Duke Basketball: Zion Williamson partially descends to Earth in Maui
Zion Williamson’s play didn’t make Duke basketball fans spring from their couch on Monday — except for one windmill in transition off his own steal, of course — but even though his stats and highlights resembled less a video game and more the real world, the freshman’s presence was still irreplaceable.
At the moment, it looks as if Duke basketball freshman Zion Williamson may be at least partially from this planet.
No longer is he shooting over 80 percent from the field. Nope, after a human-like 5-for-11 shooting performance during the top-ranked 4-0 Blue Devils’ 90-64 blowoutover San Diego State on Monday in the opening round of the Maui Invitational, the 6-foot-7, 285-pound power forward has now only hit 74 percent of his shots for the season.
No longer is he averaging a double-double. Nope, after a modest 13 points and six rebounds, the highlight performer of the greatest show in college basketball is now averaging just 22.3 points and 9.5 rebounds.
No longer is he a point-per-minute player. Nope, his point total came up five short of his 18 minutes against the Aztecs, meaning he has now scored just 89 points in 94 minutes for the season — that’s a bit-more-earthly 0.947 points per minute.
Even earthlier, Williamson didn’t come close to frightening a rim in the first half. Nope, his first — and only — dunk didn’t come until almost seven minutes into the second half. Of course, it should be mentioned that the dunk looked like this: