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Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2009 > February > 19
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Freshman duo playing like veterans
Dayton freshman Chris Johnson has been logging crunch-time minutes all season, and classmate Paul Williams has started to gain the confidence of coach Brian Gregory, too.
Williams was sidelined throughout the preseason with a broken bone beneath the big toe of his left foot, and he’s just now regaining his form. The 6-foot-3 Detroit native buried a 3-pointer against Xavier and hit another trey that sealed the decision in a 69-63 win over Richmond on Saturday.
Although he’s averaging a mere 1.8 points, Williams played a season-high 21 minutes against the Spiders.
The 6-5 Johnson is fifth on the team in scoring (7.0) and second in rebounding (5.7), and he’s become the Flyers’ best free-throw shooter at 80 percent.
“You think about where Paul would be if he didn’t miss all that time,” Gregory said. “He’s going out there just kind of competing on his competitiveness alone. Sometimes he doesn’t even know what he’s doing out there. It’s not his fault. He just missed so much time.
“But those two guys are going to be very, very special players in this program. You’re talking about our future perimeter players. And they’ve got toughness. They can score. They’re both lefties, so they screw people up — lefties are screwed up in general.”
