Wake Forest Athletics
Deacon Sports Xtra: Homecoming Leads to ACC Success for Williamson
11/30/2021 12:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Winston-Salem native Daivien Williamson was a fixture at Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum, enjoying Wake Forest basketball games often with tickets his mother Laquita procured working at R.J. Reynolds.
But even as Williamson won awards for being the best high school player in the region at Winston-Salem Prep, a team he led to a state championship as a senior in 2018, he was never recruited by the Demon Deacons — nor any other power conference in-state programs.
His profile on one recruiting service has him unrated and without a profile picture. He doesn't even have a profile on the other.
"I didn't really have any in-state offers, aside from Appalachian State and UNC-Wilmington," Williamson said. "That put a chip on my shoulder, that I was being slept on in my own state. I feel like I was a lot better than guys who were getting Wake Forest offers and people who were ranked higher than me."
Second-year Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes says often that he prefers "Burger King'' All-Americans to McDonald's All-Americans, so he was able to sell the opportunity for Williamson at East Tennessee State, where Williamson prospered for two seasons. He was the third-leading scorer in the Buccaneer's 30-4 season that culminated in a Southern Conference Tournament championship and NCAA tournament automatic berth — a tourney that wasn't played because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Then Forbes made the jump to take over the Wake Forest program, with Williamson joining him shortly thereafter.
"I never thought I would be here," Williamson said. "I expected to play my four years at ETSU and then hopefully go somewhere to play professionally. When Forbes got this job, I just realized this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up — a chance to play in the ACC back home in Winston-Salem. Sometimes I can't believe it happened."
Williamson went through the NCAA Transfer Portal process, and heard from many quality programs, but his decision was close to a foregone conclusion.
"It took a couple weeks, but in the back of my head I knew where I was going," he admits.
Stepping onto campus as a Wake Forest basketball student-athlete was especially meaningful to Williamson.
"I've attended many Wake Forest Basketball games, but I never thought I would be in this situation,' he said. "It's a blessing to be here.
"It was different, but it was a great feeling. I'm on campus at Wake Forest, and I'm also here at home in Winston-Salem. It's my hometown. It gave me a sense of comfort."
Growing up in Winston-Salem, it was actually baseball, where he played shortstop and third base, that was Williamson's first love.
"Basketball wasn't really my first sport," he said. "I started playing baseball, but as I got older it became boring to me. I needed more action, and that's when I started playing basketball."
He found the game of basketball in middle school and then realized as a high school underclassman that perhaps he could be pretty good. Williamson remembers the specific date — May 31, 2016 — that he received his first college scholarship offer.
"I realized I was going to be pretty good at basketball during my sophomore year," he said. "That's when I got my first Division I scholarship offer."
It was Georgia Southern that broke the seal, and Williamson visited that campus right after an AAU tournament.
"That was probably one of the best days of my life even though I didn't go there," he reflects. "Just knowing that I could go to college for free, without my parents having to pay was just an amazing feeling.
"I might be able to do something special with this basketball thing."
The Demon Deacons took a lot of lumps in the Covid-impacted 2020-21 season but offered at least one positive result — Williamson showed he belonged at the ACC level.
"I learned I can compete in the ACC at a high level," he said. "The ACC is big-boy basketball. You're going against future NBA players every time you step on the court. Knowing I can play with these guys at a high level has really increased my confidence going into this season."
In mid-January, Williamson squared off against Louisville's Carlik Jones, who was signed to a free agent deal by the Dallas Mavericks. Williamson scored 19 points and dished four assists in the contest.
"Competing with him showed me what a future NBA guy looks like, and I feel like I played pretty well in that game," Williamson said. "I'm in the ACC now. I'm playing against future NBA guys. That's when it hit me. I'm here now.
"This isn't the SoCon. I'm playing Louisville now, no disrespect to the SoCon. That was an amazing conference."
Just a week later, Williamson scored a career-high 27 points in Chapel Hill against North Carolina, while dishing five assists and grabbing a pair of steals.
Once the season finished with a buzzer-beating loss against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament, Forbes went to work, rebuilding the roster with nine new players — a mix of 2021 class signees and additions via the transfer portal. Williamson has seen this happen before and witnessed firsthand the success that followed.
"We had to bring in eight new guys my sophomore year at ETSU," Williamson. "This team is really bought into his identity and culture. Forbes is a hard-nosed coach, and we have a lot of hard-nosed guys on this team right now. We're really connected as a group. It's made the adjustment easier having so many experienced guys."
The team has largely been together since June and a relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions has helped them form a cohesive unit.
"Not only have we been going on the court, but we've also been focusing on building chemistry off the court," Williamson said. "We've spent a lot of time with each other. We're finally going to see the Forbes system in the ACC at a high level."
The offseason work for Williamson began with the Get Right Program, where the returning players spent significant time with Wake Forest Director of Sports Performance Mike Starke.
"I've gotten a lot stronger since last season and my jump shot is a lot better," Williamson said. "It's a lot more fluid and I'm more confident. Also, in terms of being a point guard, I need to help my team be in the right positions at the right time."
Then as Chris Paul was in town for his Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Williamson got to go head-to-head against the Phoenix Suns point guard.
"It was just a great experience playing and learning from the best," Williamson said. "We were going at it. I feel like I held my own, and I can say that. We kept it competitive, but both knew we had seasons coming up.
"We talked a little bit. He really harped on me to think through the game, especially with my being a point guard."
This will be the fourth season Forbes and Williamson will be together, and with that familiarity comes a bit of trust.
"Daivien is one of the guys who has been through it," Forbes said. "We've been through the battles together, so I trust him explicitly with everything. I wouldn't have said that two years ago. His offense was way ahead of his defense. He could always score, but he has to defend and get people involved. I always want five guys on the floor who can score, but there's a fine line in that position — you have to get people involved sometimes. He's figured that out."
Williamson also recently eclipsed the 1,000-career point mark last week against Charleston Southern. He is the 54th Demon Deacon to achieve the accomplishment and currently has 1,060 career points over two seasons at ETSU, a COVID-19 shortened season in 2020-21 and just seven games into his senior year.
"I'm extremely proud of Daivien. He got that pretty quick. If we had a full year last year he would have gotten it then. He's a wonderful young man. I've never had anything negative to say about him and that's hard to do for four years. He's a great player, great person and a great teammate and deserves all the credit," Forbes said.
Along with hitting 1,000 points just three games into his senior year and playing in front of his family every time the team is at home, all the fans are back in full force at the Joel Coliseum this year. With a ton of talent on a 6-1 Wake Forest team, Williamson is ready to win some more games.
"I didn't even know I was that close to 1,000. I'm more worried about winning, but it feels good and I'm glad I got to do it at home in Winston-Salem," he said. "I love playing in front of my entire family and hometown fans. I'm ready to put on a show for them. It's my senior year. I'm excited to see my family and hometown friends."
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But even as Williamson won awards for being the best high school player in the region at Winston-Salem Prep, a team he led to a state championship as a senior in 2018, he was never recruited by the Demon Deacons — nor any other power conference in-state programs.
His profile on one recruiting service has him unrated and without a profile picture. He doesn't even have a profile on the other.
"I didn't really have any in-state offers, aside from Appalachian State and UNC-Wilmington," Williamson said. "That put a chip on my shoulder, that I was being slept on in my own state. I feel like I was a lot better than guys who were getting Wake Forest offers and people who were ranked higher than me."
Second-year Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes says often that he prefers "Burger King'' All-Americans to McDonald's All-Americans, so he was able to sell the opportunity for Williamson at East Tennessee State, where Williamson prospered for two seasons. He was the third-leading scorer in the Buccaneer's 30-4 season that culminated in a Southern Conference Tournament championship and NCAA tournament automatic berth — a tourney that wasn't played because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Then Forbes made the jump to take over the Wake Forest program, with Williamson joining him shortly thereafter.
"I never thought I would be here," Williamson said. "I expected to play my four years at ETSU and then hopefully go somewhere to play professionally. When Forbes got this job, I just realized this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up — a chance to play in the ACC back home in Winston-Salem. Sometimes I can't believe it happened."
Williamson went through the NCAA Transfer Portal process, and heard from many quality programs, but his decision was close to a foregone conclusion.
"It took a couple weeks, but in the back of my head I knew where I was going," he admits.
Stepping onto campus as a Wake Forest basketball student-athlete was especially meaningful to Williamson.
"I've attended many Wake Forest Basketball games, but I never thought I would be in this situation,' he said. "It's a blessing to be here.
"It was different, but it was a great feeling. I'm on campus at Wake Forest, and I'm also here at home in Winston-Salem. It's my hometown. It gave me a sense of comfort."
Growing up in Winston-Salem, it was actually baseball, where he played shortstop and third base, that was Williamson's first love.
"Basketball wasn't really my first sport," he said. "I started playing baseball, but as I got older it became boring to me. I needed more action, and that's when I started playing basketball."
He found the game of basketball in middle school and then realized as a high school underclassman that perhaps he could be pretty good. Williamson remembers the specific date — May 31, 2016 — that he received his first college scholarship offer.
"I realized I was going to be pretty good at basketball during my sophomore year," he said. "That's when I got my first Division I scholarship offer."
It was Georgia Southern that broke the seal, and Williamson visited that campus right after an AAU tournament.
"That was probably one of the best days of my life even though I didn't go there," he reflects. "Just knowing that I could go to college for free, without my parents having to pay was just an amazing feeling.
"I might be able to do something special with this basketball thing."
The Demon Deacons took a lot of lumps in the Covid-impacted 2020-21 season but offered at least one positive result — Williamson showed he belonged at the ACC level.
"I learned I can compete in the ACC at a high level," he said. "The ACC is big-boy basketball. You're going against future NBA players every time you step on the court. Knowing I can play with these guys at a high level has really increased my confidence going into this season."
In mid-January, Williamson squared off against Louisville's Carlik Jones, who was signed to a free agent deal by the Dallas Mavericks. Williamson scored 19 points and dished four assists in the contest.
"Competing with him showed me what a future NBA guy looks like, and I feel like I played pretty well in that game," Williamson said. "I'm in the ACC now. I'm playing against future NBA guys. That's when it hit me. I'm here now.
"This isn't the SoCon. I'm playing Louisville now, no disrespect to the SoCon. That was an amazing conference."
Just a week later, Williamson scored a career-high 27 points in Chapel Hill against North Carolina, while dishing five assists and grabbing a pair of steals.
Once the season finished with a buzzer-beating loss against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament, Forbes went to work, rebuilding the roster with nine new players — a mix of 2021 class signees and additions via the transfer portal. Williamson has seen this happen before and witnessed firsthand the success that followed.
"We had to bring in eight new guys my sophomore year at ETSU," Williamson. "This team is really bought into his identity and culture. Forbes is a hard-nosed coach, and we have a lot of hard-nosed guys on this team right now. We're really connected as a group. It's made the adjustment easier having so many experienced guys."
The team has largely been together since June and a relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions has helped them form a cohesive unit.
"Not only have we been going on the court, but we've also been focusing on building chemistry off the court," Williamson said. "We've spent a lot of time with each other. We're finally going to see the Forbes system in the ACC at a high level."
The offseason work for Williamson began with the Get Right Program, where the returning players spent significant time with Wake Forest Director of Sports Performance Mike Starke.
"I've gotten a lot stronger since last season and my jump shot is a lot better," Williamson said. "It's a lot more fluid and I'm more confident. Also, in terms of being a point guard, I need to help my team be in the right positions at the right time."
Then as Chris Paul was in town for his Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Williamson got to go head-to-head against the Phoenix Suns point guard.
"It was just a great experience playing and learning from the best," Williamson said. "We were going at it. I feel like I held my own, and I can say that. We kept it competitive, but both knew we had seasons coming up.
"We talked a little bit. He really harped on me to think through the game, especially with my being a point guard."
This will be the fourth season Forbes and Williamson will be together, and with that familiarity comes a bit of trust.
"Daivien is one of the guys who has been through it," Forbes said. "We've been through the battles together, so I trust him explicitly with everything. I wouldn't have said that two years ago. His offense was way ahead of his defense. He could always score, but he has to defend and get people involved. I always want five guys on the floor who can score, but there's a fine line in that position — you have to get people involved sometimes. He's figured that out."
Williamson also recently eclipsed the 1,000-career point mark last week against Charleston Southern. He is the 54th Demon Deacon to achieve the accomplishment and currently has 1,060 career points over two seasons at ETSU, a COVID-19 shortened season in 2020-21 and just seven games into his senior year.
"I'm extremely proud of Daivien. He got that pretty quick. If we had a full year last year he would have gotten it then. He's a wonderful young man. I've never had anything negative to say about him and that's hard to do for four years. He's a great player, great person and a great teammate and deserves all the credit," Forbes said.
Along with hitting 1,000 points just three games into his senior year and playing in front of his family every time the team is at home, all the fans are back in full force at the Joel Coliseum this year. With a ton of talent on a 6-1 Wake Forest team, Williamson is ready to win some more games.
"I didn't even know I was that close to 1,000. I'm more worried about winning, but it feels good and I'm glad I got to do it at home in Winston-Salem," he said. "I love playing in front of my entire family and hometown fans. I'm ready to put on a show for them. It's my senior year. I'm excited to see my family and hometown friends."
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