Williams makes Duquesne his destination

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Mar. 30—Former Indiana State center Tre Williams has found his next college basketball home.

Williams announced Monday that he is headed to Duquesne — the Pittsburgh-based school that plays in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Williams made his announcement on his social media accounts on Monday afternoon.

When the Tribune-Star contacted Williams, he said the choice to play for the Dukes came down to Duquesne's coaching staff — led by veteran coach Keith Dambrot — and style of play.

"The coaching staff and how we were able to make a good relationship. I felt it was the right move for me and that I could trust them. That was on top of the play they play, with a post-oriented offense. It was a great fit for me," Williams said.

Williams, along with forward Jake LaRavia, who announced a while back that he was transferring to Wake Forest, formed the best post tandem ISU had since its NCAA Tournament team of 2000 and 2001.

Williams averaged 8.1 points, five rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots in his two years with the Sycamores. Williams was named to the MVC's All-Defensive team after the 2021 season for his shot-blocking ability as well as his skill in guarding man-to-man and his quickness in recovering on help defense.

When ISU announced that Greg Lansing wouldn't be back as coach March 8, Williams was one of several Sycamores who entered the NCAA transfer portal the following day.

"Once I entered portal, I wasn't thinking about coming back," Williams said.

Williams said he received interest from Dayton, UAB, Cincinnati, Wichita State, Akron, Northern Kentucky, Kent State for his services.

"It was kind of stressful with the phone ringing constantly," Williams said.

Williams and LaRavia are the only ISU players among the six who entered the transfer portal to announce their intentions. Cooper Neese, Kailex Stephens, Cobie Barnes, Jared Hankins and Cam Bacote are still mulling their options.

Williams expressed in his social post and to the Tribune-Star that he will have fond memories of ISU and Terre Haute.

"I'm going to miss it a lot here. I loved it when I got here. I wish I could have continued, but we had to part ways," Williams said.