Christian Williams played just over 100 minutes last year — now it’s his team to lead.
By JORDAN HANSEN
NORTH LIBERTY — It’s rare in this day and age to have a four-year starter at point guard.
Mike Gesell got that chance for Iowa, ran with it, and now the Hawkeyes have to replace his ball-handling prowess. It’s a tall task for coach Fran McCaffery, and how he approaches the vacant position will go a long ways toward keeping Iowa relevant in the Big Ten.
Right now, the No. 1 choice seems to be sophomore Christian Williams, who has looked good early on in Prime Time League action.
“I see myself primarily at the 1 [point] next year, and maybe later more at the 2 or the 3, and just get out, and do what I do in transition,” Williams said. “I’ve been working with Coach [Kirk] Speraw a lot, and he told me that if I work on my jumper and ball handling, everything else will come.”
Williams has a good chance to be the next starting point guard at Iowa. He worked his way into the rotation last season and flashed potential when Gesell and Anthony Clemmons got into foul trouble as well as in some garbage time.
He played 102 minutes last season, shooting 32 percent from the field and was willing to step out behind the arc. There seems to be some rebounding and assist potential as well, but with the extremely limited sample size, it really is rather hard to judge any of his stats.
Williams came to Iowa as a combo guard and spent significant time as a small forward in high school as well. He’s (relatively) small at 6-5, but that’s still huge compared to Gesell’s listed height of 6-1. Williams also has a good wingspan, which will help greatly with rebounding and defense.
In fact, Williams looked very good on defense during his limited minutes, showing an ability to stick with faster players and switch without much of an issue. He fits well into McCaffery’s up-tempo system, and while the position is probably still technically up for grabs, it’s hard to imagine anyone else there to start the season.
“We’re still trying to learn everybody’s game, how we jell together,” Williams said. “I’d say I’m more of a defense and rebounding type of player.”
However, Iowa obviously won’t line up just one guard. It would be surprising to see Peter Jok at anything other than shooting guard, but redshirt Isaiah Moss, incoming freshman Jordan Bohannon, and sophomore Brady Ellingson might be in the mix to play both backcourt positions.
They’re all untested, though, and Ellingson fell deep on the depth chart last year.
“It’s been intense; they’ve been going at each other, we’ve all been going at each other,” Jok said. “The freshmen are adjusting quickly, and Coach likes that.”
Underclassmen simply will have to play because of the graduation of four starters last year, and there are plenty of minutes up for grabs. Moss, especially, has looked good during Prime Time, and it seems his year spent redshirting was definitely the correct choice for him.
If both Moss and Williams continue to take strides, McCaffery could have fun playing with lineups where both guards are 6-5 or taller (Jok is 6-6, Moss is 6-5). For what it’s worth, Williams seems high on Moss and if things work out, Iowa could have a pair of steady guards for the next several years.
“He’s a lot more aggressive, his shots are looking a lot better, he’s developed his game a lot,” Williams said. “He’s more of a finesse player, and he’s really good offensively, gets out in transition; that’s really where he thrives the most.”
