Auburn’s Jaylin Williams has quite a history to share following his victory over Alabama.
Jaylin Williams, a senior at Auburn in his fifth year, wanted the game against Alabama on Wednesday night to be something he could tell his children about with pride in the future.
Before Tuesday’s rematch between Alabama and Auburn, Williams said of the Crimson Tide, “In, like, 20 years, you can say, ‘I beat them my last year.'” “Someday, I would love to tell my kids that.”
For Williams, who had lost his previous three games versus Alabama going into Wednesday night’s game, a victory against “that team up north” was all that was desired. Anything more was extra, and that was the only story Williams hoped to be able to tell in 20 years.
Additionally, the extras kept showing up against the Crimson Tide on Wednesday night, contributing to Williams’ future tale. With so many alternatives available to him, Williams will need to decide where to start when tale time finally arrives.
Williams has the option to begin his story before tipoff, when he was honored in front of a boisterous home crowd for reaching 1,000 career points. Back in December, Williams recorded his 1,000th career point in a 20-point performance against Alabama State.
Why didn’t Auburn acknowledge him until February 7th? Who knows? However, let’s just state for the purposes of argumentation that it was a necessary addition to his tale.
However, Williams’ story might begin just before halftime of Wednesday night’s game, with Auburn leading 53-41 with just over 33 seconds remaining in the first half, if he chose not to start there. Following a miss by Alabama, Tre Donaldson, a sophomore for Auburn, grabbed the rebound and swiftly passed the ball to Williams, who scored a windmill dunk to increase Auburn’s lead to 14.Williams said, “I think I almost broke my wrist,” following the game.
The loudest cheers to have been heard in Neville Arena this season came after Williams’ dunk, forcing Alabama head coach Nate Oats to call a timeout in an attempt to stem the flow of the game. Williams’ teammates, who were in shock at the jam they had just witnessed, hurried to welcome him as the lights went down.
Following the game, Auburn junior center Johni Broome expressed his jealousy. “Listen, we frequently discuss windmills. It was just this year that I learnt how to windmill from him. I’ve always wanted a windmill in the game.
Williams could therefore begin his account of February 7, 2024, at the dunk that made his colleagues envious.
Williams also had the option to fast-forward to the end of the second half, if he so desired.
Wednesday’s game was less thrilling in the second half than it was in the first. There were a lot of free throws rather than windmill dunks. Williams went to the line to attempt eight free throws from the charity stripe as Auburn tried 34 free throws in the second half.
Williams shot 7 of 8 free throws in the second half to finish the game 9 of 10 overall.
With just over five minutes remaining, Williams made his final trip to the line. He had already scored 24 points for the game, matching his career high set against Ole Miss on January 6, 2021.
Williams would set a new career high with even one or two makes. After two baskets, Williams finished with 26 points in the game.
“I was aware before the game that several of those men, including Nick Pringle, weren’t at full strength. So when you question Williams about his big night, I knew they were going to play smaller,” Williams replied. “I just had to be patient and more aggressive inside; it was just going in.”
Williams has a pretty damn good tale all around, what with the pregame speech, the first-half windmill dunk, the new career high, and the huge rivalry victory at home.
How is he going to begin it? That’s up to him, though.
