An Army Player Learned You Should Never Shoot When Zion Williamson Is At The Rim

The Zion Williamson experience has managed to exceed expectations through the first two games of his Duke career. Williamson is, quite easily, the most exciting player in college basketball thanks to his absurd athleticism.

Whether he’s the best player on Duke or if that title belongs to R.J. Barrett or Cam Reddish will be debated all season leading up to the NBA Draft, but there is no doubt who the most casual of fans are tuning in to see. Williamson was a cult hero for his high school mixtapes that featured him doing dunk contest quality dunks in games against the poor souls unlucky enough to have to face him in South Carolina.

There was a question as he arrived at Duke over where he would play and exactly what role he would fill, but through two games the answer has been, “wherever he wants and doing whatever he wants” because his athleticism is such that he can still dominate even against other strong athletes. When faced with lesser athletes and those nowhere close to his physical gifts, it’s truly unfair and on Sunday, Army rolled into Cameron Indoor to face Zion and the Blue Devils and, unsurprisingly, he dominated with 27 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, and four blocks.

He had his customary big dunk off a lob from Barrett, but the play of the day for Duke and Williamson came on this hellacious block as he helped over on an Army player’s shot at the rim.

Williamson still has some work to do defensively in terms of being on ball, but then again, so does just about everyone in college. However, what he already has is excellent timing and spacial awareness to go swat the hell out of a shot when as a help defender. His chasedown blocks tend to get the most play because he often slams the ball off the backboard, sending it flying the other direction, but here he simply uses his insane vertical to spike this poor player’s shot into the ground like a volleyball player.

Duke wasn’t as crisp against Army as it was against Kentucky, but they ultimately overwhelmed them with their superior talent and athleticism to pull away for a big win in the second half.