GoHeels Exclusive: Michigan Preview

by Pat James

On the flight back to Chapel Hill from Portland following North Carolina's 63-45 loss to Michigan State on Sunday, Roy Williams couldn't fall asleep.

His focus kept shifting back and forth between the stat sheet and an old Western book. A few times, he turned the lights off to get some sleep. But he always turned them back on moments later, unable to clear his mind of the worst shooting performance in school history.

"It was ridiculous," said Williams during his press conference Tuesday. "We didn't play very well in any phase of the game and didn't even want to look at (the film). I was going to try to go to sleep. I didn't want to look at it and have two nightmares, one in my brain and one in front of my eyes.

"So I didn't watch it at that point. But we graded it, and it was just as bad on tape as it was in person."

The 13th-ranked Tar Heels will look to bounce back from that defeat Wednesday, when they host Michigan in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at 7:30 p.m.

Here are five other notes from Tuesday's press conference:

1.    Film review

As of Tuesday's press conference, which began at 2 p.m., Williams' players hadn't seen the film from Sunday's game. That viewing session was planned for 3:15 p.m.

"I do want them to see it, and then we'll move on to try to get ready for Michigan," Williams said. "It's a fine line, but I've always said I want them to be confident. I don't think they'll lose confidence watching it because we stunk it up so bad. You miss layups, but our effort and intensity level were not there either. So that's the thing I'll get on them about."

Sunday's loss wasn't the first confounding one of Williams' career. Joel Berry II has also experienced a few – and the practices that follow such performances.

"I'm expecting him to get on us," said Berry of Williams. "The biggest thing is I think he'll just make sure that we learn from what happened. As players, I think that we should look at the tape and see what Michigan State did to us and try to take that from them and use it ourselves when we play other teams."

2.    'A good trip'

Despite Sunday's loss, Williams said his team still benefitted from its 11-day road trip, which included wins at Stanford and against Portland and Arkansas.

"It was a good trip," Williams said. "It was one day too long; (we) should've come home a day earlier … We faced some adversity and we handled it. We got a lot more out of that than we lost in this one game, but it's the most recent game and that's the reason it sticks out."

3.    'That's who we are'

Through Monday's games, UNC ranked 321st nationally in 3-point field goal defense, allowing opponents to shoot 40.4 percent from behind the arc.

But as Ken Pomeroy, a popular college basketball statistician, argued in a 2012 article on kenpom.com, there's reason to believe the number of 3-pointers opposing teams attempt is a greater indicator of a team's ability to defend 3-pointers. The Tar Heels ranked 284th in 3-point attempt percentage through Monday's games, according to kenpom.com.

On Tuesday, Williams said he looks at both the opposing team's 3-point field goal percentage and the amount of 3-pointers it takes.

"I want it to not be a very good percentage, but that's who we are," he said. "We've got bigger guys and we try to control the paint area more. I believe in the analytics; I don't go wacko over them. But we've been one of the worst teams in the country the last two years defending the 3. A lot of those teams would like to do what we did (last season)."

4.    A meeting between friends

Wednesday marks the first meeting between UNC and Michigan since the 1993 national championship game. It'll also be the first game between Roy Williams and Wolverines coach John Beilein.

Still, Williams said he and Beilein occasionally talk. A few years ago, they even exchanged shooting drills and had their players compete against each other from afar, with the coaches relaying the results from each session.

"In one of the shooting drills, his guys were making 75, 76, 77 (3-pointers)," Williams said. "My guys were making 58, 59, 60. I walked in the locker room and overheard them complaining about, 'They must use two balls. They've got two guys rebounding.' And I ripped their rear ends.

"It was Dexter (Strickland), Marcus (Paige) and Reggie (Bullock), and I ripped them. And then the next day Marcus made 70. So we got it up there pretty close."

5.    Defending Michigan

Although Williams wouldn't say Michigan plays slow, the Wolverines entered Tuesday ranked 350th out of 351 teams in adjusted tempo, according to kenpom.com, meaning they average the second-fewest possessions per game in the country.

Aided by this methodical approach, Michigan ranked 29th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency.

"You have to be tough enough and patient enough on defense because you may have to guard for 30 seconds more than you do against a lot of teams," Williams said. "I don't think they control the tempo as much as they control the quality of the shot they shoot."

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Joel Berry II

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