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Illinois sophomore D.J. Williams is taking a “temporary leave” from the basketball program, according to a team spokesman. The 6-foot-7 wing is absent for tonight’s contest against the Michigan Wolverines, and according to the pregame radio show, he wasn’t at practice on Tuesday, either.
BREAKING: D.J. Williams will not be here tonight. Mutual decision with John Groce to take temporary leave from team. No timetable on return.
— Scott Richey (@srrichey) January 12, 2017
Loren Tate, Steve Kelly speculating that DJ Williams has transferred from #illini on pregame show. Not at game nor practice yest. per them.
— Andrew Helregel (@helregelsports) January 12, 2017
Williams, a former four-star prospect out of Chicago (Simeon), is averaging 2.6 points and 1.1 rebounds per game in limited playing time this season (9.9 minutes per game). This is purely speculation, but in my opinion, this has the look of an imminent transfer announcement.
John Groce will presumably be commenting on this situation after Wednesday night’s game, so we’ll update this post with more information once it’s been made available.