UNC Basketball: Roy Williams speaks on Senior Night
By Zack Pearson
University of North Carolina head coach Roy Williams speaks on Senior Night before the Duke game on Saturday
Senior Night is always an emotional one in Chapel Hill.
Last year we saw seniors Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson and Joel James give heartfelt speeches about their time at the University of North Carolina.
But every other year, that Senior Night is even more special due to the opponent being their arch rival, Duke.
That’s what will happen on Saturday night when the Blue Devils come to town for the ACC regular season finale.
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Head Coach Roy Williams spoke the media on Thursday, just two days away from Saturday’s game and spoke on the Senior Night importance.
“Senior Day and Duke on the last day of the regular season, it usually has a lot of other things riding on it,” Williams said. “So it complicates things with trying to balance out one game. Cause that’s still what it is.”
That one game means a lot for the Tar Heels this season as they have already clinched at least a share of the ACC regular season title. But a Notre Dame loss to Louisville or a UNC win on Saturday clinches it outright.
Per tradition, Williams will roll out a starting lineup of Nate Britt, Stilman White, Kanler Coker, Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks on Saturday, consisting of all seniors. How long that lineup stays out there is unknown.
A win also helps the No. 1 seed resume for the Tar Heels in the NCAA Tournament. The loss on Monday may have put a dent in UNC’s chances, but Roy explained exactly what went wrong.
“We didn’t set our screens solidly enough, didn’t move sharply enough, didn’t move hard enough, didn’t attack and take care of the basketball,” Williams said. “I can give you a hundred things, cause there’s not one thing that I thought we did well.”
As for Duke, the Blue Devils will likely use a similar strategy from the first meeting and what Virginia did on Monday. Keeping UNC’s bigs out of the paint and spreading the court worked for both teams against UNC.
The Tar Heels will have the size advantage in the paint but they must finish at the rim on the offensive end. They didn’t play bad against the Blue Devils in Durham but Saturday’s game will have a little more on the line.
And that atmosphere will be a little more amped up.