UNC Basketball: Tar Heels need consistency from Kenny Williams

The North Carolina Tar Heels fell to Florida State last night, but how different would the outcome have been had they had the first half Kenny Williams?

At halftime of the North Carolina Tar Heels loss to Florida State, Kenny Williams was on pace to have a big night.

Williams had another efficient first half, pouring in sixteen points for the Tar Heels. But despite that, the Tar Heels were behind at the half.

When the time came for North Carolina to make their run in the second half, Williams was nowhere to be found.

We have all seen the shooting prowess that the junior from Virginia has. He is shooting a nice 46 percent from deep this year, the highest of his career. Tar Heel fans have become accustomed to seeing him catch fire in the first half.

But North Carolina needs to get that consistency from Williams over the entire forty minutes.

Last night against Florida State was a microcosm of his season so far.

For the entire game, Williams had eighteen points, including four threes. But all of those threes came in the first half. While Joel Berry carried the team back from a deficit, Williams was 1-of-8 in the second half.

He finished with only two points in the second half.

But unfortunately, this is not the only example of Williams struggling in big moments for the Tar Heels.

Yes, we know about his clutch three against Tennessee, but in big games, he can go missing.

In the worst loss of the season for the Tar Heels, against Wofford, Williams finished with only nine points. He had seven of those in the first half and only two in the second. North Carolina still had a chance to win that game late but did not have enough firepower.

Another situation when Williams did not play well for the Tar Heels was against Michigan State.

He only had eight points in that game. Granted, nobody played well for North Carolina, but Williams is the sharpshooter for the Tar Heels.

There are also more examples, like when Williams went scoreless against Stanford in the second half. Or when Williams only had three points against Arkansas in the first half.

This Tar Heel team has shown enough potential to warrant talks of another Final Four run. But if arguably, their best shooter is only giving you one half of production, things could get rough for the Tar Heels.

Kenny Williams has potential to score 18+ points per game. He has shown that on multiple occasions. But he has also shown that he can go missing for chunks of the game.

The next step in the progression of Williams is to bring consistency to the Tar Heel team between halves. If the Tar Heels can get the same Williams on offense throughout the entire game, they will have no problems running through the ACC.

Behind Theo Pinson and Joel Berry, Williams is the most valuable Tar Heel. What he brings on defense can’t be measured.

Now they just need that to come full circle on offense.

Home/UNC Basketball