The first half of the men’s basketball game on Saturday against North Dakota should have been called the Kendall Williams show.
Williams, a sophomore guard, had 15 points in the first half and a career high of 21 points for the game.
The usual starting guard that plays with him, freshman guard Hugh Greenwood, didn’t play because of an ankle injury. Head coach Steve Alford said it was important to get Williams going early with a different starting lineup.
“He played well, he made shots, he took good shots and it was good to get him going,” he said. “I thought he was very aggressive, with six assists and only one turnover.”
Williams started off the game with a missed alley-oop dunk, but made up for it with three 3-pointers in the first five minutes.
Junior guard Jamal Fenton, starting in Greenwood’s place, said Williams brings poise to the team when he starts games.
“He brings confidence for all of us,” he said. “I think he started off with four in a row and when you get somebody going like that it keeps going for the rest of the game and you need to keep getting it to him.”
Williams went 8-12 shooting, including 4-6 from 3-point range, and he said he had a point to prove in the last game of the non-conference season.
“We knew coming in that this was going to be a tough game, being the last game of nonconference,” he said.
Williams had a rough start to the season and was pulled from the starting lineup for one game after UNM’s 62-53 loss to New Mexico State on Nov. 11, but since then has been an integral part of UNM’s 12 game winning streak.
He is third on the team in minutes played and points scored, and has started 14 out of the 15 games he played. Williams didn’t play in the Dec. 22 game against University of Missouri-Kansas City after Alford said he benched him because of a poor fall semester, academically.
Williams said he has put the inconsistent start to the season behind him and is ready to step up his game when the team starts MWC play this Saturday against Wyoming.
“I feel good I feel a lot more comfortable just going out there and playing my game at this point. It’s been an up and down year, but luckily the team has been able to win,” Williams said.
After going 8-8 in last year’s conference play, Williams said the team is ready to go out as a collective unit and try and win conference.
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“We have been really gelling, so the chemistry of this team has been keeping everybody strong,” he said. “I’m really excited for this conference season and the confidence couldn’t be higher.”
