Photo credit: Sam Roberts, Freeze Frame
One 31-point performance at the collegiate level is quite impressive, but let alone two, that is special. That is exactly what 49er junior guard Brice Williams did last week in home wins against Middle Tennessee and Louisiana Tech. His two 31-point performances led to him being C-USA player of the week.
Son of the late Henry Williams, a 49er great, Brice is coming off a season in 2021-22 where he didn’t play any due to him medically redshirting. Coming into this season, from players, coaches, and fans alike, there were some high hopes for Brice’s return. He may have had a slow start to the season, but he is showing now why he is arguably the most talented player on the team.
As the 49er basketball Twitter suggested, Brice is “In his bag.”
Even starting guard Lu’Cye Patterson echoed these remarks after the game against Middle Tennessee.
“Me personally, I was waiting for a game like this to see out of him,” Patterson said. “He came up to hoop in a very big game against one of the top teams in the conference. I always tell him that he is one of the best players, talent-wise, on the team.”
Even after scoring 31 points, Brice was humble and didn’t focus on himself. He was quick to give credit to his teammates for them finding him in open spots on the floor. This is one thing that across the board, this team has shown is their unselfish nature and willingness to give credit to each other instead of focusing on themselves.
“I think that I give credit more to my teammates than to myself because they kept finding me.” “Just playing through our offense, it is so easy to score and so easy for everybody to get open.”
Brice Williams
Williams was incredibly efficient from the floor in both games shooting 9-11 from the floor against Middle Tennessee, and then 9-12 against LA Tech. His free throw shooting helped the team a lot too. He was able to make hard cuts and get to the basket where he drew contact often. He went 11-13 from the charity stripe against MTSU and then 10-14 against LA Tech.
It seems as if the junior guard is finding his rhythm at the right time of year when the Niners will have a lot of brutal conference bouts. The 49ers head to Florida this week as they will face both Florida International and Florida Atlantic. FIU comes in at 6-7 while the FAU Owls are a scorching 12-1 with a game to play before taking on the Niners. That game will be against UAB on Thursday (the 49ers’ lone conference loss so far).
Charlotte’s game against FIU will be on ESPN+, while their game against FAU on Saturday will be on C-USA TV.
