Roy On Injured Heels, Miami & The Burger Boys

Note: Entire Roy Williams Friday press conference posted below.

CHAPEL HILL – Roy Williams spent part of Friday afternoon fielding questions from the media about his struggling basketball team.

Among the most noteworthy topics were the health of Brandon Robinson and Cole Anthony, how Williams is dealing with something he’s never faced in his career, Saturday’s opponent Miami, and that four of the five signed members of UNC’s class of 2020 were named to the McDonald’s All-America Game on Thursday.

Note: THI is running a separate content item focusing on Williams’ comments about how he’s dealing with the Tar Heels’ problems, which includes a five-game losing streak overall, six straight losses in ACC play for the first time in program history, and an overall 8-10 record.

Cole Anthony played in UNC’s first nine games averaging 19.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and handing out 3.3 assists per game, but he’s missed the last nine games after having knee surgery nearly six weeks ago. Williams was asked Friday if there’s any new update on Anthony’s status:

“He’s not doing anything else, nothing else,” Williams said. “He hasn’t done one thing I can yell at him about.”

Anthony posted some things on his social media accounts last week giving some people an indication he may be back soon, but he’s missed the games at Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech since. “I think he got tired of people saying, ‘oh, he’s just delaying it, he’s not coming back,’” Williams said. “I don’t have any doubts that he’s coming back it’s just waiting for the doctors to say it’s time for him to do it. Again, I go in everybody’s home and tell them I’m going to treat your son like I’d treat mine so why should we not be very cautious?”

Robinson missed Wednesday’s game at Virginia Tech dealing with a sore neck stemming from car accident he was involved in just hours after the Tar Heels’ loss to Clemson on Jan. 11. Robinson played 32 minutes in last weekend’s loss at Pittsburgh, but something happened during the game that aggravated the next problem that limited him during the previous week, so he didn’t even make the trip to Blacksburg.

“He didn’t do anything yesterday,” Williams said, referring to Thursday’s practice. “They’re going to allow him to go through the first part of practice today, nothing live. He wants to do that, don’t say allowing, planning is a better way to put it.

“We’re planning him to go through the first part of practice and then reevaluating at that time. So, it just depends on how he feels.”

With Robinson’s injury not initially basketball related, has the staff continued to get counsel from non-athletics doctors regarding Robinson?

“I think they’ve already done that, I don’t do it,” Williams said. “I think they’ve already reached out and got some other opinions. The thing is, he felt so much better before we played Pittsburgh, but he got hit, it was one of the plays he got hit on the back of the neck, not in the back of the head.

“It tightened up and it’s been bothering him more sense, so we didn’t even take him to Virginia Tech. So, what I just said, we’ll just have to wait and see."

UNC signed five highly touted basketball prospects in November and Thursday four of them were named McDonald’s All-Americas: Day’Ron Sharpe, Walker Kessler, Caleb Love and R.J. Davis. Puff Johnson, the younger brother of former Tar Heel Cameron Johnson, is the other signee.

The last time UNC brought in four McDonald’s All-Americas in the same class was 2009 when Dexter Strickland, John Henson and David and Travis Wear were named to the team. Williams was asked about the group Friday and if he expects it will translate to success in the program.

“I think you just have to wait and see,” Williams said. “You knew the answer before you even asked it. How do you know? That class in 2009, John (Henson), Dexter (Strickland), Travis and David (Wear) really looked good and I still think it was good. John achieved more than the rest of them did and we’ve had some good classes.

“Ty (Lawson), Wayne (Ellington) and Brandon (Wright), that’s the No. 1 point guard, No. 1 two guard and No. 1 forward (in 2006) and they all three excelled dramatically but you have some guys who don’t. We feel good about it but, as I’ve said to everybody else too, I hope I live long enough for them to be able to get here.

“But, I’m very proud. I talked to all four of them last night and they were very happy. I’m still going to see them play. I saw Day’Ron (Sharpe) play twice last weekend, I’ll see Walker (Kessler) play this coming week. So, if you tell me how they can make me better tomorrow, I’d be even happier.”

Miami enters the Dean Dome on Saturday for a noon tip. The Hurricanes have dropped three straight games and five of their last six and stand at 10-8 overall and 2-6 in the ACC. This is a very winnable game for the Heels, but they must deal with 5-foot-7 Miami guard Chris Lykes, who is one of the top players in the ACC.

“Well, I don’t think you do stop them,” Williams said. “Chris has made it difficult on about everybody he’s played. I think he’s played very well against us and last year we were lucky and got both of them. But, he’s really hard to guard because he’s so quick, he shoots from so deep.

“You go out there and get him and he goes by you and you say, ‘where did he go?’ It’s like the Road Runner trying to figure out where he’s going. So, you try to slow him down and hope he doesn’t shoot a high percentage and (Dejan) Vasiljevic, 43 percent from three, I think he’s 97 percent from the foul line, so one of my coaching tips is going to be don’t foul him. It’s pretty simple."

*Jacob Turner contributed to this report