Tennessee’s Grant Williams is all smiles after scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in an 83-64 victory against Wake Forest on Dec. 23, 2018, at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
KNOXVILLE – Grant Williams became the first Tennessee player to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft in eight seasons when he was picked 22nd overall by the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.
He became the first Volunteer drafted in either round since Josh Richardson was a second-round pick of the Miami Heat in 2015, and he is the program’s first first-round pick since Tobias Harris went 19th to Charlotte in 2011, a pick that was later traded to Milwaukee.
Williams, a unanimous first-team All-American, also was a two-time Southeastern Conference men’s basketball player of the year at Tennessee. He was the first player to win the award in consecutive seasons since Corliss Williamson of Arkansas in 1995. He finished his Tennessee career ranked third in blocked shots (160), fourth in free throws made (501) and 12th in points (1,629) in program history despite still having one season of eligibility remaining.
In his final season as a Vol, the 6-foot-7, 236-pound forward averaged 18.8 points – he shot 57 percent from the field and 82 percent from the free-throw line – 7.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.