AUBURN | Jaylin Williams drove into the lane and quickly ran out of options. Off-balance, in a poor shooting position and without any clear outlets, Auburn’s true freshman decided to bounce the ball off the backboard.
And then he jumped up and caught it. And then he slammed it home.
You read that right. In only the 10th college basketball game of his career, Williams bounced an alley-oop pass to himself off the backboard.
“I haven’t seen him do that since AAU,” said a smiling Bruce Pearl. “But he got himself in trouble and he wasn’t going to get a very good shot off so he just did what came natural.
“I actually told him before the game, I said, ‘Do me a favor. I need Jaylin Williams out there. Do what you do.’”
Believe it or not, that’s not the first time Williams has completed what he calls a self-guided alley-oop. He said he did it three times at Brantley County High School in Nahunta, Ga.
“It was just kind of something that came natural to throw it,” Williams explained. “I was thinking like to throw up a floater, but he kind of cut me off. And I saw no one was in the paint area, so I just threw it off the backboard and went and got it.”
Senior Samir Doughty, who led Auburn with 22 points, admits to being a little surprised by the play.
“I've never been a part of that where someone actually did that in the game,” Doughty said. “But, I mean, it's something that he's capable of doing. Like every time he's around the rim, he's thinking dunk, and I just feel like that's natural for him. And he's been like that since he's been with us in the summertime. He's just getting the opportunity to show what he's capable of doing.”
The opportunity has come for Williams in the last couple of games, and he’s taken full advantage. With Isaac Okoro sidelined with a hamstring injury and AU’s bench struggling, Williams was inserted into the regular playing rotation for the first time in Wednesday’s loss at Georgia.
Williams missed his only field goal attempt against the Bulldogs, but had six rebounds, one assist and two steals in 16 minutes. In Saturday’s comeback win over Tennessee, he had eight points, two rebounds, two assists and three steals in 15 minutes.
“I’m happy for Jaylin. It’s a coaches’ job to put players in positions to be successful, and we didn’t think that earlier in the season that Jaylin was ready,” Pearl said. “So thrilled with how the bench reacts, because while Jaylin wasn’t playing, he’s working in practice, he’s putting in his time. He’s handling the fact that he’s not playing like a pro, very very unselfish. His family is staying patient. You’ve got to stay right and ready, and when you’re number’s called. And he had some big-boy plays out there. He’s got some big-boy ability.
“I’m very very proud of Jaylin for a lot of reasons. He’s a terrific student-athlete. He got a 95 on a biology — I’m not sure what it was. I don’t think it was a test but it was a pretty important project. So I’m calling him Dr. Williams now because he wants to be a doctor. He’s had a big week.”
Even with the big week and added responsibilities, Williams was more concerned with his team and teammates after the win over the Vols.
“I know I can help the team out, but it really doesn't mean a lot to me to, like, get more minutes,” Williams said. “Like in practice, I just want to make my team better, even if it's rotating in with the seniors, having more minutes or being on the scout team and helping those guys out, helping them get ready for the next game. I'm just here to help the team.”
Auburn, which improved to 23-4 overall and 10-4 in the SEC, hosts Ole Miss Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
