Charles Williams Jr. (born September 11, 1996) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Howard Bison The Howard Bison and Lady Bison are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Howard University, located in Washington, D.C. The Bison compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s and Division I Footba ...

between 2016 and 2020 where he became the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's all-time leading scorer. As of 2021–22 he plays for B.B.C. Etzella in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Early life and high school career

Williams started playing basketball at age four and grew up playing in a local recreational league in Petersburg, Virginia. He drew inspiration from

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...

and was nicknamed "Bean" after Bryant's middle name. Williams attended Evangel Christian School in

Dale City, Virginia Dale City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince William County, Virginia, United States, located 25 miles south west of Washington, D.C. It is an annex of Woodbridge, Virginia. As of 2017, the total population was 73,384. The community is ...

before moving to Millwood School in Midlothian, Virginia for his sophomore season. In his first year, he was a member of Millwood's inaugural varsity basketball team. In the same season, Williams helped his team win the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division III state championship, scoring 28 points in the title game. As a senior, he was a first-team all-league selection. Williams committed to play

for

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

in part because of his father's relationship with head coach

Kevin Nickelberry Kevin Nickelberry (born October 15, 1964) is an American college basketball coach and current assistant coach at Georgetown. Nickelberry is the former head men's basketball coach at Howard University, as well as at Hampton University. Head coa ...

College career

In his freshman season at Howard, Williams was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Rookie of the Week seven times and scored a career-high 37 points in a 73–70 loss to Savannah State on January 28, 2017. He averaged 15.7 points per game and was named MEAC Rookie of the Year and Third Team All-MEAC. As a sophomore, he was joined in Howard's back court by

R. J. Cole R. J. Cole (born August 24, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for Rytas Vilnius of the LKL. He played college basketball for the Howard Bison and the UConn Huskies. Early life and high school career Cole attended basketball p ...

. Williams averaged 20.4 points per game, which ranked second in the MEAC behind Cole, and became the second fastest player to reach 1,000 career points in program history. He was named to the First Team All-MEAC. In his junior season, he averaged 17.9 points per game, finishing second in the MEAC behind Cole, and earned First Team All-MEAC honors for his second time. He declared for the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, i ...

before deciding to return to Howard. On November 30, 2019, as a senior, he became Howard's all-time leading scorer after posting 13 points in a loss to Mount St. Mary's. Williams scored a season-high 34 points on January 14, 2020 in a 101–95 overtime loss to

South Carolina State South Carolina State University (SCSU or SC State) is a public, historically black, land-grant university in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina, is a memb ...

. On February 22, he became the all-time leading scorer in the MEAC, surpassing Delaware State's Tom Davis, who played from 1987 to 1991. In his senior season, he averaged 18.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and was a Second Team All-MEAC selection.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

, Williams eventually signed with B.B.C. Etzella in 2021, a team in Luxembourg's

Total League The Nationale 1 Hommes, officially named the Luxembourgish Basketball League (formerly known as the Total League), is the highest men's basketball league in Luxembourg. The league's governing body is Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Basketball ( ...

, the highest men's basketball league in that country.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 25 , , 30.0 , , .396 , , .342 , , .759 , , 2.6 , , .6 , , .6 , , .4 , , 15.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 35.5 , , .446 , , .409 , , .782 , , 3.4 , , .6 , , .8 , , .3 , , 20.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 31.1 , , .446 , , .373 , , .855 , , 2.7 , , .7 , , .7 , , .3 , , 17.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 31 , , 34.2 , , .414 , , .300 , , .702 , , 4.3 , , 1.2 , , .7 , , .5 , , 18.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 133 , , 122 , , 32.7 , , .426 , , .357 , , .766 , , 3.2 , , .8 , , .7 , , .4 , , 18.1

Personal life

Williams' father, Charles Sr., played college basketball for

Virginia State Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a public historically Black land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia. Founded on , Virginia State developed as the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of highe ...

. In September 2018, his mother, Michelle Watts, was diagnosed with Stage 2

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

, before eventually recovering.

References

External links

Howard Bison bioRealGM profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Charles 1996 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Luxembourg American men's basketball players Basketball players from Richmond, Virginia Howard Bison men's basketball players Shooting guards