Williams named Mountain West Freshman of the Year by media

Michael Katz, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne
·2 min read

Mar. 8—LARAMIE — University of Wyoming guard Marcus Williams has been named the Mountain West Freshman of the Year, as voted on by local media. He is the third UW player to earn freshman of the year honors.

The Dickinson, Texas native has been a force for the Cowboys (13-10 overall, 7-9 Mountain West) from Day One, including 20 points in his first college game. Williams, who leads UW in scoring at 14.9 points per game, has scored in double-figures 19 times and has finished with at least 20 points on five occasions. Williams was also selected to the All-Mountain West third team.

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Williams initially signed to play at Northern Colorado, where UW coach Jeff Linder formerly coached, and followed the Cowboys' first-year head coach to Laramie.

"Him, myself, all of us (are) probably all a little bit surprised how quickly he came on," Linder said. "Even though he's tailed off a little bit of late, the difference between him and every freshman in our league, and there's some good freshmen, but they're not at the top of the scouting report like Marcus Williams is.

"The expectations have gone up. And whether it's right or wrong, sometimes he probably doesn't like it, but I hold him to a standard that ... is going to allow him to be an MVP-type candidate one day, and not just the freshman of the year on a team that finished in eighth place."

Joining Williams in postseason honors is redshirt junior guard Hunter Maldonado, who was an All-Mountain West honorable mention selection by the media. Maldonado, who earned third team honors a season ago, is second on the team in scoring (12.3 points per game) and leads the team in rebounds an assists per game at 6.8 and 4.6 per game, respectively.

UW begins play at the 2021 Mountain West Men's Championships on Wednesday. The eighth-seeded Cowboys will take on ninth-seeded San Jose State at noon.