but numbers alone cannot describe the fashion in which many of them came. The most spectacular of his assists came with nine minutes remaining in the second half.
Dunleavy hit Williams on a fastbreak, Williams dribbled, then pulled off a no-look-pass in the face of a defender, hitting a streaking Dunleavy. Dunleavy dropped the ball in without putting it on the floor.
While Williams seemed to pull off complicated maneuvers all night, he said that he does not look for more difficult ways to get the job done.
"Like my mom and dad and my coaches always used to say, they gave me the phrase K.I.S.S.," Williams said. "Keep it simple, stupid.
"I can make a spectacular pass and it will give me the same sensation as making the basic pass."
Whether or not Williams' fantastic play will stand up in the long run remains in question, but his early impact is clear. Krzyzewski acknowledged that Williams' early performance is forcing him to rethink the offense.
"He's got some intangibles," Krzyzewski said. "Penetrating-wise, I have to get accustomed to coaching [him]. It's like coaching Bobby [Hurley]. He makes plays for you and you have to give him the chance to make plays for you."
While Williams earned praise from the coaching staff and cheers from the fans, the team is still working to keep him in his place. Junior captain Battier used his movie viewing over the summer to fashion a nickname for the freshman.
"You've got to bust the freshmen's bubble a little bit when they come in," Battier said. "Senior year, everyone was calling [Williams] the greatest thing since sliced bread. Jason sort of reminds me of Mini-Me from Austin Powers, so it's a fitting nickname."
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