TCU’s “Kenny Hustle” making most of NBA opportunity with New Orleans Pelicans
“Kenny Hustle” is back.
Thank Billy Wessels, the publisher of TCU’s Rivals site, who coined Kenrich Williams’ nickname early on in his TCU career.
At the time, the Frogs were playing their home games at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center during the 2014-15 season, and Williams stood out because he dove for loose balls and grabbed any rebound in his vicinity.
“I was just impressed by his hustle stats that don’t usually show up in the box score,” Wessels said. “It happened to be about the time the ‘Kenny Trill’ madness was happening at A&M [with quarterback Kenny Hill] and I just thought ‘Kenny Hustle’ had a nice ring to it.
“Funny that Kenny Hill ended up at TCU the same time as ‘Kenny Hustle.’”
Wessels’ “Kenny Hustle” nickname surfaced earlier this week with Williams making the most of his expanded playing time with the injury-riddled New Orleans Pelicans.
Williams posted a career-high 21 points in the Pelicans loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday. The night before in the Pelicans’ victory over Houston on Tuesday, Williams pulled down 16 rebounds.
He played 30-plus minutes in each game, the most minutes of his young career, and his play is certainly being noticed at his old college stomping grounds. Williams and the Pelicans return to action Saturday at San Antonio.
“It’s just great. It’s exciting,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “It’s fun for us. Obviously playing and doing well is great. His agent keeps me fully informed of each basket he makes. It’s a great story and unique, his path is unique in becoming an all-Big 12 player and then the path he took to get to the NBA.
“An opportunity has arisen, a bigger opportunity, and he’s taken it. It’s a great story for all.”
Dixon would like to get a picture of Williams in a Pelicans uniform hung at TCU’s practice gym in the near future. As Dixon said, he’s the type of story that helps build programs.
Williams had a solid high school career at Waco University, but didn’t get many offers and played a year at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, New Mexico.
He joined TCU after the program had gone winless in Big 12 play in 2013-14, and ended up starting 17 of 33 games played in 2014-15 under then-coach Trent Johnson.
Williams missed the 2014-15 season with a knee injury, but played a significant role in TCU’s turnaround when Dixon took over. Williams helped lead the Frogs to an NIT Championship in the 2015-16 season, and helped snap a 20-year NCAA Tournament drought last season.
Now he’s in the NBA with a fully guaranteed contract worth $838,464 this season. His salary will raise to $1,416,852 next season, assuming he stays on the roster.
“It’s so hard to make it [in the NBA] and it’s so hard to say, even harder,” Dixon said. “He’s getting his chances and he’s doing well. His nickname has now followed him to New Orleans. They called him ‘Kenny Hustle.’
“It’s good for us. As far as a program, recruit kids and tell them you’re going to help develop them and get them better, there’s no better story than an unrecruited high school kid becoming an NBA player.”
Williams saw his point total increase every season at TCU, from 8.6 to 11.4 to 13.2.
More important, his success at the next level is making an impact on his former teammates from afar.
“It gives us hope,” senior forward JD Miller said. “He’s out there. He’s been making a rep for us to get up there with him.”