Tar Heels pass travel test

CHAPEL HILL -- Roy Williams didn't return home from a long road trip with many revelations about his North Carolina basketball team, one many expect to compete for a national championship come April.

There were no epiphanies, Williams said Tuesday - no great lessons from victories against Michigan State and UNC Asheville.

"Well, I think you learn something every day," he said. "But just to say, 'Oh, I learned they add two and two and get five,' I don't know that I can say that."

No, the lessons that came during the Tar Heels' journey to San Diego, and then back across the country to Asheville, emerged on a smaller scale. For one, Williams said he liked how his team handled the travel.

North Carolina followed a 2,500-mile trip to the West Coast - which yielded a 67-55 victory against Michigan State aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier - with a successful trip to Williams' hometown of Asheville. The Tar Heels left there Sunday with a 91-75 victory against UNC Asheville.

"It was a true road environment," Williams said of playing in the Bulldogs' new Kimmel Center. "I said one thing afterwards - I didn't expect to be booed quite so much in my own hometown. But that's part of it, too."

The Tar Heels entered the season with concerns about outside shooting, but they shot a combined 55 percent in the first two games. That didn't include many converted 3-pointers - only six - but the 6-foot-11 John Henson displayed a midrange jump shot that was absent from his game a season ago.

"It didn't surprise me, because during the summer I saw him work on it," junior guard Dexter Strickland said. "... And it's just the confidence alone - him being a junior and him stepping up and hitting those big shots.

"It helps us a lot. It brings attention off Harrison (Barnes) and off me and off (Tyler Zeller) and off even Kendall (Marshall). It opens the floor even more, that he can knock down those 15-foot jump shots."

Team defense was also a concern for North Carolina but after two games, at least, it seems perhaps less of one. The Tar Heels held Michigan State to 30.6 percent shooting and UNC Asheville to 39.7 percent.

Williams said he has somewhat discounted the shooting statistics from the game against Michigan State, given that the teams played outdoors and wind was a factor. Still, the defense impressed him.

"I said it earlier this year ... that I thought we had the chance to be really good defensively," Williams said. "Because we really came a long ways last year defensively."

He's hoping his team progressed during its road trip, though Williams acknowledged the lessons learned might not be evident for a while. Some of them might not be evident on the court, either, but they could play an important role off of it.

Strickland said he and his teammates had a chance to better get to know each other. He said with a laugh that he learned freshman James McAdoo is "anti-social" but "he's a funny guy."

The Tar Heels filled their down time watching other games together. They went to the movies in Asheville.

"Little things like that, that helps out team chemistry a lot," Strickland said.