UCSB’s Alan Williams

What’s the big deal about Big Al? That question may have been on some minds last Sunday afternoon, when Alan Williams played bench jockey during the first half of UCSB’s basketball game at the University of San Diego. Accused of committing two fouls in the first three minutes, the junior forward took a seat and watched his Gaucho teammates take a 34-30 halftime lead over USD’s Toreros. Williams had zero points and zero rebounds.

Flash to the second half, eight minutes left in the game. UCSB’s 50-48 advantage hardly seemed safe, as the lead had changed hands 19 times. Suddenly Big Al Williams, now playing with four fouls, made his presence felt. He fed the ball to Michael Bryson, who made an open shot for a four-point lead. Williams widened it to six, then eight points, by making consecutive shots in the paint. Those plays triggered a 13-0 spurt by the Gauchos, resulting in a 72-61 victory over a solid USD team, which a week earlier had lost to its nationally ranked rival, San Diego State, by one point.

Williams wound up with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. They pulled his season averages down to 24.2 and 10.3, but his impact on the game was similar to his 24-point, 12-rebound performance in UCSB’s historic 72-65 win over the Cal Golden Bears on December 6. He had four points at halftime, but in Cal coach Mike Montgomery’s words, “He played like a man on a mission in the second half.”