CHAPEL HILL – Roy Williams met with the media on Friday morning in advance of Saturday’s game at No. 9 Virginia to discuss his team and the Cavaliers.
Among the things Williams was asked about include how his team is moving on from what caused the postponement of the Miami game last Monday, which THI addressed in a separate content item, Caleb Love’s growth, Virginia’s pack line defense and the challenges dealing with a couple of its top players, travel plans with a winter storm on its way to the region, and more.
UNC is 12-6 overall and 7-4 in the ACC while the Cavaliers are 14-3 and 10-1.
Above is video of Williams’ full presser and below are some notes and pulled quotes from what he had to say:
*The Tar Heels are young, especially in the back court, so going up against Virginia’s pack line defense is their biggest challenge of the season, Williams said. The Cavaliers are No. 6 in the nation in scoring defense allowing 59.4 points per game and are No. 16 in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency rating.
UNC has lost its last six times at John Paul Jones Arena failing to reach the 50-point mark on its last three trips, including the 2017 national championship team scoring just 43 points five weeks before it won the NCAA Tournament, and UNC has averaged only 54.2 points over its last seven visits to Charlottesville.
“Well, we've talked about it, there's no question about that,” Williams said. “For us, their defense is a very sound defense. I've always thought that I would like to look into that and possibly change, but I'm too old and I like the more aggressive, trying to steal the ball…
“But they're fantastic defensively. Every possession is more important because there's going to be fewer possessions during the game. But every possession is more important on both ends, not just the offense or defense, but on both ends… This is the biggest challenge that we'll have all year long. There's no question.”
*Virginia does not only cause issues when it is on defense, the Cavaliers have their most potent offensive group in years and perhaps the most difficult to defend. They average 70.5 points per game, have an adjusted offensive efficiency rating of No. 13 in the nation, and UVA’s top three perimeter shooters are the starters at the three, four and five spots.
Sam Hauser, who is 6-foot-8, leads the Wahoos in scoring at 14.9 points per game shooting 52.2 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from three-point range. He is also grabbing 7.2 rebounds per contest.
“Normally, I would say we're just going to put Leaky (Black) on him or something like that, but those two big guys do create tremendous matchup problems for them,” Williams said, also referring to UVA center Jay Huff. “And, if you look at it, and I'm looking at it right now, they do have four guys averaging in double figures and some of those other guys have gotten healthy and have come along.
“We do have to focus on Sam, he's their leading score, he’s shooting 52 percent from the floor. The second leading scorer is Jay and he’s shooting 63 percent. So, those are big time matchups for us and they both cause problems. And our bigger guys have really got to understand they've got to get out on the floor and play defense.”
*As good as Hauser is, Jay Huff might cause even more problems for the Tar Heels on both ends of the floor. The 7-foot-1 senior is averaging 13.2 points per game while shooting 62.7 percent from the floor. He can stroke from the perimeter, too, as Huff is 23-for-50 from beyond the arc, which is 46 percent. He affects a ton of shots on defense and goes into this game averaging 2.4 blocks per contest. Huff covers a lot of ground and the Tar Heels must always be aware of where he is on both ends of the floor.
“I think it's a little bit of both,” Williams replied, when asked about which end of the court Huff concerns him the most. “I mean, you watch their Georgia Tech game and that was a big time block right at the end of the first half against Moses (Wright). I mean, Moses is a pretty effective offensive player.
“But he (Huff) is a guy that has 40 blocks, so he's very selective. But also, to step out there and be able to shoot that ball. These numbers are so small, 46 percent from the three-point line, so he causes problems on both ends of the court. And, as I said earlier, we’ve got to get out and guard him, but the other thing is we've got to try to do everything we can to be very strong with our moves inside and hopefully get Jay in foul trouble.”
*Freshman point guard Caleb Love is coming off by far his best game to date as a Tar Heel, as he scored 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting (4-for-5 from three-point range) in last Saturday’s win at Duke. How has he responded in practice this week to playing so well on the biggest stage the team has played this season?
“I think he's responded well,” Williams said. “With these guys and, again, Caleb in particular, he's never played the point guard in his life until this year, so every day is a laboratory for him, every day is a classroom. And he'll do some things in practice and I'll say, ‘That's what I'm talking about, that's what you need to be doing.’ And then he'll revert back and do something else and we have to correct him and say, ‘No, that's not what it is.’
“So, it's an ongoing, it's not an experiment, an experiment is something that you do and you don't know if it's going to work or not, this is going to work. It's just teaching and doing it every single day and trying to give him as many opportunities to make decisions and make decisions early because I think those flying through the air, one-handed, one knee up kind of shots, those are the things we need to get rid of and being more of a facilitator and still scoring.
“But again, this is a kid who has never played the point guard until this year and I think that he's continued to get better and better and we expect a heck of a lot more improvement out of him.”
*UNC plans on leaving for Charlottesville following a team meal after Friday’s practice, but the travel could be treacherous given that a mix of snow and rain are expected to start falling in the Charlottesville area and path UNC will take in getting there. Forecasts call for the mix to begin this evening and continue waffling back and forth between rain and snow through Saturday afternoon where it may change over into a full winter storm.
The Tar Heels usually fly to games, even fairly short trips like UVA, which is 189 miles from Chapel Hill, but Williams said the team will take a bus.
“I just visited this morning, we've had some conversations,” he said. “Let's check with the bus, we’re busing up… We’re supposed to leave as soon as we practice and eat this afternoon and I'm leaving it up to them.
“I think it's something that I have had conversations this morning about what we need to do, but we're going to leave it up to them to make those decisions.”
