Jay Williams hasn’t lost his touch on the basketball court.
Williams was in Auburn’s Neville Arena Saturday as ESPN College GameDay set up shop ahead of the game between the No. 1 Tigers and No. 6 Tennessee. There were some tense moments before the show, as many fans reported a “stampede” when the arena opened its doors. According to a statement from Auburn, “a few minor injuries were reported.”
Once everything got sorted out and the show began, Williams invited a student out for the show’s half-court challenge, where the student could win $19,000 by hitting a shot from midcourt in any number of tries within 19 seconds. Williams asked the student what he planned to do with the money if he made the shot.
“I’ll buy you everything tonight at the bar, you save your money,” Williams joked.
Williams dribbled the ball a few times. “Let me see if I can get some good karma for you,” he said, before launching a shot.
The ball banked off the backboard and went in. (Williams didn’t call the bank off the glass, but we’ll let that slide.)
.@RealJayWilliams really did this live on College GameDay 😅 pic.twitter.com/LtOZYgkuwF
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) January 25, 2025
“That should be 19 grand. That should be 19 grand,” Williams said as host Rece Davis greeted him.
“You just won $19,” Davis said.
However, the fan did not wind up hitting the shot (which Williams vowed he would match if he did). But, after Davis suggested it, Williams said he would triple the fan’s $1,900 consolation prize.
Jay Williams vowed to personally match the $19,000 prize for a student if he hit a halfcourt shot on "College GameDay." But that didn't happen. Williams did say he'd triple the $1,900 consolation prize, though. pic.twitter.com/IhTxSDbA9k
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 25, 2025
Williams won a national championship and national player of the year honors at Duke, before going No. 2 overall to the Chicago Bulls in the 2002 NBA Draft. But a motorcycle accident in June 2003 ended his NBA career. Yet as he showed Saturday, he’s still got game.