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Zion Williamson had himself a damn day, guys. In his first game back since blowing out his shoe against rival North Carolina a couple of weeks ago, the projected No. 1 overall pick held absolutely nothing back, as his Duke Blue Devils beat the Syracuse Orange 84-72 in the quarterfinals of the ACC Championship Game. All Zion did was go a perfect 13-for-13 from the field, dump in 29 points and grab 14 rebounds in his 35 minutes. You know, just normal stuff — for a freak of an athlete who’s on an entirely different level than most people.
It didn’t take long for Zion Williamson to show that he was back, healthy and better than anyone else on the basketball court. Just look at this massive dunk he threw down early in the game tonight to remind people how explosive he is.
ZION CAUGHT HIS RETURN FLIGHT 🛫 pic.twitter.com/kW3Vb6MgoA
— ESPN (@espn) March 15, 2019
Following the victory, Williamson was interviewed by the ESPN telecast and he didn’t mince words about how he felt. More specifically, he talked about his mindset for his return, while also taking a shot at all those people who thought that he should just sit the rest of his freshman campaign to focus on the NBA. Here’s what Zion Williamson had to say, via Bleacher Report.
“I love this game, I love my teammates, so people who thought I wasn’t going to return they weren’t smart. I love playing with Duke. I love my teammates and it was great to be back,” Williamson said in his postgame interview with ESPN, h/t Forbes‘ Adam Zagoria. “I come ready to kill every game, so it was just great to get back on the court.”
Remember, some experts believe that Zion Williamson could earn as much as $1 billion from his basketball career when all is said and done, so the not-so-subtle whispers that he should forego the rest of his college career so he could prep for the NBA were legit. But the kid sure makes it sound like the thought never even crossed his mind.
In terms of Williamson’s mentality, well, good luck to the rest of college basketball, because if he’s coming “ready to kill every game,” we might as well just write Duke’s name into the Final Four with a permanent marker, because the Zion Train can’t be slowed down. It’ll be interesting to see how he and his teammates play tomorrow against arch-rival North Carolina in the semifinals, because Zion Williamson keeps this up through March, he may just close out his college hoops career in grand fashion with some hardware to add to his mantle.