University of North Carolina Athletics
Pickeral: Finishing Strong
March 7, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers
by Robbi Pickeral, GoHeels.com
CHAPEL HILL - Back in January, North Carolina coach Roy Williams was stunned to be 0-3 in the ACC: "First time I've ever been, so I don't have any idea how it feels like - but I do now,'' he said after his Tar Heels lost 57-45 at Syracuse.
But two months and 13 wins later - well, this is a more familiar feeling.
The Tar Heels, after dropping to 1-4 to open their conference slate, have reeled off 12 straight wins entering Saturday's regular-season finale at Duke, climbing back into the Associated Press top 15 and continuing a trend under Williams of strong second-half league finishes.
This year's turnaround formula has been multi-faceted, including: junior James Michael McAdoo's refocused leadership, sophomore Marcus Paige's second-half offense, the team's commitment to defense -- and frankly, the players' commitment to each other after they learned in late December that leading scorer P.J. Hairston would not be reinstated to the team.
But such turnabouts in Chapel Hill aren't new.
Remember 2005-06, when the freshman-laden Tar Heels opened the ACC season 3-3, dropping three of four early on? That squad - featuring rookies Tyler Hansbrough, Bobby Frasor and Marcus Ginyard - went through some growing pains early but matured down the stretch, finishing 7-1 in the second half and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Or three years later, when those freshman-turned-seniors opened the ACC season 0-2? Hansbrough sat out with an injured shin early in that that season, but once fully recovered, little slowed Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Danny Green and Wayne Ellington as they dropped only one more regular-season league game the rest of the way en route to the NCAA title.
Talk about improving when it matters.
Only once during Williams' 11-season tenure, in 2009-10, has Carolina posted a losing record in the second half of ACC play (and the Tar Heels even showed second-half progress that season, finishing 3-5 after a 2-6 conference start).
In all, UNC is 70-19 (.787) in the second half of the conference schedule under Williams. But this stretch has the potential to seal most satisfying turnaround (and feeling) yet.
"I keep telling them, 'We haven't accomplished anything. We've got some big-time dreams and big-time goals, and the only way you're going to reach those is to invest more,'" Williams said after Monday's victory over Notre Dame.
"I've got a wonderful group of kids. You've seen them bounce back from a 1-4 start. That hit me really hard when somebody said it was the first time in the history of North Carolina basketball that [we] have been 1-4 in conference play. And Roy Williams is the head coach—I didn't like that. But they really bounced back, played some inspired basketball and did have a tremendous sense of urgency."
