Can Will Davis II Lead The Anteaters Uphill?
By Dave Thomas
Name: Will Davis II
University: UC Irvine
Year: Senior
Height: 6' 8"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Hometown: Sacramento, CA.
Position: Forward
Raise your hand if you think the college basketball nickname "Anteaters" is one of the coolest ones in the game? Now, do you know which school that name is tied to? If you guessed the University of California (Irvine), pat yourself on the back.
As March Madness officially unfolds this week, the Anteaters out of the Big West Conference are hoping to be a pain in the rump for more than one team. With this past Sunday's draw now complete, UC Irvine (13th seed) will meet fourth-seeded Louisville (24-8) in the Eastern Region March 20.
One of the players that UC Irvine (21-12) will rely heavily upon in hopes of upsetting the perennial powerhouse Cardinals is senior forward Will Davis II.
Senior Looks to Cap Solid Career
Coming out of Sacramento, Davis II leads the Anteaters in scoring with 12.7 points per game and 6.5 rebounds ppg.
For Davis II, his role is to provide senior leadership and execute his talents on the hardwood for a team that is going dancing for the first time ever.
The Anteaters made it to the big dance after scoring a 67-58 victory over Hawaii in the Big West title game in Anaheim, CA this past weekend. In that game, Davis II (Tourney MVP) tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds to cap his third consecutive double-double. In a 72-63 win over UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals, Davis II notched 18 points and 15 boards in 38 minutes of action. He is also the first player in Big West Tournament history to tally three double-doubles.
Improving numbers have certainly not been a strange sight to Davis II during his time in Irvine, as he has raised his total point production each season at the Southern California school. In his senior campaign (33 games to date), he has accumulated 426 total points, up from his previous high for a season of 353 points in his junior year (32 games).Other career numbers for Davis II this time around include 178 field goals made, a free throw percentage of 70.7, and minutes played 977.
Coming out of high school, Davis II first traveled to New Hampton (N.H.) Prep, this after being ranked the 16th player in the class of 2010 out of Sacramento High School. One of only three seniors on the team for UC Irvine Head Coach Russell Turner, Davis and Co. hope to extend their post-season just a little longer.
In comments from UCIrvinesports.com, Turner noted, "I'm really satisfied and excited for our program and the UCI community to have this experience. Our players have all been recruited here to leave a mark on the community and tonight we did that. Winning changes people, it can change schools and that's what we hope to do and have a positive impact.
"I hope we can get over the idea that we can't do it here, we obviously can. I'm incredibly proud of my players and my staff. We had a game plan and we stayed with it when it didn't look good. We forged a bond and became champions, and that's fun."
No doubt one Will Davis II has been a major part of that bond, a bond that is going dancing this time around.
Dave Thomas has been covering the sports world since his first job as a sports editor for a weekly newspaper in Pennsylvania back in 1989. He has covered a Super Bowl, college bowl games, MLB, NBA and more. His work can be found on Examiner.com.