Providence Day’s Grant Williams played with a chip on his shoulder all night long at the Phenom Showcase
When the list of teams came out for the 2nd Annual Phenom Hoop Report National High School Showcase, 6’7 senior Grant Williams made one special request. His request was simple. “I want to play the best teams in the event. Can you put us against Oak Hill on opening night.”
Without hesitation, we knew Providence Day could compete with the best teams in the country. They are well coached and have a very talented roster.
On opening night, Providence Day loss a tough game to the number one team in the country. They loss 76-64 but the margin of the score doesn’t begin to tell the story. Oak Hill is absolutely loaded and are the odds on favorite to win the mystical high school championship come April, 2016. Even without the services of Harry Giles, Oak Hill has tremendous depth and a wealth of talent, not to mention one of the country’s best high school coaches in Steve Smith.
For the night, Grant Williams finished with 23 points going 8-13 from the floor including 1-2 from the 3-point line. In addition, Williams went 6-11 from the free throw line. He corralled nine rebounds and had five block shots. Not too shabby for someone many pundits have as an undersized power forward.
That being said, the one stat you can’t measure is heart and for Grant Williams, he plays with tremendous heart. Williams is also a high academic student and sported offers from Yale and Princeton, but decided earlier in the day to commit to Rick Barnes and the University of Tennessee.
You see, Grant Williams always wanted to play at the highest level. He believed in himself simply because he always gave the intangibles and played with an edge. For the naysayers concerning Williams, don’t be too quick to judge.