Murray State University Athletics
2021-22 Men's Basketball Roster
Roster
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Jersey Number 0
KJ Williams
- Position:
- Forward
- Height:
- 6-10
- Weight:
- 245
- Class:
- Junior
- Hometown:
- Cleveland, Miss.
- High School:
- Cleveland Central HS
2021-22
2020-21
2019-20
2018-19
Before MSU
Personal
- Started all 34 games for the Racers.
- Named All-OVC and OVC Player of the Year.
- Named to the USBWA All-District 4 Team.
- https://goracers.com/news/2022/3/16/mens-basketball-kj-williams-named-usbwa-all-district-4.aspx
- Named NABC All-District 18.
- Named to the Lou Henson All_America Team.
- Was named OVC Player of the Week five times.
- Led the OVC in scoring and was 67th in NCAA (18.0ppg) and was second in rebounding and 50th in NCAA (8.4rpg). Was sixth in field goal percentage at .538 (245-of-455).
- 83rd in NCAA with 5.68 defensive rebounds per game.
- 74th in NCAA with 2.71 offensive rebounds per game.
- 47th in NCAA with field goal percentage of .538.
- Twice was the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week.
- His career-high scoring game was at Tennessee State (2-10-22) with 39 points.
- https://goracers.com/news/2022/2/10/mens-basketball-msu-vs-tsu.aspx
- Pumped in 30 points against Belmont (2-25-22) on 12-of-19 from the field and 4-of-4 from the 3-point line
- https://goracers.com/news/2022/2/25/mens-basketball-williams-goes-for-30-racers-lock-down-belmont.aspx
- His career-high of 16 rebounds was accomplished four times.
- 11 double-doubles this season and 26 in his career
- Made 88 career starts for MSU and had a run of 57 consecutive starts to end his career.
- His 613 points (22nd at MSU) is the best for a Racer since Ja Morant set the program record of 808 points in 2019.
- His 285 rebounds (30th at MSU) is the best for the Racers since Jarvis Williams grabbed 293 in the 2015 season.
- Finished his career at MSU with 1,667 points (12th), 888 rebounds (7th), 676 field goals (7th), .568 field goal percentage (11th), 76 blocked shots (12th), 127 steals (14th).
- With 285 rebounds in his senior season, Williams moved from 24th to seventh all-time at MSU with 888 career rebounds.
- Just the third racer to score 1,600 points and pull down 800 rebounds, he joins racer greats Popeye Jones and Isaac Spencer in that exclusive group.
- With a pair of 500-point scorers this season in Williams and Tevin Brown, it marks the 10th for the Racers to have two. The last time was Jonathan Stark and Terrell Miller in 2016-17.
2020-21
- The 2020-21 season was shortened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Named to the All-OVC First Team for a second-straight season and to the NABC All-District 18 Team.
- Started all 26 games and scored 15in .6 points per game (6th OVC), grabbed 8.5 rebounds (3rd OVC) and made .567 from the field (164-of-289) (9th OVC).
- Scored double-figures in all but five of the Racers’ 26 games.
- Had high scoring games of 26 points and 11 rebounds vs Southeast Missouri (Feb. 1) and 28 points and 14 rebounds vs SIUE (Feb. 15).
- Had seven double-doubles.
- Had a season-high 16 rebounds twice: vs Tennessee State (Jan.28) and Belmont (Jan 30) to match his career-high that he has accomplished four times.
- Enters his senior season with 1,054 points and 603 rebounds and is one of 15 players that have scored 1,000 points and grabbed 600 rebounds at MSU.
- He has a chance to be the ninth Racer to get 1,000/700 this season.
2019-20
- Scored 13.7 points per game (14th OVC) and hauled in 7.4 rebounds per game (7th OVC).
- Scored a career-high 23 points against Weber State (Nov. 26) in a game where he hit 11-of-15 from the field.
- Had seven double-doubles, including a back-to-back effort in the final week of the season when the Racers had must-win games with Eastern Kentucky and Austin Peay to win the OVC title. Vs EKU (Feb. 27) and APSU (Feb. 29), Williams scored 35 combined points and grabbed 25 rebounds.
- Scored in double-digits in 24 games and posted four of 20 or more points.
- Also added the 3-point shot to his repertoire by making 15 in the regular season.
- Helped the Racers to a national rank of 12th in defensive rebounding and a ranking of 17th in rebound margin, both were the best in the OVC.
- With two seasons in the books, goes into junior season already in the top-50 all-time rebounders at Murray State with 383 total rebounds.
- Has scored 648 points in 64 career games for an average of 10.1 per game.
- Fourth ranked player in MSU history in field goal percentage going into his junior season at 267-446 (.599).
2018-19
- Had a tremendous first season with the Racers including seeing action in 32 games and making 22 starts.
- Had 10 games of double-figure scoring and four in rebounding.
- Recorded two double-doubles in the season. Against Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 5) he had 13 points and rebounds and against Eastern Illinois (Jan. 17) he pulled down a career-high 16 rebounds to go with 14 points.
- Had a season-high 16 points against Marquette (March 21) in the NCAA Tournament when he was 8-of-10 from the field.
- Set the MSU single-season field goal percentage record by hitting 111-of-159 for a clip of .698. He topped the previous mark set by Tony Easley when he shot .689 (115-167) in the 2007-08 season.
Before MSU
- Joined the Racers from Cleveland Central High School.
- Had a tremendous 2017-18 season for the CCHS Wolves in scoring 21 points per game and grabbing 11 rebounds per game.
- Helped his team to a record of 23-9 and advanced to the second round of the Mississippi State Tournament.
- Had 16 double-doubles in 27 games in his senior season including a 27 point/28 rebound effort against West Tallahatchie.
- Had a triple-double against Indianola Gentry with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.
- Was named Mississippi All-State Third Team and was included in the Clarion Ledger’s Dandy Dozen as one of the top-12 high school players in the state .
- Played Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game.
- Named to the Bolivar Commercial All-Area Team.
- Was Bolivar Commercial Player of the Year in 2017.
- Also a highly regarded quarterback.
- Led Cleveland Central to a 12-1 record in 2017 and threw for more than 2,400 yards with 21 touchdowns and he rushed for 300 yards.
- Also played baseball in his high school career.
Personal
- Born Sept. 3, 1999, son of Marcus Smith and Amie Williams, grandson of Taylor Williams, Sr. & Shirley Williams.
- Siblings: Jeremy Boddie, Antwon Thomas III.
- KJ's mother, Amie Williams, played basketball at Jackson State.
- Majoring Integrated Study-Health & Exercise Science.
2025 Murray State Hall of Fame Inductee Casey Brockman
Tuesday, January 20
2025 Murray State Hall of Fame Inductee Danny Alfeldt
Tuesday, January 20
2025 Murray State Hall of Fame Inductee Alexa Becker
Tuesday, January 20
2025 Murray State Hall of Fame Inductee Ivan Roe
Tuesday, January 20
