EVANSTON, Ill. – Illinois senior guard Da’Monte Williams doesn’t speak with the press very often. It’s not really his thing. He prefers to do his talking on the court and focus on winning.
But on back-to-back days, Williams did speak with Illinois media members. On Friday, he answered questions before the Illini’s two-and-half-hour road trip to Northwestern on Saturday. On Saturday evening, he answered questions about his game-changing plays against the Wildcats.
In the final minutes, Williams, one of the most unlikely offensive heroes, came to save the day for the Illini on his only shot attempt of the game.
When center Kofi Cockburn had a turnaround hook shot bounce off the front of the rim, Williams came flying through the air like Superman before slamming home a put-back dunk over Northwestern’s Ryan Greer before hanging on the rim for some extra style points.
“I knew that everybody was going to potentially go to Kofi,” Williams said of his dunk. “And fortunately, he missed it and I was there to really it up. I mean, that’s really how I pictured it.
“To see the joy and the smile on my teammate's face, I mean that gave me a little bit more energy.”
Williams’ legend over the Wildcats only grew over the Wildcats when he forced Northwestern’s Pete Nance to miss a mid-range fadeaway jumper on the other end of the court – shot that Nance had buried all day over the Illini’s other defenders.
“I mean, I take a lot of pride in it,” Williams said of his defense. “It’s what we build this culture around. it’s really just having a heart and willingness to do it. It always feels good knowing that you stopped the other team from winning the game with your defense.”
For the entirety of his career at Illinois, Williams has been underappreciated because he hasn’t ever been a big offensive threat. He impacts the game in many other ways, though.
“If you watch Illinois basketball, you know how much he means to us,” Cockburn said. “He impacts winning on a huge level. So, if you watch the games, you will see it, if you don’t, he will go by you. But we know that’s all that matters. We know how important he is to us and he knows it.
His dedication, his unselfishness, just being about winning more than anything else. Him sacrificing, him being a good person and a good teammate to the younger guys because everything he does man, everything he stands for.”
Williams might go unnoticed in the eyes of fans, but opposing coaching staffs do recognize Williams and the impact that he has. Williams didn’t have any points and he only had four rebounds against then No. 10 Michigan State last Tuesday when the Illini upset the Spartans. But Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo singled Williams out after the game and compared him to a future Hall of Famer.
“Here’s a guy who didn’t score, but he’s their version of Draymond Green to me,” Izzo said. “He just makes the little plays. He’s in the right spot. He’ll make a pass. Has absolutely no ego. They’re lucky. With all those shooters and guys who take a lot of shots, that kid, without him, I’m not sure it would be as easy for Brad because then you have everybody wanting to take shots. He just kind of fits in, does his thing and guards really well.”
Said Underwood after the win over Northwestern: “It’s what I’ve been saying for my whole career, winning is hard to define. So, I just think Izzo about the other night, postgame, that’s why we won. His numbers didn’t show up here, but it’s how he guards, how he fights and how he competes. He’s not afraid to make a play. He was incredible in the locker room at halftime, in the huddle. Just put a pic capital W by his name.”
After shooting it 54.7% from three in 2020-21, Williams has seen his percentage fall back closer to his career average this season where he is making only 33% of his attempts. Williams has been guilty of passing up open looks from the perimeter in favor of shots inside the arc where he’s made just 24.4% of his shots or to pass it to one of the Illini’s other shot makers in Trent Frazier, Alfonso Plummer, and Jacob Grandison.
“I’m not really worried about,” Williams said of his shooting numbers this season. “Shots will fall. We got guys like Plummer, Jake, Trent, I mean those guys are hot, so why not keep feeding the hot hand?”
All Williams wants to do in his final year of college basketball is “play as hard” as he can “for the name on the front of the jersey” and help the Illini win basketball games. He’s not focused on seeing his name in the press.
“Just going out there and doing whatever it takes to win,” Williams said of his focus. “And just leaving it at that.”
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