Frustrated Williams Seeking Improved Play

Note: Full Roy Williams Friday Press Conference is posted below this report.

CHAPEL HILL – If there was a meter inside the media room at the Smith Center similar to those in basketball arenas that measured Roy Williams’ degree of frustration, it might set a new standard with lights flashing, sirens sounding and the floor and walls shaking.

North Carolina’s coach isn’t happy with his basketball team. It’s not a coach using the media trying to send a message to his team, there’s no need in him doing that. Everyone has seen what he has through eight games this season.

It goes deeper.

Williams is unhappy that his message directly to his team isn’t getting through, and nowhere has that been more evident than on the offensive end of the floor.

North Carolina just hasn’t been North Carolina this season, and the most glaring offering came this past Wednesday night when Ohio State left the Dean Dome with a 74-49 victory, limiting the Tar Heels to just 17 field goals, their lowest total ever in the 35-year history of this fabled building.

“I was frustrated,” Williams said at a press conference Friday in advance of Sunday’s game at Virginia. “We didn’t play well, we didn’t compete well, we didn’t execute well. I’ve gotten my butt beat before and I’m still alive but that was in the top three most frustrating of all time because we didn’t do anything that I liked.”

Putting the ugliness in perspective are the numbers themselves:

*No. 199 in scoring offense at 71.4 points per game.

*No. 297 in field goal percentage at 40.4 percent.

*No. 273 in 3-point field goal percentage at 30.3 percent.

*No. 155 in assists per game at 13.9.

*No. 186 in offensive efficiency

In addition, UNC is 10th in the ACC in scoring though it hasn’t finished lower than third in the league since Williams returned to his alma mater in 2003.

“I don’t have to be a nuclear scientist to figure (it) out,” Williams said. “You look at those numbers and you think, God almighty. I mean, really. I’ve never had a team score as little, never had a team shoot as badly and, again, maybe it is me. Maybe I’ve gotten a lot dumber a lot quicker than I thought I was going to.”

Williams spoke earlier in the week about how the ineffectiveness of the secondary break has impacted the half court offense, as it stalls before the players get into any kind of set or their standard freelance motion.

Senior forward Justin Pierce thoroughly outlined all that’s going wrong offensively, including emphasizing the lack of open shots the team is getting. He said setting better screens and coming off the screens more effectively would allow for more open looks. But it’s not as simple as that, there’s more, Williams said.

“That is a huge problem in the half court and our freelance,” he said. “We run a set play the other night and the guy went the wrong freaking way. It was practice 42, 43 or 44 today. I mean, come on. So, one of the biggest issues in our freelance is not setting and using screens properly…

“We’re not running, we’re not doing this, we’re not doing this, we’re not doing this. There’s just so many things.”

A little more evidence from the frustrated coach?

“Well, go back and look: Our goal every game is to have one or two that we score with 24, 25 seconds left on the shot clock,” he said. “We haven’t done that one time this year and our teams in the past have been able to do it. So, either I’ve gotten awfully dumb really quick or they’re not running. It’s pretty simple.”

Williams isn’t happy. You can see it on his face, hear it in his voice and absorb it in his words.