Freshman Elizabeth Williams was ordinary in her collegiate debut. She put up eight points, grabbed five rebounds and committed four turnovers. She played slightly over half the game, but still almost fouled out. Yet head coach Joanne P. McCallie left Provo, Utah confident she had an elite player on her hands.
“She was doubled on the first possession of her career,” McCallie said. “I knew she’d [have an] impact—I didn’t even think about how. I simply knew.”
Twenty-seven games after the opener against Brigham Young, Williams is an All-ACC first team selection. Her 14.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game lead Duke, and her 3.6 blocks per game rank third in the nation. The Virginia Beach, Va. product ranks in the top 10 in the ACC in scoring, rebounding, shooting percentage and blocks, and was named ACC rookie of the year Tuesday after receiving conference rookie of the week honors a record-tying nine times.
She was also voted ACC defensive player of the year, setting the ACC freshman record for blocks in a season with 102, including a conference-record 12 in a triple-double effort against Wake Forest. And, most importantly to the 6-foot-3 center, she and sophomore guard Chelsea Gray, a fellow ACC first-teamer, have led the Blue Devils to their first conference regular season title since McCallie’s arrival in 2007.
Beyond her impressive accolades, the double and triple teams Williams draws open up opportunities for her teammates. Opposing coaches are forced to assign extra defenders to the center in order to limit her scoring around the rim.
“Teams don’t know how to play us when [Williams] is on the floor,” sophomore guard Tricia Liston said. “If they double her, she’s going to find the open player and they’ll knock down those shots, and if they don’t double her, she’s pretty much going to beat anyone one-on-one.”
Williams credits her time with USA basketball with preparing her for the collegiate level. A three-time youth gold medalist, Williams learned the difference between high school and Division I basketball after playing for college coaches on teams consisting almost entirely of NCAA athletes.
“In high school basketball you can get away with slacking off plays or not playing defense,” Williams said, “but in college you can really get exploited.”
A game-changer on the court, Williams is unassuming off it. While admittedly quiet, Williams leads the team in a prayer before each game and is the first to laugh in postgame press conferences.
Having graduated from Princess Anne High School with a 4.19 GPA, she downplays her decision to follow a demanding pre-medicine track in her undergraduate studies, crediting mandatory study hours and flexible professors with helping her balance the demands of an elite basketball program with those of an elite university.
Her family’s continued support has been integral to this transition. Her parents are able to attend almost every game, something she took into consideration when she chose Duke. Her nine-year-old brother, whom she calls her biggest fan, sports her sister’s No. 1 jersey when he watches her play.
“They sacrificed so much for me during AAU days with all the traveling they had to do,” Williams said. “I thought it would be nice if I was close to home and made it easy for them.”
Williams has made it easy for her coach as well, starting every game this season and averaging over 30 minutes per contest without fouling out once. Her game is still a work in progress, though. She is working on developing an outside shot and her teammates often ask her to be more vocal—but no one could have expected a more successful rookie campaign from the 18-year-old.
McCallie lights up when talking about Williams, the nation’s top recruit out of high school, happy that the extraordinary talent she saw in Provo is now evident to all observers. Going forward, the head coach does not have specific goals for Williams, nor has she laid out a set path for her star center to follow as she continues to mature and develop.
“Elizabeth is one of the very best players in the country,” McCallie said. “I’m not into expectations. I’m into her being what she can be. She’s just that good.”
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