Roy Williams’ slip of the tongue says everything about how UNC’s season has gone
You know it’s bad when Roy Williams lets a cuss word slip.
The North Carolina head coach accidentally used an expletive when answering a reporter’s question after UNC’s 77-76 loss to Notre Dame on Monday. He apologized immediately, and was remorseful. He was trying to explain that his team was going to compete until their last game.
But the fact that Williams let it slip, tells you everything you need to know about the Tar Heels’ 2019-20 season.
UNC has lost two straight on game-winners. And both happened two days apart. On Saturday, it was Virginia’s Tomas Woldetensae, who hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left to help the Wahoos knock off the Tar Heels 64-62.
On Monday, Notre Dame’s Nate Laszewski hit one with 2.4 seconds left.
UNC lost to Duke 98-96 on Feb. 8 after Wendell Moore’s game-winning buzzer-beating putback. And on Feb. 1, a week before the Duke loss, Boston College beat UNC 71-70 after Jared Hamilton hit two game-winning free-throws with 17 seconds left.
To put into perspective just how bad it has been, UNC has lost six games by three points or less this season. All six have been decided after an opponent hit a game-winning or game-tying shot. Six have happened in the last 11 games.
So when Williams let one slip, it was surprising because he doesn’t normally curse in public. His favorite words to use at press conferences are “dadgum” or “frickin’.” But it wasn’t surprising that he was thinking it.
“I apologize,” Williams said after the mishap. “I don’t know what I’m doing right now.”
This season has been historically bad. The Tar Heels are 10-16 overall, 3-12 in the ACC and are on a six-game losing streak, the longest losing streak in the Roy Williams’ era.
In his 32 seasons as a head coach, Williams has never finished below .500. The closest was a 20-17 finish in 2010.
But with five games left in the regular season, and the ACC tournament after that, this year will likely be the first time Williams experiences a losing season.
A number of mistakes
When senior guard Brandon Robinson hit a 3-pointer to put UNC up 60-46 with 10:27 left, the game felt over. The Tar Heels were hitting all of their shots, and the Fighting Irish were missing all their shots. UNC started the second half on a 27-10 run.
It felt that way, again, after Garrison Brooks’ jumpshot gave the Tar Heels a 64-49 lead with 8:37 left. It was the Tar Heels’ largest lead of the game. The Tar Heels shot 52 percent in the second half.
But for anyone who has watched UNC basketball this season, they know that no lead is safe. And on Monday, that was true, again.
After missing five consecutive shot attempts, Notre Dame got hot. From 8:59 left to 3:14, the Fighting Irish made eight of their next nine shots and cut the Tar Heels’ lead to 3.
From there, it was anyone’s game. And Notre Dame grabbed it. The Fighting Irish made 10 of their last 14 shot attempts.
UNC freshman guard Cole Anthony, who finished with 23 points and 6 assists, said there were a number of things that contributed to the Tar Heels’ loss.
“We never put a stop to that run, one,” Anthony said. “Two, we had some bonehead turnovers. I took that bad shot at the end...I should have got to the rim.”
This is the fifth time this season that UNC has led by 10 points or more in the second half, and still lost.
When asked did nerves possibly play a part in the loss, Williams said he didn’t so.
“It’s not nerves, the guys didn’t go belly up,” he said. “They made some mistakes and Notre Dame really capitalized on those.”
Moving on
The Tar Heels have not won any games in February. They are 0-6, with three games left this month.
They play Louisville on Feb. 22, N.C. State on Feb. 25 and Syracuse on Feb. 29.
Williams was trying to say that his team was going to compete until their last game and wouldn’t give up when he let the cuss word slip.
“You’ve got two choices. You can compete your butt off or you can get up in the fetal position, curl up and start crying,” Williams said. “I’m not going to frickin’ do that. We’re going to (expletive)... I’m sorry to everybody, everybody, everybody.”
”We’re going to try to compete as hard as we can,” Williams later continued. “Yeah, it’s frustrating, it makes you angry, every little mistake you wonder why, but the bottom line is, we’re going to play a game again on Saturday and see what happens.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 12:28 AM.
