Jerry Williams has been accustomed to applause for his basketball exploits, but now he will have to adjust to the sounds of silence.

The 6-foot-1-inch senior guard from Alliance, Ohio, had an abrupt, non-athletic end to his basketball career when he became academically ineligible. Williams finished with 693 career points, 32nd highest in Huskie history.

“It was just a bad semester; that’s all I can say,” he said. “Of course, there’s a lot of embarrassment, but I’m not going to sit around pouting. I knew it was going on (during the semester), but I always figured it was going to get better.

“It’s just unfortunate. It’s no one’s fault but my own. I knew somewhere in the course of the semester it (his career) would be over. I didn’t know it would happen so soon. The fact remains that it’s over. I tried to prepare myself weeks ago for the possibility of that happening, but the end was a final slap in the face.”

The end was Saturday against Northern Iowa. Williams ended with 16 points and four assists in his last start. He also received his final recognition by being announced last among the Huskie starters.

“That was all Coach (Jim) Rosborough’s doing,” said Williams. “He knew it was the last one. I’ve got to thank him for that.”

“Other than Ronnie Lester going down in the first half of Final Four in the NCAA (in 1980), this is the saddest thing I’ve been associated with in my years of coaching,” said Rosborough.

Originally, Williams’ family was going to come to the game Saturday. It would have been the first time Williams’ mother saw him play at Chick Evans Field House. But Williams said Friday’s snowstorm made the trip a risky one, so he told his family to stay home. He said his family might come for Senior Recognition Night Feb. 12.

Although he is ineligible, Williams still can practice and be on the bench during games. Big Ten rules prevent him from dressing for games, playing in games and traveling on the road. He will remain a captain, a position he has held for three years, along with Eric Harrington.

As for memories, Williams said the Northern Iowa game stuck out, but he also remembers going to George Mason two years ago when NIU’s “Magnificent Seven” was barely out of the crib. The Huskies won that game but then lost their next 17 road games.

“We never went to an NCAA tournament while I was here, but that’s one of the games where it seemed like we were on our way,” said Williams.

In his 3 1/2 years at NIU, Williams has passed the ball to everyone from Tim Dillon to Mike Grabner. Often dishing the ball to a teammate instead of taking a shot himself, Williams collected 317 assists, second in NIU history to Jay Bryant’s 367.

“I definitely would have liked to get the assist record,” said Williams. “Even though I’m No. 2, nobody remembers No. 2. Everybody likes to score, but that wasn’t really in my repertoire. I probably never scored as much as I would have liked. I was real unselfish.”

Williams’ disastrous semester academically will put him a semester behind, so he won’t graduate in May. Williams, a physical education major with a minor in business, last year said NIU’s business school was one of the reasons he chose NIU.

Williams said he has another year left on his scholarship and will help out the team to fulfill his basketball obligation.

osborough said, “The remarkable thing is Jerry Williams will grow out of this. Jerry Williams is as fine a man as I’ve been associated with in my 11 years.”