Williams On Heading Into NCAAs, Scoring Trio, ACC & More
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina Coach Roy Williams was under the weather Tuesday afternoon, but that didn’t diminish his excitement for his team dicing into NCAA Tournament play later this week.
The Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region and will face No. 16 seed Iona on Friday night in Columbus, OH, at approximately 9:20 pm. The Heels (27-6) are coming off a 74-73 loss to Duke on Friday night in the ACC Tournament semifinals in Charlotte.
Here are some notes and quotes from what Williams had to say Tuesday:
A few notes:
*Monday’s practice was just some shooting, Tuesday was going to be more involved and Wednesday’s practice will “be a really good hard, full practice,” Roy Williams said.
*The Tar Heels fly to Columbus following Wednesday’s practice and will have two workouts Thursday, one at a gym near the arena and the other in front of the public, which always takes place the day before weekend sessions at the NCAA Tournament.
*Cam Johnson was held out of Monday’s and Tuesday’s practices to “take a little bit of work load off of him.” Johnson later acknowledged he’s dealing with some tender shins.
*Williams was named USA Today National Coach Of The Year earlier Tuesday. His thoughts on the honor:
“I felt terrible this morning and then my phone started blowing up with the coaches telling me,” he said. “It was a neat deal and I want to thank my team, the assistant coaches that practice. Coaches benefit from great kids and a great coaching staff and I’ve been fortunate enough they’ve made me look good for a long time and I appreciate it.”
Here is more from Williams’ press conference Tuesday afternoon at the Smith Center:
*UNC has had success under Williams responding to losses in the ACC Tournament semifinals by having lengthy runs in the NCAA Tournament, three times winning the national title in that scenario. With a few current tar Heels having been through that already, how does Williams relay that message to the ones that have not been through it?
“I just try to point out to them that the season is not over with and that we’ve had some really good teams to lose at that stage and went on and did some great things. I think the younger guys can benefit from listening to Luek (Maye) and Kenny (Williams), in particular, who have been here four years. BRob (Brandon Robinson) is the first one that said it when we got in the locker room the other night about his freshman year.
“But, you can say all you want, (but) the kids still have to step up and play, and I think they’ll get that message from the older guys.”
*Coby White, Cam Johnson and Luke Maye are UNC’s top scoring trio since the 2009 team that had Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington. Does this current group compare favorably to that one as explosive scorers in any given game?
“A little different. We had the fantastic post player with Tyler, he dominated everything and he gave everybody a lot more open shots because (defenses) had to concentrate so much on him. Cam (Johnson) and Wayne are very similar in that they’re such good shooters. Ty and Coby are similar because they have the ability to push the ball. It was a very balanced team because Danny Green could come in and score a lot of points, too, and Deon (Thompson) would get his.
“That was probably, and probably because I don’t know for sure, probably a higher scoring team and probably shot a higher field goal percentage as well. So it was a little easier for that team to score.”
*Sophomore big man Sterling Manley has played a total of four minutes in three games since returning from a 16-game absence due to a knee injury. Freshman guard Leaky Black has not played since suffering an injury on Jan. 29 during a win at Georgia Tech, a span of 13 games. Williams was asked Tuesday about their status now with the NCAA Tournament here.
“Better than they were last week. I don’t really know (how) to evaluate it anymore than that. I think they’re closer to making me feel comfortable putting them into a game now. I’ve out Sterling in (Friday) for just a couple of minutes.
“Again, the guys that are playing the majority of the minutes for us now have done okay; 15 out of 17. So it’s a tough situation, but I’m not going to change something up unless a guy shows me that he’s a lot better than the other guys and neither one of them have done that yet.”
*The ACC has three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, which is only the second time that’s ever happened, as the Big east did it in 2009. Does Williams see this as a source of pride for the ACC?
“Well, the last time it happened that league exploded. I’m not going to get too caught up in anything or go out and have a drink, I don’t do that. But, I think we have a great deal of confidence and pride in our league and we should have. Tremendous coaches, tremendous players, tremendous enthusiasm for the game and working it extremely hard.
“You know that every night you go play you’ve got to bring you’re A game or you’re not going to win. So we all have a lot of pride in our league from top to bottom.”