GoHeels Exclusive: Mount Olive Exhibition Notebook

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

In the aftermath of North Carolina's 107-64 exhibition win over Mount Olive on Friday, Roy Williams didn't reference many positives during his nearly two-minute long opening statement.

He expressed his disappointment with UNC's 22 turnovers. He also stressed how despite a 69-36 rebounding edge, the Tar Heels' didn't dominate on the glass, allowing 19 offensive rebounds and 25 second-chance points. So when the time came for questions, one reporter asked if there was anything Williams liked about the evening.

"The video boards," Williams said. "They really looked good. … Yeah, that's about it."

Moments later, Kenny Williams laughed when told about his coach's reaction to the question. But he also agreed with his review of the team's performance.

"That's so typical," Kenny Williams said. "They're nice, though; they're really good video boards … We all know that wasn't our best game. We all know we have to do better and can do better. I'm not surprised about him saying that."

Here are three other notes from Friday's post-exhibition media availability:

Brooks' big night
If there was a bright spot Friday, Kenny Williams said it was Garrison Brooks, who led all players with 16 points and 16 rebounds after starting alongside Luke Maye in the post.

Brooks' 16 rebounds were tied for the most by a Tar Heel in an exhibition game during the Roy Williams era. Sean May had 16 boards against Team Nike on Nov. 13, 2003.

As a freshman, Brooks posted no more than eight rebounds in a game. He might not face many matchups during the regular season as favorable as Mount Olive – which rosters only two players who are taller than 6 feet 5 inches and three who are shorter than 6 feet. But he said he learned the importance of always staying active last season.

"To rebound the ball at a high level, you have to have a high motor," Brooks said. "If you play hard, if you move hard and if you work hard, you'll be in the right spot and you can maybe get an offensive rebound."

Brooks tallied seven offensive rebounds Friday.

Point guard play
Coby White started the game at point guard and recorded a game-high six assists. In 22 minutes, he also had 10 points, seven rebounds and four turnovers.

"He did a great job of pushing the ball," Kenny Williams said. "At first, he had those couple of plays where he was trying to dribble through and go between his legs instead of just getting the ball and beating his man. And then Coach and Seventh (Woods) told him, 'Just get it and go. Don't wait.' Once he did that, I think we got out in the open floor a little bit better."

Woods also had a few memorable moments, including a one-handed dunk through contact midway through the second half. He finished with eight points in 16 minutes off the bench. But he also committed four turnovers.

"I don't like point guards who have those kinds of turnover totals," Roy Williams said. "It was a high-possession game, and our press offense, we haven't had an opportunity to work against that very much. But Coby has really had a good preseason."

'We can be versatile'
Although Carolina started with a traditional two-big lineup, UNC went small less than five minutes into the game, rolling out a lineup of Woods, Kenny Williams, Nassir Little, Cameron Johnson and Maye.

The Tar Heels later opened the second half with a small lineup of White, Kenny Williams, Little, Johnson and Maye. Among the other combinations Roy Williams used, Brooks, Sterling Manley and Little shared the frontcourt and Leaky Black appeared alongside Johnson and Maye.

"With the personnel we have, we can be versatile," Kenny Williams said. "We can go big; we can go small. We can put multiple people at the four. And he knows it's one of our options. So we'll run that lineup a couple of times in practice. But a majority of the time, it's two bigs and we're running the traditional lineup.

"Every now and then, he'll switch it and put either Cam or Nas at the four and have that small lineup in practice so that we can get some practice with it, also."

Players Mentioned

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

Cameron Johnson

Nassir Little

Sterling Manley

Luke Maye

Coby White

Kenny Williams

Related Videos