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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga’s Johnathan Williams reaches rebounding milestone in win over UNC Greensboro

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Johnathan Williams (3) rebounds the ball during the second half of the first round of the 2018 NCAA Basketball Tournament on Thursday, March 15, 2018, at the Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho. Gonzaga won the game 68-64. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Whitney Ogden whitneyo@spokesman.com(509) 481-1067

Johnathan Williams reached 1,000 career rebounds in Gonzaga’s 68-64 win over UNC Greensboro in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

Williams needed 13 rebounds to reach the milestone. On Thursday, he pulled down a game-high 13 boards and added 19 points against the Spartans for his 15th double-double this season.

Williams has represented Gonzaga well on the national scale, being one of the best in the country on the glass. His 1,000 boards currently ranks ninth among active players in the NCAA.

“Johnathan Williams has been an absolute rock solid guy you can count on as far as his physicality, his rebounding, his protecting the rim,” head coach Mark Few said on Friday.

Williams transferred from Missouri to Gonzaga for his final two seasons. Williams had 455 rebounds in his first two seasons with the Tigers and has 545 in 73 games with Gonzaga. He’s averaging 7.3 boards per game at Gonzaga and 7.1 in his career.

He is just the second player at Gonzaga to hit the mark. Former center Jerry Vermillion, who played form 1951 to 1955, is the all-time leader with 1,670 boards. Williams is a distant second and Elias Harris is third with 979.

Williams also reached the 1,000-point mark earlier in the season when the Zags toppled Howard 106-69 on Nov. 14. He joins Vermillion as the only two players at Gonzaga to reach 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Vermilion had 1,547 points in his GU career.