Lucas: Williams Updates Berry Status

By Adam Lucas

Roy Williams expressed optimism about the imminent return of senior point guard Joel Berry on Monday night during his radio show with Jones Angell.

"Joel practiced today," Williams said. "He will do the same thing tomorrow and we will see how he feels. I'm cautiously feeling better about having Joel."

Berry missed the season opener against Northern Iowa due to a broken hand. According to Williams, Berry was released to do dribbling and shooting in the past week.

The Carolina senior was joined in street clothes by graduate transfer Cameron Johnson, who was suffering from a sprained neck. "I'm not sure yet what we'll have with Cam," Williams said.

Freshman report: The Carolina head coach was very positive about the Friday performance from Garrison Brooks, who finished with 14 points. "He really did some good things," Williams said, and added that Brooks was among the team's highest-rated players when the coaches assigned defensive grades. "He can do some things as opposed to just running to the block and posting up. He hasn't made silly mistakes. He has some ability, and he's doing good things."

Scheduling note: The Atlantic Coast Conference will increase the number of league games played by each member from 18 to 20 for the 2019-20 season. Those extra two ACC games are likely to mean a reduction in some of the marquee nonconference games that usually fill the November and December slates. "Come on," Williams said. "I'm not going to play Kentucky one night and Kansas the next night" and then play 20 league games. "That's silly. You have to have some games to give your kids confidence."

Williams also noted the Tar Heels will play Kentucky next year in the CBS Sports Classic.

Signings: The Hall of Famer had the following comments about Carolina's three newest signees:

Leaky Black: "He is an unusual kid. He may be 6-8 now but he can legitimately play the point guard spot. He's a great ballhandler, great passer, and sees the floor. He's getting bigger and stronger."

Nassir Little: "He's very athletic and can play the three or the four. He's probably a better three man. He can shoot the ball and is really athletic. He has long arms, and he's a wonderful kid from a wonderful military family. He is going to be a big time player and do some really great things."

Coby White: "He's been really good, but people are finally opening their eyes a little more. I saw him play one game where he had five three-pointers and five dunks. If he stays healthy, he has a chance to maybe become the leading scorer in the state of North Carolina high school history. He can really score the ball."

Briefly: Williams raved about the Friday performances of two of his juniors. "Kenny Williams and Luke Maye were sensational," he said. "I thought they were really good." Very similar to the improvement shown by Justin Jackson last season, Williams is very high on Maye's offseason work ethic translating to his junior performance. "He works so hard on his inside game and three-point shot," the head coach said. "What you saw on Friday night and hopefully all year is the result of a lot of sweat. For the last two years, he's worked as hard as anybody and harder than almost everybody."...

Williams had some thoughts on college basketball rules: he said he wouldn't mind playing with a 24-second shot clock, is concerned about players being penalized for "chinning" a rebound when their elbow makes contact with another player, and would be in favor of speeding up the timeouts rather than speeding up the game itself. "The game is not slow," he said.

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Garrison Brooks

Cameron Johnson

Luke Maye

Kenny Williams

Related Videos