CHARLOTTE — Roy Williams has remained active in practice while he recovers from surgery to remove a tumor from his kidney. ROBERT WILLETT

Remember that stuff Roy Williams said last week about how he might need to take it easy while he recovered from surgery to remove a tumor from his kidney?

Well, it hasn’t exactly happened that way. At least not during UNC’s first few practices.

The Tar Heels began preseason practice on Saturday, and Williams has been as feisty and fiery as ever, said Reggie Bullock, the UNC junior guard.

“He’s still the same coach, to me,” Bullock said. “I know he doesn’t think about his surgery much. There are certain movements that hurt him a little bit – if he puts his hand up in the air. So we just try to do everything to the best of our ability.”

That’s especially important, Bullock said, because he and his teammates don’t want Williams yelling at them too much. That’s not necessarily new – that the Heels wouldn’t want Williams to yell at them – but there’s added motivation to keep Williams happy these days.

“We’re just trying to give our best effort so he won’t strain any muscles from yelling,” Bullock said, drawing some laughs from reporters. “ … Because he still has stitches or whatever that he has. But we just try to do everything possible that’s right to take some attention off of him.”

Williams underwent surgery on Sept. 19, and then had a biopsy two weeks ago. Doctors determined the two tumors on his kidneys – one on his right kidney, one his left – to be benign. Williams said last week that he had been working for about four or five hours per day while recovering from surgery.