Transcript & Video: Samuell Williamson Talks His Injury, Team Roles & Strengths

Louisville men's basketball forward Samuell Williamson spoke with the media about his injury that kept him limited in practice, roles on the team & what their strengths are, and more.

(Photo of Samuell Williamson: Jamie Rhodes/USA TODAY Sports)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With the 2020-21 college basketball season less than a week away, Louisville men's basketball forward Samuell Williamson spoke with the media on Thursday. He discussed his injury that had kept him limited in practice, roles on the team for the season & how they're coming together, what this team's strengths are, and more.

Williamson scored in 26 of 31 games as a top reserve at forward for the Cardinals a season ago. The 6-foot-7 forward from Rockwall, Tx. scored five or more points in 14 games as a freshman, including eight of the last 14. He is one of just 14 players in Louisville history to score as many as 13 points in a freshman career debut, tying for 12th on that list with 13 off the bench at Miami in the season opener.

Louisville is set to open the 2020-21 season on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 4:00 p.m. EST against the Evansville Purple Aces as part of the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic. The Cardinals head into the season with a limited roster, as senior forward/center Malik Williams and grad transfer guard Charles Minlend are set to miss significant time due to injury.

Below is the transcript from Williamson's press conference as well as the video:

(On what it's been like dealing with an aggravated patellar tendon, and how long it'll be before you're he's back to 100%)

I don't know about 100%, but I'm pretty close to that right now. I started practicing, going to the full practice on Tuesday. It's been pretty tough missing the last month or so, just watching on the side. I've tried to do everything I could, from just bringing energy to practice and not being the guy that comes in there with no energy and negative energy. But it's also allowed me to look at the game from a little bit of a different perspective on the sidelines, as opposed to being on the court. I've just been trying to learn as much as I can, as well as staying in shape and working out as much as I could. So that when I did return, that I'd be in the best shape as possible.

(On how he sees his role changing with Jordan Nwora's departure)

Well, losing Jordan and Dwayne (Sutton) and all the guys that we lost, myself along with a lot of my teammates, our roles are going to go up a lot. We lost a lot of production from last season, so a lot of us are going to be expected make major jumps going into our sophomore years. Offensively, defensively, making plays on both sides of the ball, I think myself, and like I said a lot of my teammates, will be expected to make a big leap.

(On what this team's remaining strength is after the departures & injuries)

I would say athleticism and camaraderie. We got some guys that can get up, get on the rim, run the floor at every position. We got some some athletes. Then I think camaraderie is a little bit of an underrated thing, but it's also very important when it comes to a team sport like basketball. Being close on the floor and off the floor is huge. So I think that's two of our biggest strengths heading into next week.

(On how the team is coming together)

Well I think we're a team that still maybe trying to find our identity a little bit. Like I said, we lost a lot last year. But this year, like I said, people got to step up. We're gonna play probably a little bit different than we did last year. I think we're gonna be a team that prides itself on being tough, getting on the offensive glass, creating some second chance points. Then defensively, we got to make a make a huge step from where we were last year. We got to be better than we were last year.

(On how the team will make up for the loss of Malik Williams)

Well it won't just be one guy. It's gonna be a community effort between several bigs, and then really everybody else on the team is going to make up for his communication and rebounding and defensive presence on the court. Malik's one of the smartest bigs in the country, and we're really going to miss him. It's gonna take a lot of guys to come in and make up for his absence.

(On how they'll look different due to not being as big of a team as normal)

I think we'll be a little more quicker maybe. We might have to play some more small ball with guys like Jae'Lyn Withers playing the five, which can be an advantage to us. We can get a lot more mismatches on the offensive end, and then defensively we might be a little smaller. So we're gonna have to buy into boxing out and gang rebounding with fire guys attacking the glass.

(On playing in a short scrimmage against former players earlier this week)

I think we got better from yesterday than were Tuesday, but also I think we (got to) show where we are getting to play against somebody else. I think we have a little bit of ways to go. These next six days, we still need to get better before opening next Wednesday.

(On what ways he wants to see improvement before the opener)

Really defensively. We had a couple of defensive lapses. Shooting the ball, we have to shoot the ball a little bit better. Just getting used to playing with each other a little bit more as a first time playing again since somebody else other than ourselves since we've been here. I think we'll be good though.

(On how how his game has evolved)

I think it's evolved a lot. I would say there's a couple things that I learned a lot from last year, which is playing hard. Crashing the offensive glass was something that I never really had to do in high school. It was one of those things that I had to do along with playing defense my freshman year if I wanted to stay on the floor. I feel like carrying those things over from my freshman year to my sophomore year, to the game that I have, I think will help me tremendously.

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