GoHeels Exclusive: 'Keep Fighting'

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

After Wednesday's loss against Pittsburgh, North Carolina's sixth in eight games, many fans took to social media with concerns about the Tar Heels' chances of improving to 60-0 all-time against Clemson in Chapel Hill.

As it stands, UNC's 59-0 mark represents the longest home winning streak against a single opponent in NCAA history. But while the Tigers' visit to the Smith Center on Saturday might seem to be as good a chance as any for them to end that streak, Roy Williams isn't any more or less concerned about that heading into the game.

"I've said the same thing for 17 years," he told reporters Friday. "I've said the same thing exactly – that it's a streak that people talk about, you have nothing to do with it, it's going to end at some time, let's try to put it off another year. I've said that for 17 straight years and never varied from it. And then I let it go, I really do. It's unusual, but that's it."

Here are five more notes from Friday's media availability:

'I want to win'
Amid UNC's struggles, Williams said another coach, one who he has "a tremendous amount of respect for," recently told him what he's going through will make him a better coach. Williams isn't thinking that way right now, though.

"I am 69 years old, I've coached 32 years," Williams said. "You think I give a blankety-blank? I want to win. I want to become a better coach by coaching every team and getting them as close to their potential as I possibly can."

Even if that means getting even less shut-eye than normal.

"I've never been one to sleep," Williams said. "I'm not sleeping at all now. I'm serious. I can tell you right now, after that game, I can tell you everybody's stat line across through there, what the other team did. I grade every tape, I stay up every night. The only thing is when you're winning it's easier to finally go to sleep. A normal night for me is four and a half to five hours. Now it's nowhere close to that."

'Keep fighting'
As much as the losing appears to be weighing on Williams, Armando Bacot said it's also been affecting him and his teammates.

"I might have lost like six games probably my whole high school career," Bacot said. "So, it's definitely been tough. But I knew coming to college it wouldn't be as easy to win as much. I'd say I've been learning a lot about myself, just trying to fight through tough times."

Someone has helped lessen that burden: Williams.

"I'd probably say out of all of us he's been the most positive and just saying he's not going to quit regardless," Bacot said. "Every day he's coming in here and pushing us. … He's just full force. He's one of the most competitive people I've ever met in my life. Him just showing us he's going to keep fighting, I feel like that's definitely been giving us hope. But Coach isn't down or anything. He's still on us every day."

'One of those years'
When asked how his team has responded to the loss against Pittsburgh, Williams said Carolina spent most of Thursday's practice shooting and running some dummy offense. He also noted how he's never sure who is going to be available for practice, given the team's injuries.

"I've got to wait until I walk out on the court to see who's going to practice …" he said. "Even the day before the Pitt game, we didn't know if Jeremiah (Francis) was going to play. I didn't know if Jeremiah was going to be able to play until that morning. … It's just one of those years; there are a lot of them coming."

Even after the Tar Heels took five days off for Christmas, Williams said 10 of the 18 players on the roster were on the injured list when practice resumed. So far, seven different players have combined to miss 46 total games due to injury.

Bacot still recovering
Bacot suffered one of UNC's most gruesome injuries when he sprained his left ankle against Ohio State on Dec. 4. The freshman somehow managed to return for Carolina's next game against Virginia and hasn't missed any time due to the injury, but he's still recovering.

"I still don't think it's 100 percent," he said of the ankle. "It's still a little weak. I don't really like to sit out games, though, so I'm going to keep playing regardless."

Through the Ohio State game, Bacot was averaging 13.7 points and 11 rebounds in the six games in which he'd play more than seven minutes. In the seven games since then, though, he's averaged 8.1 points and 6.9 rebounds while shooting just 35.1 percent from the field.

He hopes his 15-point, 9-rebound effort against Pittsburgh is a step in the right direction.

"I actually was talking to Cole (Anthony's) dad (former NBA player Greg Anthony) not too long ago, and he was telling me I'd be crazy to think I wouldn't ever play bad," Bacot said. "I've been feeling better now. I had one good game, and (against) UCLA I played good, too. But obviously, I've been struggling the last couple of months. I'm looking to turn it around."

Update on Anthony
Almost four weeks have passed since Cole Anthony underwent arthroscopic surgery to treat a partially torn meniscus in his right knee on Dec. 16.

At the time, the freshman, UNC's leading scorer at 19.1 points per game, was expected to miss four to six weeks. As of Friday afternoon, Williams was still unsure of when Anthony will return.

"I saw him shoot the ball yesterday, but that's it," Williams said. "I saw him shoot the ball, and then I said, 'Alright, show me if you can make one.' He shot four in a row and missed all four of them, so I said, 'OK, you're not ready.' But he was standing still and wasn't jump-shooting."

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Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

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