Darrell Williams Signs With Professional Belgian Basketball Team

Former Oklahoma State basketball player Darrell Williams has signed a contract with Verviers-Pepinster of the Basketball League Belgium (BLB) Division I (Scooore! League), according to Texas A&M-Commerce’s men’s basketball program.

Cowboys fans likely remember the Chicago native. Williams began his college career in Stillwater, and got off to a fast start, leading the Cowboys in rebounding while averaging over 7 points a game in 2010.

His promising career was effectively put on hold in February of 2011 after he was charged with one count of sexual battery and four counts of rape by instrumentation in connection to an incident at a 2010 party in Stillwater.

Before being formally charged, Williams was playing the best basketball of his young college career, coming off of a combined 33 points and 25 rebounds in back-to-back Big 12 wins over Missouri and Oklahoma.

After charges were filed, Ford didn’t allow Williams to play in games but still let him remain on the team because he was convinced of Williams’ innocence. Ford allowed Williams to practice and travel with the team over the next year and a half, and raved about Williams’ work ethic and ever-improving skills.

Williams excelled in the classroom as well, making the Big 12 All-Academic team.

Maintaining his innocence all along, Williams refused to take a guilty plea deal that would have allowed him to continue playing basketball, and was subsequently charged with one count of sexual battery and two counts of rape by instrumentation in July of 2012.

In 2014, the charges against Williams were dropped after new evidence was submitted by the nonprofit organization The Innocence Project, who led the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to find grounds for a mistrial. Williams, who had transferred to Division II school Texas A&M-Commerce, a Division II school, received his diploma from Oklahoma State in May of this year. Williams was named Lone Star Conference Newcomer and Player of the Year after averaging 18.5 points and 12.4 rebounds per game, his only season at the school.

Williams went undrafted in the this summer’s NBA Draft, but averaged 3.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in just 9.4 minutes per game on the Chicago Bulls’ Las Vegas summer league team.

Best of luck to him in Belgium, and wherever basketball takes him from here on out.