Murray State University Athletics
2018-19 Men's Basketball Roster
Roster
Williams, KJ
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
Jersey Number 23
KJ Williams
- Position:
- Forward
- Height:
- 6-9
- Weight:
- 240
- Class:
- Freshman
- Hometown:
- Cleveland, Miss.
- High School:
- Cleveland Central HS
Bio
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.
Conlee Crossno Bye Week Press Conference
Tuesday, September 23
Jody Wright Bye Week Press Conference
Tuesday, September 23
09-22-25 Coach Ryan Miller Press Conference
Monday, September 22
09-22-25 Mason Miller & Fred King Press Conference
Monday, September 22
