CHAPEL HILL – Roy Williams spoke to the media on Friday afternoon at the Smith Center ahead of North Carolina’s matchup at Louisville on Saturday.

Among the things Williams was asked about included his thoughts on his team’s play so far in the ACC, Leaky Black’s status going forward, and his first time watching Julius Peppers play basketball in high school.

Here are some highlights of what the Hall of Fame coach had to say:

*Currently, UNC is sitting at 16-4 overall and 6-1 in ACC play. Williams spoke about how happy he is with his team so far through conference play and how they can still improve going into their remaining 11 regular-season games.

“Well, if you just look at the record but I don’t just look at the record, I never have. I mean, I’m asking Steve (Kirschner) all the time, ‘what are we?’ But, if you look at the record, I saw this morning we’re third or fourth but we just have one loss so I guess that part is ok.

“But, I want us to play better and I think that we need to play better. We’ve done some good things in the last couple weeks and in the last three of four games but I want us to be much more consistent on the defensive end of the floor, I want us to be much more consistent taking care of the basketball, (and) rebounding the ball.

“So, it’s a hard question for me to answer because I’ve never looked at a record and wanted that to tell me how we’re doing until the end of the season.”

*Freshman Leaky Black will be out against Louisville due to a left ankle sprain he suffered in the second half of the Georgia Tech game. Here’s what Williams had to say about how UNC’s rotation will change now that Black will be unavailable to play against the Cardinals:

“Well, it’s (the rotation) shorter. You don’t have as many guys, he was a guy I could put in at the one, the two, and the three. But we practiced yesterday and that was the only time we practiced without him and I would think that we can’t afford Seventh (Woods) to be in a down part of his play. I need him (Woods) to play better because there’s a couple of times in the last two or three or four weeks that I’ve also played Leaky at the point guard and I won’t have that possibility….

“But I think that, if you look at it, it’s like missing two players really because it’s very seldom to have a guy that can play the one and also play him at the two and three. But, it’ll (the rotation) be shorter because we’re not going to have him.”

*Williams talked about first seeing former UNC two-sport athlete Julius Peppers, who announced his retirement from the NFL on Friday morning, play basketball in person and his thoughts on the Wilson, NC, native’s talents as a football player.

“(I first saw him play) at the Peach Jam, which is my favorite tournament in the summertime. I’m watching this guy (Peppers) and somebody said, ‘yea, he’s going to Carolina, they offered him a scholarship’ and I said ‘what, he’s good but gracious sakes, I’m not so sure he’s that good.’ And I said, ‘yea, he’s really good, but golly bum he’s a power forward at 6-foot-5, 6-6.’

“And then I found out they offered him a scholarship in football and I said, ‘well, he’s really good for a football player.’ And then, when he started playing here, of course I watched Carolina games and I thought he was magnificent. I thought he was fantastic for the (basketball) program, a fantastic part of the team and helped them win games.

“But, that first time I saw him, I was really surprised they said Carolina offered him a scholarship because Coach (Dean) Smith and Coach (Bill) Guthridge and I talked very frankly all the time. So, I was surprised and then when they told me they’d offered him a football scholarship I said, ‘well then he must really be a stud.

“And I loved watching him play (football). He was a little more terrorizing as a defensive end but I’d hate to see that sucker coming down the lane with me being the only thing between him and the basket. I’d have gone to the concession stand.”

*Lastly, Williams also announced that sophomore forward Sterling Manley will miss his ninth-straight game on Saturday because of the left knee injury he picked up before the Harvard game on Jan. 2.