CHARLOTTE – Gardner-Webb's Zion Williams has been named Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday afternoon.
 
Williams matched a career high with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting in Gardner-Webb's 77-60 upset of Georgia last Wednesday, the Runnin' Bulldogs' only game of last week. He also grabbed seven rebounds and set season-high marks with three steals and one block in 34 minutes of action, a team high.
 
Gardner-Webb's 17-point win in Athens marked its largest margin of victory over a Power 5 opponent in program history. It was GWU's first win over a Power 5 opponent since taking down Wake Forest, 73-69, on December 29, 2018, and marked the first win over an SEC school since defeating No. 20 Kentucky by 16 points, 84-68, on November 7, 2007.
 
Williams has routinely filled the box score in his first season at Gardner-Webb. The graduate forward from Maybrook, New York has averaged 6.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals through 13 nonconference contests to start the season, marks that rank in the top five on the team in three of those four categories: rebounds (2^nd), assists (T-4^th) and steals (T-1^st).

This is the first Big South Player of the Week honor for Williams and the first for Gardner-Webb this season. 
 
Last week's notable victory over Georgia – the sixth over a Power 5 school during head coach Tim Craft's tenure – helped Gardner-Webb round out the season's nonconference slate at 6-7 overall. The Runnin' Bulldogs now turn towards their Big South portion of the schedule beginning this Wednesday, January 5 on the road at Charleston Southern. Tipoff inside Buccaneer Fieldhouse is slated for 7 p.m.