Marcus Williams joined Russian club Lokomotiv-Kuban to replace point guard Nick Calathes whose performance last season earned him an invite to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. Lokomotiv participates in both the VTB United League and the EuroLeague. Through 12 VTB games for the 7-5 defending EuroCup champs, Williams is averaging 8.7 points and 4.2 assists running the point. In 13 Euroleague games, Williams contributes 9.2 points and 4.6 assists for the 7-6 club. Williams’ best game of the season saw him rack up 23 points/7 rebounds in Lokomotiv’s first ever Euroleague win against Crvena Zvezda of Serbia- featuring American guards DeMarcus Nelson (Duke) and Charles Jenkins (Hofstra) .
Although it’s not Rudy Gay or Josh Boone on the receiving end, catch Williams thread the needle below…
As a freshman at UCONN Smith was a major contributor to the 2011 National Championship team averaging 5.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks including 4 in the NCAA Final against Butler. Following a transfer to UNLV, Smith was forced to redshirt the 2012-13 season where he competed on the scout team against eventual #1 overall pick Anthony Bennett. The competition evidently paid huge dividends for Smith who is averaging a double-double (12.1 points/12.5 rebounds) for 13-7 Runnin’ Rebels. In fact, Smith’s 12.5 mark leads all NCAA Division 1 players in rebounds per game. Smith has 12 double-doubles on the season including an 18 point/ 21 rebound effort against Arizona State back in November. UNLV currently sits in 6th place (4-3) in the Mountain West with 11 games remaining until the conference tournament. It is worth mentioning nbadraft.net slots Smith as the 29th pick in the 1st round to the OKC Thunder, a pick behind former teammate Shabazz Napier.
mattwemet 