Juwan Howard credits Terrance Williams' impact for Michigan

Junior forward Terrance Williams does not blow up the stat sheet or necessarily make highlight plays, but Michigan head coach Juwan Howard had heaps of praise for the work he does. From taking on important defensive assignments to providing a stabilizing presence on a rather youthful team, Howard isn’t overlooking what Williams does.

Williams is currently averaging seven points a game this season, a tick up on his career average, while playing consistently around 30 minutes a night for Michigan. And as Howard explained, his value isn’t really in his scoring.

“Terrance can always affect the game. And it’s not always scoring the basketball that you can say a guy is really impacting the game. And Terrance, what he does, doesn’t always show up in the box score. Because he’s one of our stabilizers. Smart, high IQ ball player. Makes the right plays and finds his teammates. Also does a really good job of communicating on the defensive end. He also has another tough job of guarding the best forward on whatever opponent that we face,” Howard said.

And on a team that features three players currently averaging in the double figures — Hunter Dickinson (18.1 points per game), Jett Howard (14.6) and Kobe Bufkin (12.2) — the Wolverines don’t necessarily need Williams filling it up, either.

He’s pulled down double-digit rebounds four times and had five or more in all but eight games for Michigan this season. He also doesn’t commit many fouls, just 43 in 24 games played, and hasn’t fouled out of a game this season.

Michigan is trying to pull itself from the furthest reaches of the bubble into the NCAA Tournament picture in February, and Howard is happy Williams is part of that effort.

“So, you don’t see that because it’s not as cute and sexy, because everyone looks at the box score like ‘Oh, man. He only scored five points.’ And it’s like uproar. This guy knows how to play, he does a lot of things that really help our team,” Howard said. “And I’m just happy that we have a Terrance Williams.”