GoHeels Exclusive: Press Conference Notes

by Pat James, GoHeels.com

CHAPEL HILL—For a majority of Roy Williams' coaching career, he's concentrated on coaching execution instead of effort, although he said Friday that he motivated many of his early teams through fear.

Many of his former players say he's mellowed out. But Williams believes he's succeeded at making the game more important to his players early on, with hopes that they will then give effort without his instruction.

"Some guys are born with a lot of fire in their belly, and some guys are not," Williams said. "As coaches, you've got to try to get that fire growing, blowing and burning."

But as Kenny Williams said Williams noted during the film session that followed North Carolina's 81-80 loss at Florida State on Wednesday, UNC showed a lack of effort against the Seminoles.

Williams made similar comments following the loss to Wofford on Dec. 20 and the win over Wake Forest on Dec. 30. He said Friday that it's his job to point such things out. But Kenny Williams disagreed, saying that it's the players' responsibility.

"We have to make the decision ourselves to bring consistent effort as a team and individually," Kenny Williams said. "It's all about us, and it has to come down to how bad we want to win. I know we have 15-16 guys in there that want to win, so we'll get it. We're still trying to learn, we're still a little bit younger, but there's no doubt in my mind we'll get it."

Here are three other notes from Friday's press conference, leading up to Saturday's 1 p.m. game at Virginia:

3-point prominence
Through 15 games, 31.2 percent of the Tar Heels' shots have been 3-pointers, according to KenPom.com. Only the 2005-06 team has attempted more shots from behind the arc (31.7 percent) since Williams returned to UNC in 2003.

Williams might prefer more inside scoring. But with the Tar Heels' experience along the perimeter and four freshmen big men, he's come to grips with the trade-off.

"Are we throwing the ball inside as much as I want us to? No, because I like to get fouled," Williams said. "But do I want Joel Berry II shooting a wide-open 3 or throwing it in to a guy who is a freshman and doesn't know what town we're in?"

Managing minutes
After Berry and Kenny Williams played 35 and 34 minutes, respectively, against Florida State, Williams referenced their playing time as one of his concerns through two Atlantic Coast Conference games.

"I want them to have their legs, and it also means I'm not giving their backups enough minutes," Williams said. "I think even Kenny's freshman year I gave him some minutes, and I think that's helped him turn into the player he is right now. Joel Berry, during his freshman year, he got some minutes.

"Some coaches are very comfortable playing five or six guys. I'm just not doing that, but there is a pretty big difference between 35 minutes and five minutes."

Different strategies
After Williams retires, whenever that might be, he said he hopes to one day talk with Virginia coach Tony Bennett about how they prepared to face each other.

The Cavaliers, who were statistically the "slowest" team in the nation last season, have maintained their methodical play, averaging an NCAA-low 61.1 possessions through 14 games. UNC is 16th in adjusted tempo at 74.9 possessions.

Because of Virginia's grind-it-out style, a greater emphasis is placed on scoring in transition.

"With them, you've got to try to push the ball and get the easy baskets because you know you're going to have to work for a lot of them," Williams said. "So that makes each possession a little more important … We want to get shots, not turn the ball over and go get the rebound."

That said, Williams added that he doesn't think Bennett wants the Cavaliers to play slow.

"They just pass the ball until they get exactly the shot they want …" Williams said. "This is a compliment to him, that what they do is they get the shot that they all want. That's what we try to do; we just try to do it at a faster pace."

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Joel Berry II

Kenny Williams

Related Videos