Aggressive Jaylin 'feeling' himself

Jaylin Williams has always had the ability to go off as he did on Saturday against Mississippi State. He’s just always been pass first.

All it takes is a made shot or two to change that.

“After I hit the first two I was definitely more confident in my shot,” Williams said. “Since I knocked down the first one, I was feeling myself a little bit. And going into this next game I feel very confident just being in the gym, just taking those same shots.”

An aggressive Jaylin is the best version of him.

In the five games in which Williams has shot the ball 10 or more times, he is averaging 16.6 points per game on 54 percent shooting.

“We need you (Williams) to shoot the ball,” said guard Wendell Green. We need you to play like this. Just open it up for everybody… he can do it every night. So (I'm) just telling him to continue today and you can carry us every night for all I care."

Williams has been the ultimate zone-breaker thus far for the Tigers. Whenever teams run out a 2-3, he has been able to either find a space and get an open floater, or force the defense to crash and find the open man.

Against zones, he is averaging 1.2 points per possession which is in the 80th percentile per Synergy.

Williams has been able to blend his newly found shot confidence with his pass-first mentality.

“He’s (Bruce Pearl) always gave me the green light,” Williams said. “I’ve never just taken the opportunity to just take the shots. I’m always looking to pass first. I don’t know why I do that so much, but I’ve always played that way... My teammates, they trust in me. They want me to take those shots every opportunity that I can.”

Williams is shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc on the season and has been a reliable spot-up man. On the season, Williams is averaging 1.213 points per possession on catch and shoot opportunities, which is in the 79th percentile.

His teammates knew he had the ability, and now it’s coming through when the lights are bright.

“Jaylin has always been able to shoot,” said guard Lior Berman. “In practice, he’s always lights out… just to see him knock down those shots in the game that he’s knocking down in practice is really cool to see and he should do it a little more often."