A Surprising Turnaround for Noah Williamson

Alabama’s Noah Williamson entered Saturday’s game with a modest average of just 1.1 points per game. However, he ended up being one of the most impactful players in the Crimson Tide’s 89-74 victory over Kentucky. Standing at seven feet tall, Williamson had been an All-Patriot League performer for the last two seasons at Bucknell. But after transferring to Tuscaloosa, his performance this season has not met expectations.

Previously averaging nearly 30 minutes per game, Williamson was playing under 10 minutes through the first 13 games of the 2025-26 season. His head coach, Nate Oats, needed him to step up against a large and imposing Kentucky frontcourt. Not only did Williamson rise to the challenge, but he also played a crucial role in Alabama’s dominance over the Wildcats.

“We don’t win the game without him,” Oats said postgame. Williamson finished with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block in a season-high 18 minutes. Most of his production came after halftime when Alabama’s 6-foot-10 starting forward, Aiden Sherell, went down with an injury.

Williamson’s 10 points were as many as Kentucky’s entire frontcourt combined (five points from Jayden Quaintance, four from Malachi Moreno, and one from Brandon Garrison). He entered the game with just four made field goals all season long. Against Kentucky, he went 5-7 from the field, finishing as a +15 in the box score, second-highest among his teammates.

“It just makes the whole energy of the team shift,” said Alabama’s Aden Holloway. “I feel like that gets us going as much as like a crazy dunk or something when we see Noah just out there playing and not overthinking stuff.”

Taking on Kentucky was a bit of a revenge opportunity for Williamson. Some might remember his time at Bucknell, when the Bison came to Rupp Arena in 2024-25. UK won that game with ease, 100-72, while Williamson played arguably his worst game of the entire season: seven points (3-12 FG) and five rebounds in 24 minutes.

“To be honest, I really wanted to beat Kentucky,” Williamson said postgame. “We played them last year at Bucknell and we lost pretty badly. This was probably my last opportunity to play them.”

Unless these two teams meet again in the postseason, this was the senior center’s last time playing Kentucky. He sure made the most of it, even getting the best of Quaintance, a future NBA lottery pick, multiple times. Williamson wasn’t the original recipient of Alabama’s Hard Hat Award (which values deflections, steals, blocks, floor dives, etc.) after the win, but his teammate Amari Allen made sure he was the one who put it on in the end.

Williamson’s performance was more about having a good game against Kentucky, though — it was hopefully a sign of more to come from him this season as Alabama looks to make a third straight Elite Eight.

“He needed this game in a big way. Huge for him,” Oats said. “He did it against maybe the most athletic, biggest, toughest, for sure the most-hyped in the preseason frontcourt in our league.”

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