Louisville's Malik Williams is not with the team vs. Virginia Tech
As the Louisville Cardinals prepare to battle Virginia Tech on Tuesday night, senior forward Malik Williams is not with the team, according to Brett Dawson.
One of the Cardinals’ most productive players was suspended earlier this season but returned to the team on Feb. 7, and while the details of his absence in Tuesday night’s ACC clash are unknown as of now, this is yet another instance that has hindered the Louisville program in 2022.
After being suspended earlier in the year for not upholding program standards and missing Louisville’s next two games against Syracuse and North Carolina, Cardinals’ fifth-year senior forward Malik Williams was reinstated by interim coach Mike Pegues.
According to Pegues, who is serving as Louisville’s interim head coach after the school and former head coach Chris Mack parted ways, he – alongside Cardinals’ interim athletic director Josh Heird – met with Williams and his mother and agreed to allow Williams to return if he “can be the guy we expect him to be on the court and in the locker room.”
“With the rank of being a captain, [comes] the responsibility of carrying yourself differently,” Pegues said Monday on the ACC coaches teleconference. “And on the worst day being able to come in and be compliant, be competitive and bring energy and not drain energy from the jump. There was too much of that going on in my opinion, which created the situation in the first place where I felt like I had to suspend him.”
Since returning to the Louisville Cardinals lineup in the team’s last four outings, it’s been and up and down affair for the star player. In his first game back vs. Notre Dame, Williams only saw the court for six minutes and had limited production.
But the Clemson game told a different story. Louisville was in desperate need of something positive and it was clear the staff put the differences they had with their star scorer behind them and Williams played a pivotal role in picking up the team’s only victory in its last seven outings with 12 points, five rebounds and two assists.