Fifth year senior Matt Williams is just nine 3-pointers away from holding the UCF record for most threes in a career, the most in a single season and the most in a game. The Orlando native is scoring a career-best 15.6 points per game, and, with a record of 16-10, his Knights are enjoying their best season since joining the American Athletic Conference.
Williams was extremely close to leaving all of that behind for something different: a different team, a different school, a different city.
After graduating from UCF this past spring with one year of eligibility remaining on the court, the idea of trying something new intrigued Williams. With a number of injuries and three straight losing seasons, he just wanted something different.
"I had been here for four years and been through a lot," Williams said. "I thought it was time to venture out and take another step in my life."
It began before he even played a game in a Knights uniform. Just prior to the start of his freshman season, his appendix burst. He spent two weeks in the hospital and missed the first five games of the 2012-13 season.
After a pair of solid seasons as an underclassman off the bench, Williams was poised to step his game up as a junior in 2014-15. Just one game in, he suffered another setback when he underwent season-ending knee surgery.
Williams came back to play in all 30 games, starting 18 contests, while scoring a career-best 8.1 points per game last season as a redshirt junior. But once again, it was a losing season for the Knights. For three years in a row, Williams endured 13 or less wins in the Black and Gold.
He was ready for a change. Matt Williams was going to spend his final season somewhere else.
On March 23, 2016, the first wrinkle in that plan developed. UCF Vice President and Director of Athletics Dr. Daniel J. White announced Johnny Dawkins as the new head coach of the Knights men's basketball program.
Williams, born in 1993, did not know much about the 1986 Naismith National Player of the Year. He, of course, did his research and liked everything he heard and read about Dawkins, but that didn't change his mind. He asked for a private meeting.
"I told him that I had been through a lot here and I just wanted to try my last year of college somewhere else," Williams said of that first meeting. "He was understanding, but told me to take some time to really think about it."
He thought about it. He talked with his parents about it. He spoke with teammates. He even continued to have conversations with Dawkins. In fact, even though Williams had already told him that he wanted to go elsewhere, Dawkins continued to talk hoops with the sharpshooter.
The former longtime assistant coach at Duke loved to show Williams clips of JJ Redick. Dawkins would make comparisons between the two shooting guards and explain how at UCF, under the direction of the new staff, Williams' game could look a lot like the former Blue Devil star.
"While I was trying to make a decision I had a number of meetings like that with Coach," Williams said. "He would show me footage of Redick, but the conversations also got intense. We wouldn't just talk basketball. They were more man-to-man talks. About life after basketball."
Still, it was not enough, and after one final meeting, Dawkins granted Williams his release.
After all that, the Knights new head coach never stopped having a relationship with the kid he just started to get to know. When Williams asked if it was all right to continue to use the practice facility and weight room, Dawkins obliged.
"He said he wanted the best for me. He didn't really know me, but he still wanted the best for me," Williams said. "He said that he heard I was a good kid and a hard worker, so as long as I wasn't in the way of the team's activities, I could do whatever I wanted."
Williams felt uncomfortable with the situation, so he would go to the gym early in the mornings to make sure he was out of the way. Every time he was there, so was Dawkins.
"I thought to myself 'man, he's coming in this early just to do his job?' He was always around and I respected that."
Even though Williams was granted his release, and was talking with other programs to find the right fit for his next stop, Dawkins continued to keep an eye on him.
"He'd always ask me how I was doing. He'd ask if I needed anything," Williams said. "He wasn't coming at me hard or pressuring me, but I could tell he still cared about my future."
And he continued to show him clips of JJ Redick.
While he was working out on his own, Williams' teammates had started training with Dawkins and the new staff. They would tell him how tough the workouts were, how awesome the coaches were. He felt out of the loop. He felt jealous.
Williams stuck to his plan though. After recruitment from the likes of UNLV, Miami, Georgia Tech, Georgia and many more, he made a visit to Wake Forest. He loved it and committed on the spot.
However, as soon as he returned to UCF, to Orlando, to his home, he knew something was wrong.
"As soon as I came back and started working out in the gym, it didn't feel right," he said. "For like a week and a half, it didn't feel right, because this was home.
"I didn't even talk to my dad about it," Williams said. "I just went right into Coach Dawkins' office and told him I didn't want to go anymore. I wanted to stay here."
Dawkins asked him if he was sure, and when he replied with "yes sir," the coach shut the door to his office. Once again, they watched clips of JJ Redick.
From there Williams has grown leaps and bounds as a player under Dawkins' leadership. He is having a career year, recording personal bests of 15.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. And yes, there are all the 3-point records.
Williams' 38-point and 11 3-pointer performance was a night to remember. Leading the Knights to an 86-64 victory over rival USF, Williams set new UCF and American Athletic Conference records for the most 3-pointers made in a game.
His performance watched by fans around the country on ESPNEWS and multiple airings of SportsCenter, but it was the fans right here in Orlando who Williams cared most about. It's the fans who have been watching him for five years that have made his final season with the Knights so special.
"The love I get from the fans every time we win and get to shake hands with them around the arena, it's special," he said. "It's like I'm doing it for them. I do it for the people supporting me. When I shake hands with the fans, I never forget the faces. They've been through my whole career with me, and that means a lot."
To come back to UCF for his final season, enjoying so much individual and team success in his final year of collegiate basketball, it means everything to the Orlando native.
"If I could go back and do it all over again, I wouldn't have thought twice," Williams said. "This is home and I made the best decision of my life to stay at UCF."
