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‘BTPowerhouse 25’ - No. 6 Trevion Williams

BTPowerhouse’s staff counts down the best players in the Big Ten heading into the 2021-’22 season.

By Bryan Steedman
NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament-North Texas at Purdue Andrew Nelles-USA TODAY Sports

In the months leading up to the 2021-’22 college basketball season, BTPowerhouse will be releasing a series called the ‘BTPowerhouse 25,’ which features the Top 25 players in the Big Ten as voted by members of the staff. All players set to be on Big Ten rosters for next season were eligible during the staff vote with their top selection receiving 25 points and their 25th and final selection receiving 1 point.

Today’s edition will take a brief look at Trevion Williams of the Purdue Boilermakers, who came in at No. 6 in the rankings. The Boilermakers bring one of the most experienced teams in the country to the Big Ten this season and will look to Trevion Williams to once again anchor their frontcourt.

‘BTPowerhouse 25’ - No. 6 Trevion Williams:

  • Eligibility: Senior
  • Career Totals: 93 games, 1720 minutes, 967 points, 630 rebounds, 126 assists, 51 steals
  • 2020-’21 Averages: 25.1 MPG, 15.5 PPG, 2.3 APG, 9.1 RPG, 0.7 SPG
  • Positional Role: Forward/Center

The last player on our top 25 list was Jordan Bohannon, an experienced guard that will be a key player for an Iowa team that is set to look drastically different this year. Today’s feature is on Trevion Williams, a forward that will start for a Purdue team that will look near identical this season as they look to build on last season’s surprise success. With a team that was heavily reliant on freshmen and a few experienced upperclassmen, Purdue has even more experience and a pair of sophomores in Jaden Ivey and Zach Edey set to break out. They still have their key piece inside, Trevion Williams, who made the decision to return for his senior season instead of staying in the NBA Draft.

Player Strengths

In his junior season, and second year as a starter, Trevion Williams had his best year yet in West Lafayette, averaging 15.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. With a heavy set of freshmen being heavily involved last year, Purdue had some consistency issues last year on the offensive side of the ball. Luckily for the Boilermakers they could consistently rely on Williams, who had his way inside most nights. Not only could Trevion post up opposing centers at will, but he cleaned up on the glass and almost averaged 10 rebounds per game. Not only did he consistently produce inside, but he was highly reliable and continuously became Purdue’s go to guy when they needed to score.

A perfect example of that was when Williams took over in East Lansing last January, scoring 26 of Purdue’s 55 points and carrying the team to the much needed road win that helped spark a second half revival. He did the same thing in the Big Ten Tournament when he dragged Purdue to overtime against Ohio State in a game that should have been over before Williams extended it for an additional five minutes. For a team that desperately needed someone to lead the offense, Williams filled the void perfectly in his junior season.

Areas for Improvement

For everything positive Williams has done there are a few areas he has struggled at, two of which have been somewhat remedied due to the depth on the roster. In normal situations Williams tendency to get into foul trouble and his conditioning slightly limiting his minutes should prove detrimental, but Zach Edey playing as well as most other starters in the league allowed Purdue to not suffer when Williams had to ride the bench. That conditioning issue is slightly problematic, however, when Williams is forced to man up against speedier bigs that can shoot from outside, as he struggles to come out and defend the perimeter.

Another area Williams needs to clean up is his free throw shooting. Last season he hit 50% of his free throws, a slight improvement from his sophomore season. He’s a 49.4% career free throw shooter and thankfully doesn’t get sent to the line that often, but it is a liability. Especially in closing out games.

Player Projection

Trevion Williams flirted with the draft before deciding it would be best to return to Purdue for his senior season. In his junior season Williams was First-Team All-Big Ten, Honorable Mention All-American and one of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (top center). Now set for one last rodeo, there is no reason why Williams shouldn’t be capable of reproducing last season’s results when he is on the court. On the court is a point of emphasis, though, as Zach Edey is right there and will likely see minutes if Williams struggles at all. There has been talk about Purdue playing both Edey and Williams at the same time, with Trevion playing the four spot, but Painter seems hesitant to do so. If Edey breakouts as many expect he will, Williams could see a slight decline in minutes, likely leading to a minor decrease in stats.

Minor decrease in stats or not, when Williams is on the court he should still be the same big man that has anchored Purdue inside the last couple seasons. Expect Williams to post up opposing centers, be one of Purdue’s more consistent scoring options inside and to once again clean up on the glass. If Jaden Ivey can take the next step, as well as the rest of the backcourt, that will take some of the pressure off of Williams and potentially open up more opportunities for him to produce as defenses can’t zero in on him.

He might not see as many accolades for this season, but Williams should still produce at the same level he did last year. The only question is how many minutes will also to go to Zach Edey.

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‘BTPowerhouse 25’ Rankings:

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