Williams, Robinson Talk Louisville, Close Games, & More

CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina Coach Roy Williams and senior guard Brandon Robinson met with the media Friday at the Smith Center ahead of the Tar Heels’ matchup at No. 11 Louisville on Saturday.

Among the things Williams and Robinson discussed were trying to get better, losing games late, Louisville, Robinson’s ankle, Cameron Johnson’s return to Chapel Hill and much more.

ROY WILLIAMS

*Currently on a six-game losing streak and having lost 11 of its last 13, UNC’s season has not gone to plan. Still, with five regular season games remaining and a trip to the ACC tournament on the horizon, Williams is solely focused on trying to get his team to improve every day.

And, although it hasn’t shown on the scoreboard recently, Williams said the team is getting better as a whole.

“I really do see us getting better in a lot of ways and yet what we do is we take two steps forward and one step back,” Williams said. “I think we’re getting better offensively, I think we’re doing a better job with our shot selection. At times I think we’re handling the ball better and yet, at the end of the Notre Dame game, we had four big turnovers in the last eight minutes.

“So, there’s many a different ways but it is something that you’re taking a step forward and a couple back sometimes.”

*UNC has lost five of its last six games by six points or less. Not only that, but four of those losses have come on a last second shot, meaning the Tar Heels are playing well enough to win for a majority of the game but failing to execute down the stretch when it matters most.

Not making stops on the defensive end and failing to hit key shots in the last few minutes have played a major role in those late losses, with Williams saying both factors have been equally detrimental, particularly over the last month or so.

“I think both...,” Williams said. “We worked yesterday on the defensive end of it that we’ve had six opportunites to get a stop that would have allowed us to win the game right then or go into overtime instead of losing or go into another overtime instead of losing. So, yesterday we worked on that and today we’re going to work on that but we’re also going to work on trying to score our last possession and do a better job of getting a shot we want.”

Williams also acknowledged that his team should not have been in a lot of these late-game situations in the first place.

“In some of those games, we should not have been in that position because we had a six, eight, nine, ten (point) lead and we either turned it over or missed free throws or both. That’s the biggest problem right there, not just one possession because I don’t think you can tie it down to one possession.”

*The Tar Heels play Louisville on Saturday for the first time this season, with the Cardinals currently sitting at 22-5 overall and 13-3 in the conference, putting them in sole possession of first place atop the ACC.

Not only that, but they sit at No. 3 in the ACC in scoring offense, averaging 75.4 points per game. The Cardinals are very well-rounded, with junior forward and preseason ACC Player of the Year Jordan Nwora leading the team with 18.2 points per game and four other players averaging eight or more on the season.

Here’s what Williams said about Louisville’s balanced scoring attack ahead of Saturday’s game:

“It does start with Nwora because he is almost averaging twice as many as a anybody else. But, those other guys, they add up to a lot of points too. I watched last night the Duke game at Duke and the (David) Johnson kid was just off the charts as a freshman. (Dwayne) Sutton has been a guy that’s given us problems, (Ryan) McMahon can make a bunch of shots, (Steven) Enoch and (Malik) Williams both have played well against us at different times. So, no, we have to focus on the entire team.”

BRANDON ROBINSON

*Robinson returned to action in UNC’s 77-76 loss at Notre Dame on Monday for the first time in four games after spraining his ankle in the final seconds of the Tar Heels’ home loss to Boston College on Feb. 1.

The senior guard has missed a total of nine games this season due to injury and is still actively working to get his ankle back to 100 percent.

“It feels alright,” Robinson said. “Still got to work to keep getting it better and still just make sure I’m staying on top of it. Just because I’m playing games doesn’t mean it’s all the way 100 percent. I’ve just got to keep doing the proper rehab, ice and still working on getting my strength back.”

Robinson added that his rehab is something he has to do daily.

“Yes, every single day. Every day before I come in, before I get on the court, I’ve got to do something to warm up. I can’t just go out there and play no more.”

*Former UNC and current Phoenix Suns forward Cameron Johnson returned to Chapel Hill last week during the NBA All-Star break and participated in practice. He was also in attendance at the Virginia game and was sitting courtside beside his former teammates Luke Maye and Kenny Williams.

Johnson is having an impressive rookie season for the Suns and is currently averaging 7.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in 19.8 minutes per game. Robinson spoke on what it was like to practice with his former teammate and how much better Johnson's game has gotten since last season.

“Cam, he’s a totally different player,” Robinson said. “He’s way better than what he was when he was here. It was insane. Just the speed he was playing at, the things he was doing, I couldn’t believe. It seemed like a whole different player. I even told him, I was like ‘man, you’re way better than when you were here.'

“But, it was good seeing him, Luke and Kenny. Just seeing guys that I’ve been around for such a long time, it kind of feels weird without them around here. So, it was good just to see them and talk to them and them just telling us ‘just keep pushing, we’re proud of you guys fighting’ and it’s good to hear that sometimes.”