Monday, November 22, 2010

Execution lacking for youthful Heels

Execution lacking for youthful Heels

Roy Williams came to his press conference Monday afternoon with his right thumb taped.

"I hit one of my players," Williams joked.

After two straight losses, Williams said he didn't hit one of players because he had too many options.

All kidding aside, Williams -- who said he injured his thumb catching a pass in practice -- offered a simple solution for the Tar Heels' two-game losing streak.

"We just have to play better," Williams said.

The Heels (2-2) turned the ball over 21 times in a 72-65 loss to Vanderbilt on Sunday and 16 times in a 72-67 loss to Minnesota on Friday.

Those mistakes cost Tar Heels against veteran teams, as Williams pointed out both Minnesota and Vandy made the NCAA tournament last year, while UNC was relegated to the NIT.

"Nobody likes to admit it but, guys, we're an unbelievably young team," Williams said. "Young teams are going to make mistakes."

UNC started two juniors, two sophomores and freshman against Vanderbilt. Williams said some of the mistakes are correctable, like catching the ball, which the Tar Heels failed to do twice against Vanderbilt. Bottom line, Williams said, UNC needs to execute better, and soon, because after Tuesday's game against UNC-Asheville, the Heels face College of Charleston (who beat UNC last year), No. 19 Illinois and No. 8 Kentucky.

"I don't care what anybody else says, by God, we've got play better," Williams said. "That's my message right there. It's not going to be a fun time for them, and I don't really care, you've got to play better."

-- J.P. Giglio

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is what you get when you recruit a bunch of misfits as far as the team concept and try to force them to run your system. Maybe as a coach, you adjust your system to fit the players that you have?

Anonymous said...

This is NOT the Carolina way! Unacceptable! What is going on?!?!?!?!?!

Michael Procton said...

Age is no excuse when you are a good coach. Duke's starting lineup has exactly two more years of experience, but they play as a team, with skill and precision.

Anonymous said...

Reggie Bullock has been hanging out too much with Chris Hawkins? That Chris Hawkins??? Uh oh...

Anonymous said...

They all might be young, but ROY...you start a FULL team of McDonalds All Americans - and you are crying about that. Why do you need an excuse? You are barely ranked in the top 25 with perenial top 2,3,4,5 bball recruiting classes.

GIVE ME A BREAK.