CHAPEL HILL - Coming off the record-setting loss to Louisville, North Carolina was in desperate need of a spark on the defensive end of the court on Tuesday night against Notre Dame.
Fortunately for the Tar Heels, that spark came in the form of Kenny Williams.
The senior was tasked with guarding Notre Dame’s leading scorer on the season, T.J. Gibbs, for a majority of the night and he excelled, holding the junior to a season-low five points on 1-of-9 shooting in UNC’s 75-69 victory at the Smith Center.
Gibbs, who missed the Irish’s last game against Boston College due to flu-like symptoms, came into the contest averaging a team-high 14.7 points. The Scotch Plains, NJ, native was even more impressive in Notre Dame’s first two ACC games, averaging 18.9 points in 39 minutes per game.
Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey said that, while Gibbs was still somewhat ill entering the Tuesday’s contest, UNC did a solid job of keeping their star man quiet.
“My trainer said you can’t play him his usual thirty-five minutes because he’s ill and I played him thirty-five minutes because that really was our only option,” Brey said. “I thought they had fresh guys on him that really defended him and took him away.”
Gibbs has been held to under 38 percent shooting in four of Notre Dame’s six losses this season. Against the Tar Heels, and particularly Williams, Gibbs shot a season-low 11.1 percent from the field.
UNC head coach Roy Williams was pleased with the Midlothian, VA, native’s performance against Gibbs, regardless of how much Gibbs may have still been feeling the effects of his illness.
“I think Kenny is our best defender and really does a nice job,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “I think we had two or three near shot clock violations where they’d just throw something up and a couple of those times it was Kenny staying on the ground and being very sound fundamentally.”
Senior forward Luke Maye, who finished with his seventh double-double of the year after 14 points and 10 rebounds, was also quick to praise his teammate and close friend.
“He did a great job,” Maye said. “Kenny’s one of our best defenders and I just really love the way he brings it every single night.”
Freshman point guard Coby White, who finished with a team-high 17 points, was pleased with UNC’s defensive effort as a whole Tuesday night but says the Heels can still improve going forward.
“I think we played better but I think we can play (even) better defensively,” he said. “We’ve just got to put 40 minutes together instead of 20.”
This was exactly the kind of performance the Tar Heels needed, as winning ugly hasn’t been one of their attributes. But playing the kind of defense Williams did on Gibbs is a major step in the right direction.
