Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders add guard D’maurian Williams

The Texas Tech basketball program has begun its yearly tradition of adding talent via the transfer portal.  The first of what is expected to be numerous new faces to join the program via the NCAA version of free agency is D’maurian Williams from Gardner-Webb.

A 6-foot-5, 195-pound guard from Phoenix, Arizona, Williams averaged 14.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game as a sophomore this past season.  And the fact that he’s a sophomore is significant because it means that this transfer could be a multi-year piece of the Red Raider puzzle with as many as three years of eligibility remaining (given that 2020-21 didn’t count against a player’s eligibility).

What might excite Texas Tech basketball fans the most is that Williams shot 39.3% from 3-point range last season.  That’s an area where the 2021-22 Red Raiders struggled mightily and an area that Tech desperately needed to address this offseason.

Williams should be able to help Tech in that regard.  Last season, he had 17 games in which he made at least three shots from beyond the arc.  What’s more, on five occasions, he hit five or more in a game with his season-high being six.

But what about his defense?  After all, no one is going to play for Mark Adams without being dedicated to the Red Raders’ defensive identity.

According to SportsReference.com, Williams was a more than serviceable defender this past season.  His defensive rating (an estimate of the number of points he allowed per 100 possessions) was 95.9, which is more than adequate given that anything under 100 is above average.

Williams will need to be able to provide some scoring punch next season given how much the Red Raiders could be losing.  If Kevin McCullar Jr. and Kevin Obanor decide not to return, the Red Raiders will lose 68.8 points per game from this season’s primary rotation.  That would include the top seven leading scorers from this season’s Sweet 16 team.

But Tech was in a similar position last offseason.  Losing Mac McClung, Kyler Edwards, Micah Peavy, and Jamarius Burton, Tech lost four of its top six scorers from the 2020-21 team.

Still, Adams was able to replenish the roster via the portal.  Bringing in six Division I transfers, he added players that would eventually contribute 46.8 points per game.

Now, he will likely have to do the same this offseason.  And adding Williams is a nice start in that direction.

He was a second-team All-Big South Conference selection this season.  And he’s seen his stock rise as a collegiate.

Coming out of high school in the class of 2019, he was an unranked prospect who had virtually no interest from major conference programs.  But as a transfer, he had reported interest from Washington State, Oregon State, Ole Miss, Santa Clara, Utah State, Loyola-Chicago, Pepperdine, and Western Kentucky among other programs.

But now, he’s a Red Raider.  And he is the first building block in what should be an active offseason for Mark Adams and his coaching staff.