With dagger to beat Texas A&M, Jaylin Williams fully emerges as an Auburn star (2024)

Before Jaylin Williams could even let go of the ball, his point guard had three fingers in the air.

Tre Donaldson found Williams wide-open near the top of the key. Williams’ defender had switched onto Donaldson, leaving no one to close out Williams. He isn’t No. 16 Auburn’s best 3-point shooter, and Auburn needed a shot. Auburn had hit only four of 21 3-point attempts in the game. And now with less than a minute to play and a four-point lead in Auburn’s tightest game of the young season, it needed a big shot.

It needed the big shot it hadn’t been able to find all night. It needed the big shot it didn’t get in a loss to Appalachian State with a similar box score.

On Tuesday, at last, Williams made the shot Auburn longed for. The closest Texas A&M defender to him raced off his man, KD Johnson, in an ill-fated attempt at a closeout.

Maybe Williams isn’t Auburn’s best 3-point shooter. But in a moment like that, needing a shot like that, head coach Bruce Pearl didn’t want the ball anywhere else.

“Man,” Williams said after the game. “I’ve lost to these dudes too many times.”

Relatively speaking, the shot he’d make was fairly routine. But it was the dagger in Auburn’s 66-55 win over Texas A&M, a game that was far closer than the final score may have indicated. William’s clutch shot gave top-20-ranked Auburn (13-2, 2-0) its eighth straight win. This was just Auburn’s second win against Texas A&M in Neville Arena.

Williams said shortly before his big shot, head coach Bruce Pearl had emphasized to him to not be passive, to take the open look when we had it. Auburn had open looks throughout the night, but it wasn’t hitting shots. By night’s end, Auburn shot only 39%. Its 66 points were its lowest point total since scoring 64 in the loss to Appalachian State and it is by far Auburn’s lowest point total in a win this season.

“To me, it was just another shot,” Williams said. “I practice that shot all the time. Like before practice or after practice so it was just another shot for me. Obviously, it was big. Texas A&M had beat me up pretty well the last few years so it was good to make that shot. I had confidence in that one and it went in.”

And Williams scored 22 of those himself, easily the game’s leading scorer. An electric first-half dunk ignited the best Neville Arena atmosphere of the season —a factor that Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams credited for Auburn’s win.

But this was a moment a month in the making.

Auburn’s eight-game win streak goes back to what may well be a season-defining loss to Appalachian State on Dec. 3. Defining in that it “flipped the switch” for many on this team, like forward Chris Moore who has said previously that that was enough losing. It’s certainly been that for Williams.

In the eight games since the loss, Williams is averaging 16 points per game, shooting 66% from the field and a true shooting percentage of 75%. It’s been the best stretch of his Auburn career. This was Williams’ 100th career college win. He’s already Auburn’s winningest all-time player. And he’s on another contender with Pearl. Yet on this iteration of Auburn basketball, Williams is more of a go-to guy than ever.

On New Year’s Day, just over 24 hours before Auburn would beat Penn, Pearl mentioned a quote from former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning to describe Williams.

“He said his championship teams were always when the best players were the hardest workers and the most locked in,” Pearl said. “They got in there early, they stayed late. But they paid incredible attention to detail. When the best players were taking notes in film and actually writing things down that the coaches were saying and they paid that kind of attention in practice and obviously practiced that way, then the young, the rookies, would say, ‘OK, that’s what’s expected of me.’”

Pearl said he challenged Williams to be just that. And while a week later, Williams said he hadn’t actually ever heard anything about a Manning quote, he has followed through on Pearl’s wish.

Williams has stuck it out at Auburn. Pearl recalled bringing in the highly talented Jabari Smith at Williams’ position in his junior year.

“Rather than jumping in the transfer portal, he said, ‘Alright. I’m going to try to beat Jabari out,” Pearl said. “And you know what was really interesting? He played even with Jabari all summer and early fall. He really did.”

Smith, of course, won out and went on to be the third overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

But Williams stayed. Pearl described him as patient. He described him as unselfish. And that led him to the high-volume role he’s emerged into this season. He’s closing in on center Johni Broome as the team’s leading scorer. And with a hot hand like that, Pearl just wants to get the ball in his hands.

Against Texas A&M, when the ball needed to be in reliable hands, Williams was there.

“In other words, I don’t decide who shoots the ball,” Pearl said on Jan. 1. “The guys that shoot the best percentage should be shooting the shots. The team knows that. But again, what Jaylin is doing is he’s doing it at both ends of the floor. You’re able to see when Jaylin’s motor is running and he’s playing more physically and more aggressively, it shows his athleticism.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports forAL.com. You can follow him on X at@Matt_Cohen_or email him atmcohen@al.com