Florida International transfer guard Ashton Williamson announced his committment to Iowa out of the transfer portal on Wednesday. He previously visited the Hawkeyes and Ben McCollum a few weeks ago.
In his lone season of college ball, Williamson started 16 of 33 games for the Panthers, averaging 7.3 points, 2.7 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. The 6'2", 170-pound point guard shot 39.4% from the field, 32.9% from deep and 67.6% from the free throw line.
Though Williamson didn't become a regular starter till later in the season for FIU, he played double-digit minutes in every game of the year, ultimately averaging 23.1 minutes per contest with a season high of 34 minutes against Rice. To this point, his career-high in scoring is 14, which he put up against Southern Utah and Middle Tennessee State. Williamson has yet to reach double-digit assists, but he posted a career high of eight against Howard this season.
Prior to stepping on campus at FIU, Williamson played a post-graduate year at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kansas. Though he wasn't under the tutelage of now-Iowa assistant Luke Barnwell who previously served as the head coach there, Williamson undoubtedly has connections that allowed him to connect with Barnwell and the Iowa staff for a visit.
At Sunrise, he averaged 17 points and ten rebounds per game and received offers from Western Kentucky and Northern Illinois in addition to FIU.
In his final two years of high school, Williamson played for 21st Century Charter School in Gary, Indiana. During his senior year, he averaged 16.4 points, 9.4 assists, 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, ultimately earning an offer from New Orleans before opting to play a year of post-grad ball.
Williamson is now the ninth portal commitment for Ben McCollum and the Hawkeyes, joining Alvaro Folgueiras, Bennett Stirtz, Cam Manyawu, Kael Combs, Tavion Banks, Isaia Howard and Brendan Hausen.
Follow along at Hawkeye Beacon for our continued coverage of Iowa's efforts to fill out the roster for McCollum's first year as the Hawkeyes' head coach.
