TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Indiana State Basketball head coach
Greg Lansing announced today (Nov. 25) that Christian Williams will transfer into the program from Iowa following the fall semester. He will sit out the spring semester of the 2017-18 campaign as well as the fall semester of next season and will be eligible to play after fall 2018 final exams are completed.
"We are excited to announce that Christian Williams has decided to transfer into the Sycamore Basketball family," Lansing said. "
Marcus Belcher worked extremely hard to sign Christian during an extremely busy time of game preparation and travel. He is a great person and a great player who is the all-time leading scorer at his high school. I have heard nothing from great things from the people he came in contact with at Iowa. Christian is going to be great addition to our family."
Williams, a 6-5, 200 guard and native of Decatur, Ill., is transferring into the program from Iowa. With the Hawkeyes, he started six of 34 games at the point guard position during the 2016-17 season. He averaged 2.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game and scored a career-best 10 points on a 5-of-6 shooting effort from the field in an overtime win over Indiana. Williams led the team in steals eight times and assists a total of three times. He dished out a career-best six assists and had no turnovers in Iowa's win over Penn State in the regular season finale. During his freshman year, he competed in 20 games, averaging 3.2 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. He recorded a season-best in points (8), rebounds (3) and steals (2) against No. 11 Indiana. Williams played in the NCAA Tournament grabbing a rebound as part of an overtime win over Temple and then connected on a 3-pointer against Villanova in the second round.
He prepped at St. Teresa High School in Illinois for coach Tom Noonan where he became the school's all-time leading scorer and ranks in the top-20 in scoring in Macon County with 1,587 career points. A two-time all-state and three-time first-team all-league selection as Williams posted 20 career double-doubles and helped the Bulldogs win 20 games all four years on varsity. He was tabbed first-team all-state by the Associated Press and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) after averaging 18.7 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.3 steals, and three assists as a senior. Williams was recognized as the Macon County Player of the Year by the Herald & Review and WCIA, and was an all-conference honoree. He helped lead St. Teresa (27-5) to an undefeated conference record and unprecedented success in postseason play. With the Bulldogs he captured regional, sectional, and super sectional championships, and finished runner-up at the state tournament.
As a junior, Williams averaged 18.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.8 steals while earning all-state accolades by the Associated Press and IBCA. Williams and the Bulldogs captured their second straight conference championship, while posting a 25-4 overall record in 2014. He netted a personal-best 41 points during his junior season against Monticello on Jan. 22, 2014. He averaged 15.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.5 blocks on St. Teresa's 22-6 conference champion team in 2013 and then averaged 9.1 points and 5.5 rebounds his freshman season on a 20-9 squad.
Williams played in the Illinois-Missouri All-Star Classic and the IBCA All-Star Game. He also competed for the Peoria Irish on the AAU circuit where he played for coach Gavin Sullivan.
He joins
Cooper Neese who will also begin play at the end of the fall 2018 semester after his transfer into the program from Butler. Also joining the Sycamores next season will be Terre Haute native De'Avion Washington (Terre Haute South Vigo HS) and as well as Des Moines native Blake Brinkmeyer (Valley HS).
