Zion Williamson is a large human being. At 6-foot-7, 285 pounds, it would take a brave soul to stand in front of that frame barreling towards the basket to take a charge.
Duke freshman R.J. Barrett was brave enough to try that once in practice. He’ll never do it again.
The Duke stars joined NCAA.com’s Andy Katz for an interview ahead of Wednesday’s Duke-UNC game, and Barrett was asked about how intimidating it is to play against someone of Williamson’s size. That was when Barrett brought up the unpleasant memory of trying to take a charge from Williamson. It didn’t sound fun.
Barrett said:
“You don’t want to take a charge. I thought I took a charge once on him in practice. I’ll never do that again.”
When asked how that felt, he responded:
“It just hurt. I was slow getting up.”
Someone should have told that to Syracuse’s Marek Dolezaj. He successfully took a charge from Williamson during the Blue Devils’ loss to the Orange at Cameron Indoor Stadium and seemingly regretted it right away.
He went airborne.
